By Ebony Dalimunthe, Class 12
When you think of the term ‘endangered’, you always think of the poor orangutans and the dying elephants. Of the hunted tigers, and the ravaged sea turtles.
You almost never think of languages.
Of course, to the average person the death of a language probably doesn’t hold as much weight as the death of a sea turtle. A language isn’t tangible. It isn’t a living, breathing thing. A language doesn’t suffer from habitat loss, or poaching, or pollution. So, who cares if it is endangered? Who cares if it dies?
Claude Hagege cares. So does David Crystal. These names may sound alien to you, but these prestigious linguists are just a few of the many people trying to bring more attention to language death. They see language as a crucial part of the world we live in. “We should care about dying languages for the same reason that we care when a species of animal or plant dies. It reduces the diversity of our planet.” says David Crystal.
Of course, languages are the highest means of communication. I mean, everyone uses it. Your dad. Your grandmother. Your best friend. That single mother from down the street. They all use it. So can you imagine if that was snatched away from them? From you? The entire foundation of the way you speak would crumble away. Your culture, your identity – finito.
And there is always something unique to each language. In English, for example, idioms are abundant and rampant. If you were to say “Oh gosh, it’s raining cats and dogs!”, it would be quite difficult, if not impossible, to translate that well in Indonesian. Our languages are our identities. They form our humour; our beliefs; our entire outlook on life. So I think you can agree with me when I say language death is not okay.
And this is the entire issue of language death. Cultures are dying as a result of it. Take Papua New Guinea, for example. When Britain colonised Papua New Guinea in the 19th century, the languages in that nation were changed. Suzanne Romaine reported in 1992 that to “speak English was good; to speak Tok Pisin (the creole language) was bad; but to speak Tok Ples (the local language) was worst.” There are many more cases like this across the world where smaller communities and cultures have been cast aside.
But there is still hope. There is still hope to revitalise the world and maintain its diversity. Languages such as Welsh were on the brink of death, but we managed to bring it back to life. If we want to maintain the rich diversity of our cultures, then we can do the same for the rest of the world too.