Endangered Languages

697 Words2 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Effects on the environment from loss of biodiversity

What Language Did the Old Pirates speak?
(Endangered Languages)
As the world becomes more and more unified, there is nothing unusual in the fact that languages across the world have been disappearing steadily over the past centuries. According to estimates, there are still approximately 6500 languages in the world and over half of them will be extinct within the next 100 years (Crystal 380-84). In other words, many languages are in danger of disappearing. For example, a language becomes endangered when its native speakers no longer pass it on to the next generation, or when there are no more native speakers left in order to pass the language on. Consequently the language then becomes known as a “dead language” (Crystal 380). Furthermore, a language only becomes extinct when there are no existing speakers of it. Although there are no established guidelines on how to identify whether or not a language is endangered, there are several indicators according to Christopher Mosely from UNESCO Atlas Of The World Languages In Danger. These are given by the “degree of endangerment”, and according to the “Intergenerational Language Transmissions”, that happen in that endangered language. Some examples are the number of living speakers, the mean age of native and fluent speakers, and the percentage of the youngest generation acquiring fluency with the language in question. In contrast to these three criteria’s, each can influence how a language is evaluated, but one indicator does not always necessitate the other two (Mosely).
On the contrary, I believe that an endangered language can be saved or revived by governments, as well as international organizations. This could be done through the implementation of academic programs, dictionaries, li...

... middle of paper ...

...eakers, all intended to maintain an active interest in and use of the language. The support of government administrations for this endangered language by funding the above programs shows the dedication to preserve the North Frisian language in the future.

Works Cited

Crystal, David. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language. 3rd ed. Cambridge , Cambridge Univ., 2010. Print.
Frisian in Germany: North Frisian ("Friisk"). Research Centre of Multilingualism, www.uoc.edu/euromosaic/web/document/friso/an/i3/i3.html#top. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Moseley, Christopher (ed.). 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd ed. Paris, UNESCO Publishing. www.unesco.org/culture/en/endangeredlanguages/atlas, Web. 2 Nov. 2013.
Salminen, Tapani. UNESCO RED BOOK ON ENDANGERED LANGUAGES: EUROPE,
23 Feb. 1996, www.helsinki.fi/~tasalmin/europe_report.html#NFrisian. Web. 2 Nov. 2013.

Show More
Related

  • The Essex and Hazel Motes in Wise Blood by Flannery O'Connor

    1319 Words  | 3 Pages

    Papers on Language and Literature 33:3 (1993). 325-333. The. Ragen, Brian.

    Read More

  • Voices Of The World The Extinction Of Language Summary

    1388 Words  | 3 Pages

    For this summary I watched a video called Voices of the World: The Extinction of Language and Linguistic Diversity. The video starts off with how people believe that there are about 6, 000 languages. David Crystal talks about how with all these different languages half of them are endangered of becoming extinct. Each different language offers a different point of view of the world and culture. He said that if different languages are lost then “we lose the meaning what is it to be human.”

    Read More

  • Irish, The Corpse That Sits Up And Talks Back Analysis

    653 Words  | 2 Pages

    In “Why I Choose to Write in Irish, the Corpse that Sits Up and Talks Back”, Nuala Ni Dhomhnaill argued for the survival of minority languages, especially her own Gaeilge (Irish) language. She compared the issue of preserving minority languages as important as the issue of the “preservation of the remaining rain forests is for biological diversity”. She fears that the death of minority languages and the dominance of English would “reduce everything to the level of most stupendous boredom”. (53) The author did not bash on the English language, only that if all other minority languages died and it was the only one that remained then the lack of diversity will just be plain dull.

    Read More

  • Ineffectiveness Of Dying Language In Kenan Malik's Let Them Die

    737 Words  | 2 Pages

    Evaluating an article is a good way to understand what an author wants to do and tell the readers. In his article, “Let Them Die”, Kenan Malik mentions two types of language, common languages such as English and Spanish, and dying language such as Native American language, Catawba. (Kenan Malik 85) Those dying languages are lost in every two weeks. (Masci 942) His main argument is that language death should be acknowledged rather than trying to keep it. His ideas that include the main argument which common language is better than dying language are explained by using many examples such as linguist’s quote and references. Based on some ideas and examples, he tries to tell readers that common language has more advantages than dying language.

    Read More

  • Attitudes Towards the Navajo Tribe's Language and Culture

    2105 Words  | 5 Pages

    "UCLA Language Materials Project: Language Profile." UCLA Language Materials Project: Main. UCLA. Web. 23 Oct. 2011. .

    Read More

  • English Should Be the Official Language of the United States

    1713 Words  | 4 Pages

    Not Only English: Affirming America's Multilingual Heritage. 1990. The. ERIC. Web. The Web.

    Read More

  • The singularly strange story of the English language in Puerto

    1339 Words  | 3 Pages

    Language is a mean of communication in any given society. It represents the ability to evolve and progress through the ongoing process of living with other human beings. Many can perceive this instrument as tool of liberation and transformation but others as an instrument to enslave, manipulate or oppress a group of people. Whichever the case one need to acknowledge that it is necessary and not a waste of time the many different discussions about this ongoing topic regardless of the time period or social context any country might have. In Puerto Rico, there has been an ongoing dilemma about languages; Dr. Alicia Pousada examines on her essay what many might define “the language madness on the island”. Throughout this paper some of her most interesting ideas will be shared and discussed so that this already extended topic might find another page to take place.

    Read More

  • When English Is Not a Choice: A Social Conflict Analysis of the English-Only Movement

    1573 Words  | 4 Pages

    Wiley, Terrence G. "Language Planning, Language Policy, and the English-Only Movement." Language in the USA: Themes for the Twenty-first Century. Ed. Edward Finegan and John R. Rickford. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2004. 319-38. Print.

    Read More

  • English: The Official Language of the United States

    1323 Words  | 3 Pages

    Mujica, Mauro E. “Why the U.S Needs an Official Language.” Worldandi.com. 2003. Web. 31 July 2011. .

    Read More

  • Cherokee Language

    1827 Words  | 4 Pages

    In the United States, an emphasize in learning the dominant language, English for example, can inevitably put other languages within the country in extinction. In reality, there are many other spoken languages in the United Sates, like those spoken by Native Americans, that are becoming endangered because of the immensity of more used languages. One may ask, what is an endangered language? According to Michael Cahill (Bonvillain), who has studied and researched many different endangered languages around the world, a language is endangered when "it is in fairly eminent danger of dying out." Cahill states two ways to quickly identify when a language is on its way to becoming endangered. One is when the "children in the community do not speak the native language of their parents, and the other is when there are only a small number of people left in the ethnolinguistic community" that know how to speak the language (Bonvillain). In specific, the Cherokee language fits into the category of an endangered language in the United Sates because less and less speakers speak it and because it is taught less often to younger generations as well. Although Cherokee, a language containing its own rules in grammar, morphemes, syntax, and phonetics, was once a language spoken in vast areas around the United States by native peoples, the language struggles to survive albeit historical foreign attack and current domination of other languages such as English.

    Read More

  • Language Preservation of the Coushatta Peoples

    1302 Words  | 3 Pages

    The Contemporary Issues in Native American Culture provides a lot of varied topics and interests. In this paper, the main issue will be the topic of tribal language preservation. How tribes are able to raise money to enhance language efforts, how tribes are working to preserve the language, and how tribes are using language to maintain cultural awareness and identity will be discussed.

    Read More

  • Importance Of Preserving American Indian Languages

    291 Words  | 1 Pages

    American Indian languages is a vital importance to preserving the American Indian culture. Language is much more than communication. When we talk about it on the surface, that’s what it is. But language is the way we think. And it’s the way it’s been handed down through generations. And if you lose the way your family has been speaking, you lose who you are. If languages dies, some consequences that will occur in the family level will be the loss of inherited knowledge which includes, traditional and contemporary cultural expressions, values, cultural heritage, rituals, legends, folk tales and many more. Language and culture go hand in hand together. So if language dies, culture will go with, as well as something personal. A degree of one’s

    Read More

  • Advantages and Disadvantages of Simultaneous Communication

    1891 Words  | 4 Pages

    Language outreach by the united nations (2013). Home - Simultaneous. Retrieved March 14, 2013, from http://www.unlanguage.org/Careers/Interpret/COV/Simultaneous/default.aspx

    Read More

  • Joseph’s Dialect in Wuthering Heights

    1322 Words  | 3 Pages

    Clark, Virginia P., Paul A. Eschholz, and Alfred F. Rosa. Language: Introductory Readings. 7th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martins, 2008. Print.

    Read More

  • Development of the English Language

    1048 Words  | 3 Pages

    113-117. 151-195. The. English: A Linguistic Tool Kit, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University. English in the World, (2012), (U214, Worlds of English, DVD ROM), Milton Keynes, The Open University.

    Read More

More about Endangered Languages

Open Document