The Language Is Forever Forgotten

When someone hears the phrase ancient Empires a few civilizations come to mind such as the Mesopotamian Empire, the Roman Empire and the Aztec Empire but has anyone took into consideration what happened to their language years after they fell? One would assume that these civilizations languages have become dead languages, languages no longer in use. However, this paper will explore whether or not the Náhuatl language, the language of the Aztec people, is considered dead language. Into my research there are a small collective of people who still speak the language. There is a possibility of spreading the language through the education system to try to keep this language from disappearing completely, however do we have the right? Take a moment to imagine aliens have invaded the planet earth and the human race has lost the war. Now that the aliens have taken control of the planet we, the human race, must begin the process of assimilating into their culture. In this process we must give up our languages, cultures and beliefs to please our alien overlords. Anything that is alien has become a symbol of wealth and power. Anything human is considered inferior. As a result the majority of our records have been destroyed, Earth, many of the world’s languages are now considered extinct. Intergalactic researchers have to dig through old archives, interview the remaining human species in an effort to decode the dead languages. However, the remaining few humans believe that their language

Language is a very import part in our life, we carry it with us through all the steps, processes, moments experiences of our life, language built us and make us grow and the most important thing is that it grows with us, changes, modifies itself, and becomes more appropriate and specific. As we pointed out language help us to create and understand the world around us, gives meaning to everything and gives birth to emotions and feelings; a world without language would be meaningless and very lonely. Language it’s what help us grow up, the more we learn through it, the more we desire to experience and study in deep, leading us to new prospective, opening our mind to more specific and deep concepts, ideas, projects, goals. We really can’t

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.

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.

According to the speculations of linguistic expert, John McWhorter, who wrote the article, “What the World Will Speak in 2115,” in one hundred years English will become the most widely understood language. If current trends continue, in the future one can imagine a world in which humans all share a single universal language. Having a common language would potentially open the doors to many opportunities for increased economic activity and cultural interaction. Additionally, as we travel into the 22nd Century, lesser used and more complex languages that are spoken today will become extinct. Subsequently, the few languages that survive will evolve into

Pretend that you grew up speaking a different language your whole life, but when you started going to school you see that everyone else speaks a different one. No one has ever heard of your spoken language at home. You start growing up and realize that you are caught between two cultures. You are not like your parents and you are not like the other children at school.

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

In Vanishing Voices by Russ Rymer, the author gives readers an in depth overview of the significant loss in the number of languages over the years. “One language dies every 14 days. By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English, Mandarin, or Spanish. What is lost when a language goes silent?” he asks. A major argument Rymer includes in his essay is that languages are seeming to “compete” with one another. Parents children who speak tribal languages encourage their children to break away and learn to speak major languages such as English, Spanish, or

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.

“Our language is the reflection of ourselves. A language is an exact reflection of the character and growth of its speakers” (Chavez). Language a puzzle piece of a person’s culture. In history Americans used the demise of others to receive their glory. People like the African slaves and Native Americans suffered at the hand of the Americans. Focusing mostly on the African slaves, Americans cut their culture away from them by forbidding their language in their new “home” and forced their language onto them. Though the Americans believed that they had the upper hand by cutting off the African culture, the Africans exceeded their power by founding their own american culture, through African American Vernacular English.

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

As a bilingual, speaking English requires a lot of sacrifices because in order to speak the language correctly you are going to have to erase your accent. Erasing your accent requires you to forget about your roots, but isn’t bettering someone’s accent by erasing his roots an act of war or a violation of the first amendment? Should people be able to use the dialect they choose? Three articles have their own answer for these questions. The article “The Students’ Right to their Own Language” by the Conference on College Composition talks about how the CCC affirms that the student should have the right to their own language. This article also argues that many English teachers are not prepared to be language teachers and are unwilling and unready

In the article “What the World Will Speak in 2115,” by John H. McWhorter, he informs us of the possibility that in the future there will be fewer languages spoken in the world and the languages that remain will be in a simplified form. We also learn how the English language has changed from its original form and spread around the globe and how other languages are in danger of becoming extinct. Perhaps communication among different nationalities will improve as languages simplify or through the continual spread of the English language but will it be at the expense of our native languages.

A dying language is defined as a language that is on the edge of extinction. Right now, there are over 6000 languages spoken in the world. However, by the year 2100 it is expected for that number to take a rapid plummet down. By the year 2100 there will be around 600 languages spoken worldwide. There are many differing opinions about whether we as linguists, or even just as human beings, have a duty to protect and preserve these languages. This topic is hotly debated between linguists, as some people believe that we need to preserve these languages to keep their culture alive; while others believe we should just let them die peacefully. There are a lot of good reasons for both sides, which is why no one can really decide on which to do. I believe that we need to help protect and preserve these dying languages.

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