Lifelines for indigenous languages
Linguistic diversity is in decline. What can be done to safeguard the world’s endangered languages?
At least 2,500 languages around the world are in danger. Many of those under threat are autochthonous languages, spoken by small numbers of indigenous people often living in remote communities.
According to linguist Anastasia Riehl of Queen’s University in Canada, the pace of language loss “has been exacerbated by our increasingly interconnected world”. Globalisation has brought about the dominance of a handful of globally influential languages which threaten those spoken by smaller communities.
“In the present era, languages' links with their ancient territories are being cut, and becoming less important,” linguist and author Nicholas Ostler told The World Weekly. At the same time, “links of their speakers to neighbouring populations (who may speak quite different and more populous languages) are being promoted at their expense.”
This trend has been in evidence for quite some time, says Dr. Ostler, starting with the “largely European colonial spread” and furthered in the 19th century by “political emphasis on nation states with national languages.”
In former colonies in particular, those who do not speak the colonial language continue to lack fair representation and struggle to assert the value of their mother tongues.
Over 75% of Native American languages have now disappeared, and the future of many of those remaining looks uncertain. “Today, only 2% of Native Americans are fluent in their language,” a spokesperson for The Language Conservancy, an organisation that works to revitalise endangered languages, told TWW, “and 90% or more are over the age of 65.”
Read the full article on The World Weekly