‘Language death’ does not always entail ‘language murder’. ‘Language death ' is when a community no longer speaks a language that they used to speak regularly. This may occur for many reasons such as social, economic, political and demographic factors. Along with the attitudes of the individuals within a community. ‘Language murder’ is when a community has happily left their language to die out and this can also be referred to as a shift in a language, which has the linguistic term, language shift. This is when a country will shift from using one language to another. This essay will look further into the reasons as to why some languages die.
The linguistic term, language death can either happen at a gradual or rapid rate. This term is used
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Language shift can happen for a number of reasons which include economic, political and social factors. Also, the attitudes of the individuals using the language play a crucial part in why a language shift may happen. Individuals within a community may decide to learn another language to find employment. There may be a dominant language present within a community that will benefit individuals when looking for employment. An example of this would be, Maniben whose first language was Gujerati. However, in order to get a job she needed to be able to speak English. She then started to use English more often than Gujerati. Maniben was fluent in two languages which means she is bilingual. Therefore, Maniben faced an economic factor as to why she shifted language (Holmes, page 53). The opposite of bilingual is monolingual. This is when people are only able to speak one language. Britain is an example of a country that is mostly monolingual as the there is only one dominant speaking language. There is also multilingual. This is when individuals within a country can speak two or more languages. This is becoming more popular around the world with many people being able to speak more than one
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.
Even though the dominance of a language can allow for the loss of a culture, it can also bring awareness. In schools, local community centers and other various places, foreign languages are taught, not only do non-native speakers take on these languages but native speakers do as well to keep their culture. By doing so it “revitalizes cultures and cultural artifacts through foreign influences, technologies, and markets.” (Gerdes
Most people who grow up with a foreign language spoken in there house grow up with an advantage in society. This advantage can only occur once the individual learning that foreign language also learns the dominant language spoken in that country. Once both of these languages are learned and mastered, the individual has now placed them se...
Language is a means of communication and it varies from one community to another. Everyone has a mother tongue which depended on the family’s upbringing. A second language can be learned along the way. There are also instances where a person is born in a community that speaks two languages and therefore, had to learn both languages. The quality of the languages learned will be affected by how well the community speaks both languages. This can later develop into a new form of language. The essay describes the frustration of the author who felt rejected by different groups for speaking a different form of language. Her essay aims to gain sympathy from readers by seeing the issue from her point of view. Anzaldua attempts to achieve this in her essay by raising issues on identity and discrimination. She wanted to highlight that language is not determined by a country’s physical borders.
Scholar Dominique Ryon, best known for her work in linguistics and anthropology at the University of Louisiana, focuses the following article on the topic of Cajun French language loss or rather, language revival in Louisiana. Her article is based on the very concept of language loss and/or death studies. Due to the reasons she mentions later in her article, Ryon prefers to focus on language revival as she has noticed clear holes in the research evidence used in the study of language loss. Ryon uses the theories of many well-known theorists such as Foucault, Bourdieu and Lafont to challenge scholarly articles written on language loss in Louisiana. Ryon organizes her article into clear, concise components in order to support her two main objectives
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.
Crawford, James. “A nation divided by one language.” Guardian.co.uk. 8 Mar 2001. Web. 11 October 2014
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.
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.”
—. Language: Readings in Language and Culture. 6th ed. New York: St. Martin's, 1998. Print.
An individual is constructed through many aspects , whether it be their likes/dislikes, personalities, goals or self assigned origin(s), etc. One of these aspects that help build up and sketch an individual is the language they choose to speak. This does not simply include choosing between English or French but choosing or learning to speak high/low language, or the type of slang one uses, and even the rules that are set up with that language the individual has obtained.
Language has a personality and a mood, created by the behavior of the speakers and their cultural identity. Moreover, this includes the tools speaker use to communicate through i.e. sign language. Languages can be described by human emotions and feelings; therefore, language is personified and dynamic. Historical events have lead to changes in languages in caused flexibility and dynamicity of language. Globalization and colonization also had an effect in word borrowing, and many languages have been altered due to this. Languages are also interpre...
Actually, the majority of people in the world “speak 1.69 languages- not high enough to conclude that the average person is bilingual” (source C). Having the ability to communicate in one language can help others communicate in everyday life from walking through town and shopping to making deals in business. Having a society that is monolingual can improve economies and relations throughout the world. Also, there was a survey in 2007 to determine the number of 5 year olds and older who spoke a language other than English at home. Out of the 280,950,438 people, 225,505,953 of them spoke only English at home (source E). This means that again 20% of people spoke a language other than English at home. English is a popular language, not just in English speaking countries, but also in countries that it is not the primary language. As the world changes, English becomes more and more of a necessity for society to communicate. As time progresses, English may be the only language needed to communicate more for people around the world. Through the globalization of the English language, its effects would greatly improve society by shortening time lost in language barriers and improve understandings of
Have you ever wondered who taught you to talk the way you do? People learn to talk and express themselves everyday of their lives. Starting from the day you were born you used language or some form of it to communicate with those around you. As a baby you usually show your displeasure with your new surroundings by crying, and if you don’t the doctor will make sure you do. Everyday we express our point of view to others in some form of language. Whether it is through verbal communication, written discourse or through body language, you can tell if a person is upset, angry, or happy. We as human beings don’t realize how much language has to do with our lives. How can you determine if one of your friends is angry with you? Is there a different tone to their voice? Do they have a stern look on their face? Of course they do, your friend feels the need to express their anger to you by these different forms of language. Where do we learn to use these different forms of language? How are our uses of these languages shaped? The three main contributing factors to how we express ourselves through language come from our schooling, our friends, and most of all from our families.
To commence this discussion, it is first essential to establish an understanding surrounding the role of language in relation to national identity. Theoretically, the more power language has in this relation, the more powerful language planning may be when creating a national identity. However, the role language plays in this respect is somewhat problematic to define and has proven to be a debatable topic among nationalists, sociologists and sociolinguists. For instance, May demonstrates that ‘sociological commentators, unlike sociolinguists, have generally been loath to apportion a prominent role to language in the explanation of minority ethnic and national identity claims’ (2001: 8). Consequently emulating distaste from sociologists to credit language with significant power in a national identity. In a similar sense, de Vries notes that, in relation to a language community, ‘social scientists have generally ignored the systemic properties of language’ (1991: 39), thus, concurrently suggesting with May, a disagreement from the social sciences over the role of language in terms of identity and national identity. Similarly, circa the French revolution, the concept