language in society

Running head: LANGUAGES 1

LANGUAGES 4

Languages

Student’s name

Institution

The endangered Iwaidja language community learning to use a data collection app in a smartphone (Image source; mnn.com).

Language death means that a language ceases to have any native speakers using it as their means of thought and communication. The world has approximately 7000 languages half of which language experts estimate will have died by the end of the 21st century. The language death is caused by a number of factors such as dying of the community of people who speak the language. Factors such as colonization, domination or oppression of one language community by another will also lead to language death as the people shift to another language to avoid prosecution. A language can also die out as people shift to another language in search of economic and social benefits. A language on the verge of dying out is said to be endangered where their only a small part of the community speaking it and not many learning to or interested in speak it (Bradley, 2013).

Language death and endangerment have adverse effects to both the global earth community and the local community. One of the effects of language death and endangerment to the global community is the loss of one of the core ways of human expression. Language is a characteristic that is unique to human beings and one that unites us and helps us communicate with others. The global community also loses a significant part of the planet’s history and cultures that hinders our efforts to understand ourselves more as the various potential sources of information cease to exist. The global community also loses valuable local resources for fighting with environmental threats with the dying of a language. Local communicates usually carry the most useful information about the things that surround them for example about plants, animals or the geographical structure of the place they live. When the language community becomes extinct, most of the information they have accumulated over generations of living in the area is lost with them. Language death affects individuals in the local community by leaving them without their mother tongue and also their traditions and culture that hold their community together. The people are left without the strong sense of identity and personal beliefs that comes from belonging to a language community with others (Language Death, 2018).

Language revitalization refers to the deliberate process of language revival of reversing the process of language shift with the aim of stopping a language from dying or bringing one back from extinction. Language revitalization can be achieved by using methods such as creating a socially integrated community that actively uses the dying language which will improve its spoken aspect. Adults can also be taught the language and encouraged to pass on the language to future generations. The government can also be involved by making the language a part of the national education curriculum, encouraging its use in local government offices and in mass media. Language revitalization keeps languages alive and helps the people experience the lost benefits from the death of the language (Bradley, 2013).

Languages usually experience alternation in their use over a period a phenomenon referred to as language change. An instance I have had with language change took place when I moved to an urban setting with a mixed population of many languages. In the process of interacting with the new people in the town, I got to learn new words and with time I started, I started used them regularly in place of my own. Due to the interaction with the other languages, some of the words in my language were forgotten or replaced with other from other languages. Language change can be said to be as a result of various forces for example simplification, regularization, and the principle of least effort.

References

Bradley, D., & Bradley, M. (Eds.). (2013). Language endangerment and language maintenance: An active approach. Routledge.

Smartphone app could help save Australian Aboriginal language from extinction. (2012). Retrieved from https://www.mnn.com/green-tech/gadgets-electronics/stories/smartphone-app-could-help-save-australian-aboriginal-language

THE LANGUAGE DEATH. (2018). Retrieved from https://languagedeath.weebly.com/