The Importance of Preserving Local Languages
*Due to the length of the paragraphs, it is suggested that you read this on a desktop device or a tablet with sufficient size.*
19th May, 2023
Every three months, a language dies. If we follow on this track, 50% of all spoken languages would become extinct by the end of the century. With globalization going in the way of moving towards major languages, preserving local languages is becoming more and more pressing because it is integral to local culture, allows us to peek into history and enjoy stories, in addition to providing insight to human behaviour.
After humans migrated out of their native range, people diversified in terms of culture and language. These languages eventually became the 142 living language families of today (“What are the largest language families?”) somewhere between 50000 years and 250000 years ago (Perreault and Mathew). Every language grouped in these families has something that is key to the local culture such as customs only being recorded in the language as older generations are unable to hand down their customs [this will be elaborated later], and language itself being inseparable from the culture. Many people in the past have made changes to these languages consciously and unconsciously. These are the work of its community for thousands of years. By using English, we are also contributing to English. One of the examples is the change away from “thou”. In the 1600s [about Bach’s time], English speakers started using “you” as a respectful command such as “your majesty’. After that, it was also used to refer to someone with equal social status. Then “thou” was degraded to the point when basically no one used it, and it was considered extremely disrespectful if you used it (“Why Did We Stop Using ‘Thou’?”).
However, 40% of all spoken languages are now endangered. The reason for this decline is because younger generations tend to learn the more popular national language [or sometimes even just English,] instead of their traditional language. This may lead to older generations not being able to communicate with the younger generation (Degawan), thus they have no way to continue traditions from the past. In this way, the culture would slowly be lost as the larger world culture pushes it out. Technology only accelerates this, since most of computer science is very Eenglish-based. This phenomenon of language loss through dominant language takeover has happened all over the world since ancient times. Most cultures in the world are usually linked to one language that was historically or currently spoken by most members of the culture. According to Encyclopædia Britannica, language is transmitted culturally because it is taught by other members of the community just like other customs such as what is considered polite. However, culture is also taught through language. This is one of the reasons why the attempted assimilation of indigenous peoples in Canada was so successful. For example, in Manitoba, only 15% of the indigenous population is able to speak an indigenous language (“Indigenous languages across Canada”) (“Most Indigenous people live in Ontario and Western Canada, but account for larger share of overall population in territories”). This has lead to a 48% increase of fear of losing their cultures amongst indigenous people (“Fear of Losing Culture Rises among Indigenous People in Manitoba | CBC News.” ). If all 40% of endangered languages inevitably go extinct, the cultures they represent will also die.
Secondly, history has been passed down for as long as language existed. Ever since writing systems were invented, humans have been writing down what they have experienced, and many cultures have a tradition to keep histories (Christian). This was not without reason. It is very important because it can help explain the complex present; both the social and the political aspects. The written past can help give clarity and context to the present of the time. We can then use this information to inform our decisions of today and into the future.. For example, Winnipeg’s downtown is a very miserable place to be with drug addicts and gangs who run wild. If you want to know why, you must look at its history. Around the 1960’s, not just in Winnipeg, but in most urban places in North America, a type of development was started called suburbia (Artibise). This leaves the downtown to those who are most vulnerable and more illegal activities will happen in that area (Not Just Bikes). If English goes extinct and we don’t have any records of what happened, it will make solving issues much harder because you wouldn’t know the cause and the solution would be much more murky. Back to suburbia, during that time, people misplaced their hope with roads and their theories. If we lost this information, it would be much harder to know the solutions. One of the examples of this happening in real life is with the Khitan. They were a powerful ethnic group of people in Northeast Asia who started the semi-legitimate Liao dynasty, which lasted for about 100 years, but then it was conquered by the Jurchens. Most of the Khitans dissolved into the victorious Jurchens or the Chinese in the Song dynasty, but a few of them started the Qara Khitai regime, which lasted for another hundred years in central Asia before being destroyed by Genghis Khan’s Mongol Empire. A lot of the remaining Khitans dissolved into the Mongols (Sun). Thus, their language became lost, and no one could interpret its scripts (Kara). This means that its official history was written in Classical Chinese instead, causing the only historical context of these people being told from a perspective that was not their own. (Toqto’a). Aside from history, fictional stories and myths are also crucial towards the communal identity. For example, the Ojibwe people in Canada believe that they are the original people in North America, because, in their creation story, a great flood happened and it killed everything except for animals that can fly or swim and Nanaboozhoo, an Ojibwe, who then helped the creation of Turtle Island (Koslowsky-Wiebe). This was precisely the reason why in residential schools, the government did not allow the indigenous peoples to speak their language. If their language died, it would be much simpler to push their narrative just like how a lot of Khitan history is gathered from Chinese sources.
Thirdly, every language has something unique to offer. Whether it be an expressive vocabulary, interesting grammar, enthralling writing systems, or something else. These features are what makes linguistics so interesting. These features can reveal something about our human brains in often surprising ways such as word order, noun gender, and how the mind processes language. The majority of languages use either Subject-Object-Verb [David apple eats] or Subject-Verb-Object [David eats apple] word order. One of the reasons is because the human brain likes to put the subject first and keep the object and the verb together (NativLang). The brain affects the languages we speak, but the languages also alter the brain. For example, in languages that have noun genders such as French, speakers are more likely to associate stereotypically male adjectives to male nouns, and female adjectives to female nouns (Boroditsky). The brain has two different hemispheres, and each hemisphere has a specific role in processing speech. According to Kotz, the right hemisphere processes the intonation and inflection of speech whereas the left hemisphere analyzes the information that is being said. While the speaker is speaking, the listener must listen to each syllable, and then the right hemisphere registers the way it is said. If the speaker sounds sarcastic, it would mean something that is different from what is spoken and that is determined purely by the tone of voice. Meanwhile, Broca’s area in the left hemisphere analyzes the syntax of the sentence. After that, the brain must understand each word, and check for any possible references. Finally, Wernicke’s area uses all of this information to produce a meaning. Now, why do these things differ across different languages? This is due to the influence from other languages,non-native speakers and cultural influences, in addition to the occasional geography like the distribution of tonal languages (Dale and Lupyan). If these languages die out, then we will lose much precious data that could tell us more about ourselves and why our brains are the way they are.
Preserving languages is important because it is fundamental to local culture, provides a window into history, and allows us to look at how our brains function. If we do not put in effort to preserve languages, many will die and we will have to suffer through the horrible consequences of loss. Hopefully we will come to our senses and help save these dying languages.
Click here for the bibliography.
