Language: Reduction And Consequences Of The Loss Of Language
The loss of any language means a contraction, reduction and impoverishment of the sum total of the reservoir of human thought and knowledge as expressible through language. To what extent do you agree with this?
As globalization takes place, languages spoken by the majority became lingua franca of different regions. English for example as its most widely spread across the entire world, is spoken by 360 to 400 million as their first language and 470 million to more than 1 billion as their second language. It is the convenience that have led us into popularizing the lingua franca languages to establish a common method of communication. This influence affects the next generations which then cause the decrease in the number of people speaking …show more content…
“The peoples directly affected are minorities almost by definition, yet they are the bearers of most of the linguistic diversity that has developed over the course of human history.” - Anthony Woodbury. Linguists sees language loss as rather serious-an extremely serious problem followed with humanistic and scientific impacts. “Sociolinguists and anthropological linguists are only now beginning to understand the effects of language loss or shift on communities. The process is complicated, for although it always involves pressure of some kind, the loss itself may be involuntary or voluntary. In either case, it is frequently seen as a loss of social identity or as a symbol of defeat by a colonial power—if not by those abandoning the language, then often by the next generation.”- Anthony Woodbury. The cultural, spiritual, and intellectual life of people is expressed and experienced through language. The language taking in many forms of prayers, tales, myths, ceremonies, poetry, oratory, which are more literature related to everyday greetings, leave-takings, jokes, conversational styles with unique …show more content…
Prominent French linguist Claude Hagege says that "If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages." Among the endangered languages, in extreme cases, there are only two known speakers of Lipan Apache alive in the US, four speakers of Totoro in Colombia and the single Bikya speaker in Cameroon. "What we lose is essentially an enormous cultural heritage, the way of expressing the relationship with nature, with the world, between themselves in the framework of their families, their kin people," says Mr
As globalization takes place, languages spoken by the majority became lingua franca of different regions. English for example as its most widely spread across the entire world, is spoken by 360 to 400 million as their first language and 470 million to more than 1 billion as their second language. It is the convenience that have led us into popularizing the lingua franca languages to establish a common method of communication. This influence affects the next generations which then cause the decrease in the number of people speaking …show more content…
“The peoples directly affected are minorities almost by definition, yet they are the bearers of most of the linguistic diversity that has developed over the course of human history.” - Anthony Woodbury. Linguists sees language loss as rather serious-an extremely serious problem followed with humanistic and scientific impacts. “Sociolinguists and anthropological linguists are only now beginning to understand the effects of language loss or shift on communities. The process is complicated, for although it always involves pressure of some kind, the loss itself may be involuntary or voluntary. In either case, it is frequently seen as a loss of social identity or as a symbol of defeat by a colonial power—if not by those abandoning the language, then often by the next generation.”- Anthony Woodbury. The cultural, spiritual, and intellectual life of people is expressed and experienced through language. The language taking in many forms of prayers, tales, myths, ceremonies, poetry, oratory, which are more literature related to everyday greetings, leave-takings, jokes, conversational styles with unique …show more content…
Prominent French linguist Claude Hagege says that "If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages." Among the endangered languages, in extreme cases, there are only two known speakers of Lipan Apache alive in the US, four speakers of Totoro in Colombia and the single Bikya speaker in Cameroon. "What we lose is essentially an enormous cultural heritage, the way of expressing the relationship with nature, with the world, between themselves in the framework of their families, their kin people," says Mr