Why Does Language Matter

You could argue that language is the single most important aspect of human interaction. Many languages that survived for many generations are starting to fade right before our eyes. Along with the PBS documentary Language Matters, Jared Diamonds book The World Until Yesterday rise many ideas surrounding multilingualism, vanishing languages, preservation of language, and the risk of speaking a minority language. What are the links between all of these topics in todays world and yesterdays?

Multilingualism is found in almost every traditional society, this is not necessarily by choice. From the moment babies are born they are able to distinguish between different tongues. As they grow older they interact with more children, which opens them up

Hawaii’s language started to vanish when the Americans overthrew the Hawaiian queen and started to establish a new government that didn’t accommodate the Hawaiian way of life. The new government forced out the old language and imposed the new language almost overnight. The Hawaiian elders made the decision to stop teaching their children and grandchildren the language because they didn’t see the benefit if they were never going to use it. In Australia the languages are dwindling so much it is not uncommon for a single person to be the last speaker of a traditional language. Although a traditional language may be spoken consistently at home the children are forced to learn English when they attend school. Diamond notes that a language disappears at least every nine days and if they continue to drop many languages outside of the “9 giants” will be extinct within the next 100 years. I can see how this is possible from the Language Matters documentary. I think it is important to note that although many people may understand a language they may not know it enough to keep it alive. These people embrace songs and story telling to keep some aspects of the language and the culture behind it alive. Languages disappear when they are not being taught to young children. Although picking up a new language as an adult helps preserve it, it isn’t creating more

Many people feel uncomfortable when they cannot understand what others around them are saying so they put up a guard toward them. Many people think that it would be more peaceful with a single common language but it would only be convenient for them if the common language chosen were their native language. Forcing a common language would be forcing people to give up their identity, which in turn would create more tension that could escalate into