Saving Endangered Languages ….. a few last reasons

Here are a last few thoughts on the reasons to save endangered languages, the last of a series of posts.

Languages are interesting.  Each language leads to a troves of knowledge about the human brain, human behavior, and human systems of governance. It also keeps us humble – languages discovered by colonialists were dismissed as animalistic or primitive, but have been found to be intricate, complex mechanisms of expression. Can you make the South African click? How many of your relatives can be named by their relationship to you? Is there, for example, a different name for the sister of your mother than the sister of your father? Do these names reach the level of third cousins? Is there a special name for the eldest child? What is the difference between a chief and a chieftain? Why are there two different words? How many ways of making the future tense exist among the world’s languages?  (Answer: hundreds)

It develops your brain power: Research has suggested that learning to speak other languages provides mental gymnastics which refine your thinking powers.  Research also suggests that the more languages you learn, the easier it is to learn yet another.

Given humanity’s depressing failures at maintaining peace and a healthy ecology, humility should be one of our most treasured qualities.  Crystal quotes Shakespeare, “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,/Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”  Amen.

If knowing a second, third, or fourth language in any way diminished us, there would be a reason to support monolingualism, but the human mind is capable of mastering numerous languages.  An African student of mine said he spoke 11 languages because his father had 11 wives, each from a different tribe, and he was raised by all 11.  We don’t need to embrace polygamy to be multilingual.  All it takes is the will.

endangered languages, linguistics, linguistics in the classroom, multilingualism

endangered languages, multilingualism