Native Languages Are Becoming Extinct

The language I choose to write about comes from right here in the United States! Currently it is endangered with about 3,500 speakers and can be classified as Uto-Aztecan It is used amongst an Indian tribe in Utah. Since it is a Native American language, there are major efforts in order to keep it alive and keep it moving from each and every generation. There is currently a Ute Language Policy that highlights laws and regulations that protect the Ute language. In this order there are roman numerals with specific headings that tell you what topic goes with the protection of the language. In the beginning is speaks about the language being integral to their culture; how “the Ute language is a living and vital language that has the ability to

Mr. Treuer explains how there was several hundred of languages throughout different tribes and now there are very few that still are dying out. A main reason that the languages have died out was Native Americans being

Currently, there are over 6,000 living languages spoken in the world. Even with these many languages spoken, people are still discriminated in America. Language is a part of many cultures and daily life, for example in Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue", Tan says "I've heard other terms used, 'limited English,' for example. But they seem as bad, as if everything is limited, including people's perceptions of the limited English speaker." Language should not be a border where people today are still treated as "broken".

The film “The Linguists” follows linguists Gregory Anderson and David Harrison on their journey to learn about and document endangered languages in Bolivia, India, Arizona, and Siberia. Through their quest, they are able to interact with some of the few remaining speakers of languages that are near death and they manage to make an impact on how these communities view their heritage language. Focusing on the moribund languages of Siberia and Arizona, it becomes evident that speakers of the heritage language feel a love for the language and the culture it represents, but went through periods of oppression and embarrassment for being speakers of a minority language that ultimately shaped their attitudes on the language.

Yakama (formerly spelled Yakima) self-named Waptailmim (People of the Narrow River), or Pakintlema (People of the Gap). The people of the Yakama tribe speak ‘Yakama’, which is a northwestern dialect of Sahaptin (a Sahaptian language of the Plateau Penutian family). Native speakers have argued about the traditional Yakama name for this language, ‘Ichishkíin Sínwit’. Currently the Tribal Cultural Resources program wants to replace the word Sahaptin, which means "stranger in the land". Nowadays Yakama is an ‘endangered language’ because most Yakama children aren't learning it anymore. Nonetheless, many Yakama people are working to try and keep their language alive. The Yakama used to live in the area along the Columbia, Yakima, and Wenatchee rivers, in what is now the south-central region of Washington state.

Ken Wiwa presents several ideas pertaining to language and culture within his essay, Get Beyond Babel. Wiwa explains that every language has a chance of dying out over time. For any language to survive through years of societal changes, it must be adapted so it can be used to embrace other cultures, new technology and new perspectives. Wiwa presents the concept that language is the same as culture. I do not agree with this concept because I believe that culture is carried by the people, not by the language.

The loss of languages within minority groups is a global phenomenon. It is an ongoing, fast moving process among indigenous groups in the United States. A vast majority of Native American vernaculars are nowadays only spoken by elders and as a growing numbers of children merely speak English in those modern days, the languages of their ancestors will soon be irretrievably lost as a result of language shift. According to Krauss (1996), only 20 of approximately 175 Native American languages have speakers across generations. What caused this loss of languages? Why? How can it be prevented?

According to the author, Leanne Hinton, who has written the article, “Bringing our Languages Home”, explains that speaking an endangered language at home is the core of language revitalization. She has visited clans conference of which Tlingit tribes is among the clans. The article addresses a specific family within the clan of Tlingit, Mischa Jackson, her husband and her ten month old daughter, Michaelyn. The two parents have the ambition to ensure that their daughter grows up knowing the indigenous language. Jackson says that she did not have enough time with her parents and even grandparents to learn the language. Her intention is to overturn that which she never experienced as she grew up and make it happen with her daughter. They speak

As language develops over the years languages some suffer the times and become a thing of the past. There are approximately six thousand spoken languages that are facing extinction (Kravitz). I question the importance of preserving ancient languages especially because I grew up in a family who speak Pennsylvania Dutch. Pennsylvania Dutch, a dialect of German, is known as the wandering Dutchman language and is spoken exclusively in northeastern Pennsylvania by mostly Amish and Lutheran Reformists. As my Great Grandmother and Grandparents are some of the last to speak exclusively Pennsylvania Dutch I am lucky enough to be able to hold a conversation in the dying language. My question is should these languages including ‘folk’ languages be preserved

threatened or endangered, and which are the languages that have the fewest speakers in the

For those languages which have no written form, when the language dies off, so does the accumulated knowledge and history of the culture. Sadly, indigenous languages around the world are dying off at an alarming rate. It is estimated that nearly half of the languages spoken today are likely to die off within the next century if steps are not taken to preserve those which still exist.

In the United States, an emphasize in learning the dominant language, English for example, can inevitably put other languages within the country in extinction. In reality, there are many other spoken languages in the United Sates, like those spoken by Native Americans, that are becoming endangered because of the immensity of more used languages. One may ask, what is an endangered language? According to Michael Cahill (Bonvillain), who has studied and researched many different endangered languages around the world, a language is endangered when "it is in fairly eminent danger of dying out." Cahill states two ways to quickly identify when a language is on its way to becoming endangered. One is when the

Over centuries we have seen the amount and complexity of languages all across the globe reduced. If this trend continues, we could see the number of world languages potentially reduced from 6,000 to 600 in the future. Colonization and urbanization has led to the abolishment of languages spoke by smaller and less dominant civilizations. McWhorter uses the Native Americans in North America and the Aboriginal

The number of Languages spoken throughout the world is estimated to be 6,000. Although a few languages are for wider communication around the world, these are very often spoken as second, third, fourth, or later-acquired languages. Fewer than 25% of the world 's approximately 200 countries recognize two or more official languages, with a mere handful recognizing more than two. Despite there being lots of bilinguals and multilinguals, there is also a bunch of monolingual people in the world. The adult population is allowing their children not to learn a foreign language, drastically underfunding language courses in middle to high school level classes. Because they think it 's not necessary in this century, thinking they don 't require communication with other people from other countries. But the truth is that it can actually benefit in more ways than people think. The United States school system has started to not require foreign language class for graduation requirements, this places the U.S at a disadvantage in the world scene.

Language is universal. People voice their ideas, emotions, and thoughts across to the world through language. Multitudes of people across the country speak a varierty of languages. However, a foreigner is reduced to their native language, and sometimes has difficulties mainstreaming English into their dialect. A native language is a foreigner's blueprint for the world to hear. Native language gives homage to a foreigner's culture and home life. Native tongues open doors for education and job opprutunities. A native tongue is translated in books and plastered on signs across the communites. Imagine if language decreased to just English, and no another language existed. People would mirror each other, and have no idea of diversity. So where