The Death of Language

Language is always changing and language is always dying. I heard the other day that over 5,000 languages were dying daily, that is such a large number, I decided to investigate that in this post. If language=culture, like most of my professors repeat habitually to their students, then cultures are dying more rapidly than "endangered animals." Now, I am really hoping that animal rights activists don't get hung up on that one minor point that I make, but I must say that humans, in my opinion, are MUCH more valuable than animals.

According to the UNESCO Language Map, there are 75 languages in the North American region that are critically endangered of becoming extinct. However, we know that many of the reasons in the United States is because English has gained dominance. There are other places in the World, where languages die due to the one 90 year-old woman in the village getting sick and dying.

Here's a story of an Indian woman in Alaska who died. This article claims that the status of English as a global language is driving others to speak their first language (L1) less and less. The 2nd Language (L2) is conquering the languages, making this an unstable time for smaller cultures to hold onto their L1.

There are somewhere between 3,000 and 10,000 languages alive in the World, so the number of 5,000 languages dying per day cannot be true. I believe that 2-3 per month die, which sounds much more reasonable.

Aside from the figures, how does that affect the masterplan of the World. It seems that extinction of languages is relatively normal, we all know about Latin as an extinct language. Everyone seems so surprised that this language has died, though reasons stem from ethnocentrism, I believe. Latin has deep roots with the Catholic church, which is a portion of American culture, whether we want to directly believe it or not.

Back to the Master Plan. If we look at other scientific items, such as evolution, we see scientists scurrying to find the answers to how existence came to be. Linguists sometimes search for similar answers, "How is language born?" Answers have not yet been found, only theories. I see a commonality between the two scholarly sectors, searching for answers that may not be found except through a look through the lens of a Holy God.

Languages are dying. People are dying. I see much more hype about the latest endangered animal, than the endangered person. Those who have my perspective, know what I'm talking about. The heart is the issue at stake, how is every tribe tongue and nation getting to the destination with me just sitting around on my couch typing this post?