posted by Sam Richards
It’s rather sobering to think that there are upwards to half of the approximately 7,000 languages that are used in the world today will no longer be spoken by the time time twenty-something college students are lowered into the ground. Another language, one of the world’s oldest, just gave up the ghost the other day when the last remaining speaker died. I supposed that it’s not as devastating as the earthquake in Haiti, all things considered, but there is something existentially unnerving about knowing that a complex form of communication that brought so many people together over so many centuries is lost forever. And maybe I’m too sentimental…and maybe I’m just feeling the effects of living in a time of rapid social, economic, and environmental transformation.
I don’t think we “should” feel some sort of way about this. But I do think it’s worth setting aside our phones and remotes and pondering that nobody will EVER hear these words spoken…ever again. If you don’t feel something about that, then perhaps you’re just not tapped into this particular mystery.
Check out this article from the BBC: The Tragedy of Dying Languages
It is actually really sad to learn that this language has come to an end. I do agree that our world is rapidly changing and it is unfortunate that a language that was so dear to a tribe has now slowly died off. Language is one of the many things that brings people together and is a way of life for the tribe. It is kind of depressing to think that so many things that have been around in the past are not as likely to stick around for the future. It makes you wonder which things will last that long.
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This article was very interesting to me when I went through and read it. To think that languages that people have been using for many years to communicate are now nonexistent is very hard to comprehend. I mean imagine if English was suddenly not around anymore. These languages that people used to live their daily lives are no longer known to anyone is hard to imagine. It is very sad to hear of the passing of Bo and the language that her tribe used to use. Its a shame she could not have passed this language onto to someone else so that it could have lived on for a longer period of time. The fact that all of these languages will be lost in such a short amount of time is in fact extremely disturbing. I feel as though there are still many things we can learn from these native languages. Many stories have been written and passed down over time in these languages and now they will no longer be remembered and go down with the languages as only memories. I agree with the article that there are still many things to be learned from all of these different types of languages. Every language has something to add to our preexisting knowledge of grammar and language. We talked about this in my English class and how many languages evolved from one another and took different parts of each language to create their own. What if by these languages dying we never come across something in our own language. Many letters in our own alphabet for example come from Latin or the Greek alphabet. Had it not been for these languages we may not have some of the words we currently do in English. I feel as though something has to be done to help stop this tragedy from occurring. I think one thing that could be done would to be teach these languages to other people so they can live on and be passed down for many years to come. There is still an endless amount of stuff we can learn from all of these languages and this would be a good step to make sure we do learn stuff. While I know it is not as easy as this I feel like we should at least try something to help preserver these other native languages. In doing this I feel that we as a society can learn stuff and benefit from past experiences and stories of other people. Learning their language may be the only way we could learn such facts so it is important to act now and save these dying languages. It is an astounding number to think that nearly half of the 7,000 spoken languages will not be around in less than one hundred years. These are languages that helped to govern and run a whole society of people. It is really sad to think of it in this way. Up until this article I had no idea this was such a serious problem, but now knowing the facts I believe that something has to be done to change this downward trend in our societies.
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DennisD2010 Reply:
February 12th, 2010 at 10:52 pm
You make a really good point when you say that languages often evolve from pervious, older languages. It would be weird to think that some of our English words would not be in existence if it had not been for Latin or Greek, or even other lesser known languages. It falls into the category of how we attempt to preserve endangered animals in hopes to save the species, because a lot can be learned from the one species (much in the same that a lot can be learned from a language) and entire ecosystems could be effected by the loss of a species. This isn’t to say that we treat some people like animals, but if we took the time and the effort to preserve a language like we do an animal, maybe the language would still be inexistence today.
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I just spent the entire summer studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain. Throughout the course of time in Europe I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to travel to several other countries, such as Italy, The Czech Republic, The Netherlands, England, Ireland, and France. Throughout my life I’ve also been able to visit the Bahamas, Dominican Republic, and Mexico as well. I can honestly say that every time I have traveled to a new destination it was a complete culture shock. I never knew what to expect and it has always been exciting for me to learn about different people, their languages, and the ways they go about living their lives. I remember my visit to Prague where my friends and got a lesson in Czech from our bicycle tour guide. We sat with him for about an hour after our tour was over because we couldn’t get enough of how different and complex the language was. It’s truly fascinating to think about how many different languages are spoken in the world. I’ve been lucky enough to get a taste of quite a few and it’s really made me more eager to learn new languages other than the “Americanized Spanish” I was taught throughout high school.
This blog post really saddened me and got me thinking about a lot of things. I think the saying is true, that we don’t realize the value of things we have until they are gone. I think something that people really need to take away from this blog, which I think we often forget/don’t realize, is than language is more than just the words that are spoken. Yes, language is how we ultimately communicate with one another, but it’s also a way of life and it ties people together in a very meaningful way that has tremendous importance (that we often take for granted). Our language is one of the defining characteristics that makes us who we are and like many others have said in their blog posts, as languages continue to fade away so will the facts, traditions, history, values, way of life, and culture that they hold. I had to put myself in this situation, so I thought about how I would feel if the English language slowly became nonexistent and if I was left as the last person standing in the same sense that this woman was. I would be terrified, uncomfortable, depressed, and most importantly alone. I can’t even begin to imagine what it would be like to have no one understand me or how difficult it would be to even live life in general.
It’s strange to think that languages are slowly disappearing across the world. To be honest, I never really thought about this happening prior to this blog post by Sam. As places become more and more diverse across the world, it’s inevitable that cultures will change and languages will somehow evolve/transform/vanish. I’m not necessarily sure if there’s a definite way to prevent this from occurring completely, but I do think we need to make more of an effort to preserve languages. I think universities have done a fairly decent job at this in the sense that they offer many different language courses as options to students. For example, I know Penn State offers Chinese, Arabic, Greek, Japanese, Hebrew, Korean, etc. However, high schools could branch out and give students more/different language alternatives. I remember my high school only gave us the option of Italian, French, or Spanish and after we passed the regents exam in tenth grade we no longer had to continue on. I think schools should require students to take a language starting in middle school and to continue to take a class each quarter/semester until college graduation. This would make us more culturally aware and more educated. As far as ancient languages go, I think schools should make time to teach students about them. They have helped in shaping the most common languages today, so it’s just as important, if not more, to learn the history behind them as well.
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It is a lot like an endangered species becoming extinct. But I really think new languages are being created as old ones are leaving. Within our own country we all speak English. However I could say things in the south and no one would have a clue what I am talking about and vice versa. Even Pittsburgh has its own accent. One could argue with the increase of globalization we are creating a more universal form of communication but I still think new dialects are forming all the time. It’s great to be able to communicate with everyone but having a unique culture is great too and losing that is sad.
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I love that all these topics make me think about things I have never even thought of in my life. It is really interesting to me that someone who has gone through so much in her life and dealt with so many things did not pass her language onto someone in her family. Maybe I am just being naïve about the difficulty in teaching a language or maybe there is some other explanation but I know that if I was getting older and older and knew that I was the last person who knew English, it would leave me very disturbed. I could not imagine knowing that the second I am gone, one of the world’s oldest languages would die with me. It makes me wonder why she never taught her children or relatives, and how did a language of such incredible history just die.
It is crazy to think about how many languages have already been lost over the years and how many will be lost in the future. I find language to be so interesting because it is so complex. I barely understand the English language, one that I have spoken for eighteen years and yet there are people creating new ones. It must be so difficult to create a language and to think that after so much work into such a complex thing is lost forever is an unsettling feeling. I am glad that the linguist made tapes of the Bo language to keep it in the history books. It makes me wonder why this did not happen sooner and why just one person took an interest in saving the knowledge of this language alive. This woman has been through so much in her life dealing with the tsunami and I am sure that knowing that someone was taking an interest in recording the Bo language made her happy.
If something as big as one of the oldest languages is lost forever, this makes me wonder what else is lost over time that no one realizes. I am sure that tons of fascinating inventions, tools, and cultural rituals have disappeared throughout time. But really, what can we do? With so much diversity in the world, there ought to be some point when there are too many languages to keep track of. Even though certain languages are disappearing and thousands more will be gone soon in the next century, new ones will be made. New cultures will develop their own languages that differ from those in history. This topic is one that makes me sad, yet appreciate my own language. Because who knows, the English language might eventually disappear over many, many years and never be spoken again.
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I have never really thought of the idea that maybe one day, someone would be the last to speak a language that existed many centuries ago. I never thought that the ways we communicate could be so important and I feel like I have taken it for granted. We come from a world where technology is becoming more advance faster, where old communication channels are being challenged. For example, social networks that include Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, and many more make it much easier to type what we want than actually say what we want. We tend to hide behind this new knowledge of technological advances.
It would be a devastation to be the last of your tribe. Your culture, language, and live history are perishing when you do. I wonder what it would be like if the English language one day disappeared. I wonder if it is ever possible. The world we once knew would be diminished without anyone actually knowing what to think of it. I guess many languages are slowly disappearing as dominant languages are taking over the world. In fifty odd years, most people will be speaking English, Spanish, or Mandarin Chinese soon. It would be sad if my cultural language were to disappear.
I grew up talking to my parents in Vietnamese and slowly develop a sense of pride in speaking it. I was once told that I speak at a first grade level where my sentences are short and simple. I would like to one day expand upon my language in order to sound more intelligent and be able to understand my parents better. It’s hard having a language barrier to begin with.
The idea of a language being past down from generations is intriguing. I wonder how the woman communicated with the other people since there were so many surrounding her. I think the language could have made it to another generation but no one took the initiative to preserve it. She wouldn’t have had a lonely life then. She would have a better purpose in her culture. I mean, I’m sure it took her tribe many years or even a century to develop her language. It’s hard to imagine losing what’s left of it and not being to re teach it to anyone else.
In conclusion, it’s a sad story but what are words anyways. They are made up sounds that have made up meanings. These meanings become sentences that involve grammar. It’s a long process. It just takes too long to spread it from generation to generation. I’m not saying that this particular language doesn’t matter. I ‘m just reiterating the fact that languages come and go through history. It even dates back to the ancient pyramids times. It’s a nature occurrence when preservation isn’t achieved.
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The article argues that after the death of the last speaker of a particular language, ancient stories, myths and rituals are vanished. I do not see that to be true at all. Yes, there is some “culturalness” lost when the stories are translated into another language, such as English, but as long as the stories stay intact and original, what is the big deal? To me, language is just a means of communicating our thoughts to one another. What difference does it make whether the language that we use to communicate is modern day English or a 60,000 year old language?
I may sound arrogant, but who really cares how the Yupik of Alaska name 99 distinct sea ice formations or how the Tofa of Siberia classify reindeer. If people really care that much then they should document the language or terms used for such items. This way the language is preserved.
The article argues that many people think that there is nothing to learn from people who a generation ago were hunter-gathers and that someday that information that we never knew may some day save us. I feel that that statement is completely overdramatized. Who is to say that you can not translate any useful advice, tools, stories, etc. and pass those down in another language? What difference does it make?
Do not get me wrong, I am all about preserving culture, stories, myths, etc. but I feel that these can all continue through another language channel. Let us take our own American history for example. In elementary schools, young American children learn about the Aztecs, the Incas, and the Mayas, their traditions, beliefs, their hunting techniques, even their religion. I can only speak for myself but I feel like I have a pretty deep understanding of their ways and cultures, and I do not speak Spanish. Do I think that if I spoke Spanish I would have interpreted the stories differently, or I would have a different view on the Aztecs, the Incas, or the Mayas? Absolutely not. I would appreciate their culture just the same as I do now.
If all of these sociological and cultural groups are so concerned with loosing ancient stories, cultures, and myths then they should talk to the ancestors that are left here today, understand their ancestor’s culture, and document it. This way, these ancient languages, stories, and religions are kept and stored forever.
As I watched the video clip of the ancient language and the words that the woman was saying, I was able to understand her culture and her story through a translator. As long as they have a recording of the language, and they were one day able to translate the language, this woman could have told all of her ancient stories and had them be safe forever.
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One of the largest fallacies in our society is the belief that the best methods of acquiring knowledge are all driven by technology. In reality, we all stand to learn the most from what has preceded us. We need to stop and take a look around us once in awhile, respect what has come before us in order to maintain an honorable and sustainable way of life. Sustainability should be the main goal of all humans, for what gives you precedence over any one of your relatives who will come after you?
I believe and hope that current technology is able to preserve the last of all dying breeds. We need to utilize our abilities and technologies in order to preserve languages like that of the Bo tribe. These people have been on this Earth for over 65,000 years. We have been in "America" for slightly over 200 years, get the picture? That is 65,000 years of knowledge, culture, uniquely informative experiences, and traditions completely lost into the depths of the Pacific. I was shocked last year from reading a book titled "Learning from Ladakh" when I realized the kinds of lessons to be learned from present day societies who have not changed with the world around them. The areas that have escaped the prying hands of mercantilism and capitalism are the ones which we need to study the most. We need to have their perspective in order to value our own way of life.
The people in Ladakh and other peoples like the Bo tribe have inhabited some of the most unrelenting areas on this Earth, and have adapted their own ways of living in order to survive. The people of Ladakh have been so sustainable, that until recently, their country remained outside of the reach of Western hands. On the other hand, maybe the people of Ladakh have remained outside the reach of capitalism because they are so sustainable.
The book brought about ideas that challenged the status quo. It proved that people do live in ways that Americans would quickly label "primitive" yet it lacked the negative externalities like alcoholism, rape, and greed which rip apart families in America every day. If we all took a step back and asked ourselves, why do we always need to consume more? Why do we enable capitalism and its associated ideas to dominate our lives? I believe the answer to this question is complicated, but stems from people's ignorance. Most Americans have all been raised and barraged with ideas like mass production, globalization, and consumerism as forces that are necessary in our world. They are not. We need to broaden our considerations and really take a good look at what we believe is important in our culture.
Likewise, we need to value what we stand to lose here. Every day, valuable culture and languages are to be lost forever. When a piece of human history is lost for one culture, every human on this Earth is affected in one way or another. The impact may not be obvious, but we need to understand the interconnectivity of all our actions, across the world.
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I am actually really glad that this was posted on the blog because I think it is something that could have easily went unnoticed and not gotten any attention at all. I have to admit that when I first saw this I listened and watched somewhat nonchalantly. It didn’t hit me at first but there is a subtle, unspoken message that can be taken away from this. It’s really quite unfortunate that a language of the world, one that has existed for thousands and thousands of years and served as a means of communication for countless people throughout history, has died. I think this raises several questions about society as a whole. Almost like an endangered species that is protected and preserved with hopes that it will flourish again, how did people not recognize that the language was dwindling and act accordingly to hopefully prevent the death of the language? I think that society has to be questioned in this aspect. It also brings to mind the way in which cultures and societies are assimilating and, in some aspects, losing their individuality. It makes me think about how people associate the English language with power and wealth. It is almost understood that if you can’t speak English, you are going to be on the outside of global affairs. I am not sure why this is the case, but I know that when I studied abroad, everyone that I met knew English well enough to converse with an American. And about half of them knew the language just as well as I did. Yet how many Americans know a second language? Not nearly as many, I can assure you that. There really is nothing that says that English is a superior language to all the rest, but somehow society thinks so. However, at the same time, there are thousands of languages, be they spoken widely or in a small tribe, that are being lost. The main goal of a language is to communicate between two people, whether it’s with hand signals, English, Spanish or clicks of the tongue. They all serve the same purpose. Going one step further, they all tell something about the culture in which they are spoken. I think a language has a much deeper meaning then just words. It is rooted deeply in culture and when the language is lost, a small part of the culture is lost and I think humanity takes a hit. One thing that makes humans so unique is that they are all so very different, yet genetically/biologically they are all the same. Cultural differences enable humans to stand out from the masses and be unique. I think we, as humans, need to do our best to prevent languages from dying out in the future.
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It is strange to think that an entire language can just disappear because of what it took to create it. Language is more than just people making sounds to each other. It is something that's created by the way a culture is set up. But every language is constantly changing to adapt to the culture. So while it is weird to think that there are some words that no people anywhere may ever be heard again, keep in mind that an entire language does not have to die for this to happen. There are many languages that are still spoken that words have been lost from just because they are not necessary anymore.
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I think that the topic of language is extremely interesting. While I do think that it is sad that this language will no longer be spoken ever again, I also believe that it is a part of human civilization. Languages are constantly changing. Think about this: What we know as the English language has changed so drastically over the years. I read in a textbook from another class that we would be able to have a conversation with Shakespeare, but it would not come naturally for us because of how English has changed. To have a conversation with the author who wrote Beowulf (Anglo-Saxon English) would be pretty much impossible. It is still English but it is drastically different from the one that we are familiar with. I could bet in the future, long after we are gone, English will become unrecognizable to us. This is just the way language works.
It is disheartening to know that this language will never, ever be spoken again. I do, however, think that it is almost cool (for lack of better words) that we are able to have records of dead languages through technology. There are many languages that died during a time that we were unable to have any record of them at all. Those are truly the dead languages. This language, although it is now unspoken, will be able to be preserved so that linguists and scientists will be able to study the tribe and it’s culture. I guess what I’m trying to say is that this culture is not dead, simply because the language is gone. We are fortunate enough to live in a world that can acknowledge the fact that this language existed and learn to grow from it.
We also need to acknowledge why this language died. There must have been a reason why this woman did not teach anyone her language. It is almost like Darwin’s theory of Survival of the Fittest. Another language was needed for her survival, thus it was not important that she passed on this language. This is the way of the world; we adapt as human beings to better our chance at life. That is why language is always changing.
Language defines us as human beings. I agree with Sam when he says: “I don’t think we ‘should’ feel some sort of way about this.” You can feel whatever emotion you want to feel about this, but I do think that we should all take the time to pause and really think about just how powerful language is and what it means for human beings.
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I was really surprised when I read this article. I never heard of this happening and I guess I just never really thought it could. A language disappearing, that just sounds impossible. Although, I only speak one language (with a little bit of Spanish) I have always found other languages fascinating. It is weird to think about the fact that there are so many languages in existence that the majority of people in the world do not know about. Sure we all know about the normal Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, and Hebrew and so on but most people or at least I rarely remember the existence of all the tribal languages that are out there. After reading this I really began to wonder how we could simply just loose a language. Our entire lives growing up we travel to museums and read in our history books learning about the discoveries of ancient languages and tribes and most importantly how important it is that we preserve such discoveries.
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Well knowing that I wondered why we don’t document and preserve all the languages and different aspects of the thousands of cultures among us today? Yes there was someone who went to document this Boa woman and her telling stories and singing songs in her language but without this video would there be any proof that this language even existed? I don’t know this is just a very thought provoking topic. This video was interesting hearing this woman’s stories from inside the tsunami. This was a big topic back in 2004 and to hear from someone who witnessed it was interesting. She kept referring to the elders in her story which showed that in their culture they truly respect their elder members and trusts the wisdom they share with the rest of the culture.
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When Sam wrote that upwards to half of the approximately 7,000 languages that are used in the world today will no longer be spoken by the time me and my fellow graduates die was extremely shocking. Yes I am only nineteen years old but my life will not be that long. To think in that short amount of time we can lose such a large amount of culture is unreal. Also I was thinking that the pictures shown in the video, there are others with the woman. Are they not from her tribe? Or did they just die before her? I am a little confused as to how the language can just end with this woman. My thoughts would be that she had to have passed it on to her children or some younger members of her tribe. I always just thought languages could fade out by the people knowing them just choosing to use another language. I never even thought about a language simply dying along with the death of one human being.
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this is a topic i never really thought would be possible that a whole language could just stop to exist. i never knew there were 1000 languages let alone 7 times that. it is just weird to think that maybe someday way in the future that English you be gone and extinct and no one would even know the difference i like do with this story. i don't agree with the whole cultural dying off because people wear off on other people and tradition is still there and will slowly change but will be there like we have today. i just another thing i stopped to look and see how much difference there really is in the world.
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Before reading this article and watching the video, the thought of languages completely disappearing never really crossed my mind. In fact, I somewhat did not even know such a thing existed. I did know that languages have built upon each other over time and that many started with basic symbols for sounds. Eventually we came to what is today’s alphabet and we now use these letters to make words and those words to make sentences and to create a language. However the idea that one day there might be only one person remaining who can speak the English language that I know seems way to far-fetched and abstract to my mind. But regardless, it is a reality that other languages in which many people (including myself) are completely unaware of are vanishing. The article states that about half of the worlds 7,000 languages are currently in danger of disappearing. This is huge. Although the language aspect is a big deal, what boggles my mind even more is the thought that the cultures of these people are most likely disappearing as well. When I stop and think about the situation I wonder how such a thing could happen. I feel as though cultures and languages get passed down from generation to generation naturally, but I guess this is not the case. In the article they speak of Johnny and his experiences with his tribe. It says that Johnny has tried to teach the children and other individuals of the tribe, but when it all comes down to it, nobody wants to come around and work at it. This results in Johnny not even having one person to talk to that speaks this same language. And as I said before, even deeper than just the language aspect is the fact that the culture, traditions and stories of this tribe are most likely being lost too. This goes to show that language and other parts of culture are not naturally passed down. For many, it is something that needs to be learned and worked on.
Looking from a bigger picture, I can agree and say that I think part of the reason why languages are being lost is due to globalization. Quite honestly, just as quickly as I said that English diminishing is far-fetched, I can say that with todays technology and forms of communication, it may not be all that foreign of a possibility. Each year more and more communication is done through ways that are not face-to-face. People call, text, email, web chat, whatever it may be but each year less and less physical interactions are made between people. Over time, maybe it wouldn’t be so odd to see many of the “popular” languages starting to diminish. Just as easily as I think it couldn’t happen, it most definitely can. I don’t necessarily believe that globalization is a bad thing and that we need to end this in order to save languages, but I do think that younger generations should start stepping up to the plate in order to keep many of the dying cultures and languages alive.
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Let me first start off by saying Rest in Peace to the old lady and the language. Wow this amazing! How could this possibly happen? I am sure there were generations after this lady. I personally think this could have been avoided. She is pictured standing with people, why couldn't she teach them, so this language could continue on to infinity. I would have been more than happy to learn it if i was in their position. I guess the old lady knew that eventually this language would die so I am happy she left behind songs, stories and poems. therefore there is still documentation that her family members and the world can have to cherish.
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Language is very important to one culture and it should be passed on from generation to generation. It is one of the factors that distinct a group from other cultures. After reading this post and watching the video, I found it to be very sad and devastating that societies are leaving the ancient cultures goes down to drain, especially languages. What got me even more confused and had my thinking while watching the video clip is, why wasn’t the language past on? I know there should be more generations after Boa Sr. I believe language is something that takes efforts and thoughts to be put together; therefore, it should be something that should live on for a very longtime or better yet, forever! Losing a language in losing a very important part of a culture and when it is lost, not only do the group losses communication, they also loss identity, and unity.
I feel like the leading cause of a loss of language comes from society or people not respecting or acknowledging that particular culture. Therefore, the young generations are ashamed or found it wasteful to practice that culture. For example, I have some African friends who are living in the United State that adapted to the American culture rather than their homeland culture because they are ashamed that people would not understand them or they will become more accepted. Therefore they refused to learn the language or engage with anything of their African culture. This occurs not only in America, but everywhere in the world. In most countries, there are certain good of people or tribes that people look down on or do not acknowledge. Therefore, it may have an effect on the language being passed down to future generation. For example, the younger generation may feel like there is no to adapt to that culture because they are afraid of discrimination.
I think knowing or specking another language is a beautiful thing and one so not be deprived from it. I believe that language is one of the factors that distinct you from other people and it show who you are. With that said, if there are any descendants of this particular tribe that Boa Sr belong to, they should be very ashamed of themselves for not keep an important access left behind be their ancestors. I do think anyone should give up their culture and values because of society influence or anything else. It is very sad to know that something that people work so hard to create had been lost forever! Language is one of the things that are supposed to live forever. It should be passed on to generation! Rest in Peace Boa Sr.
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This is so crazy to think about. I think it’s so sad to know that the language will never be spoken again. Though English is a wide known language, I imagine it being tragic if the language were ever to die out. This makes me think about the movie National Treasure 2. In the movie Nicholas Cage’s character had to find out what the ancient inscribing meant. There were only a handful of people in the world who knew the language, one of which was his mother. Just think, thousands of people spoke the language and communicated all their life, and one day the language will probably never be heard of.
When thinking about this last remaining person who spoke this ancient language, I wonder if he knew a second language. How did he/she speak to anyone when they were the only person alive who spoke a certain language? When a language dies, I almost feel as if a piece of history died. We study archaeology and we dig up artifacts and study them. How will anyone ever know of this ancient language when finding the cultures belongings? Will we ever be able to connect to these ancient people?
I guess I am having a hard time grasping how the language died out. When thinking about English, or Spanish or Chinese, cultures in which there are millions of fluent speakers, I don’t ever see the languages dying. It makes me wonder if there were ever really that many fluent speakers of this old language.
This circumstance also reminds me of The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2. How do we measure when someone’s death becomes scientific and not meaningful? In the movie Bridget responds by saying “when the last person they knew died.” There must not have been anyone who knew the last speaker of the ancient ghost language. How did he communicate? It truly saddens me that these people will never be recognized in any way because nobody will be able to study their language when no one is around to teach it.
I don’t understand why nobody ever went to study the language so they could record it in history. In my opinion I would feel so cool knowing I’d be one of the only people alive to know an ancient language. I’m beginning to think that maybe the older generations of the ghost language encouraged their offspring to learn a more common language so they could be connected to the world wide globe. However, when the younger generations learned a second language, they in return made that second language their own offspring’s’ first language. It’s disheartening that while learning a new language, their native culture was lost along the way.
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This article is interesting but I honestly do not see it as that important of an issue. Things disappear and end all the time in today’s world. Don’t get me wrong, it is sad to see things come to an end but its part of life. Things end and new things begin every day. As we become increasingly connected via worldwide telecommunications things have become more singular. To me as the globe becomes more connected less and less languages will be needed to communicate making it easy to get things done. Who is to say this is right or wrong and either way it is likley it is going to happen.
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I am going to have to agree that it is a sad occurrence when a language dies out. The death of a language goes hand in hand with the death of a culture. I believe that language is above anything else the most key part of a peoples’ culture. Above food, above dress, above customs, language is something that gives all members of a culture something in common. Having said this, maybe it is right to think of language as a person. Everything dies; everything has to come to an end, so even though a language has died, all of us should do the best that we can to honor it and to remember it for as long as we humanly can.
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I never really thought about the fact that the world has gradually begun to lose some of its ancient languages. It is sad to think that all of those thousands of stories, tales, myths, legends and history that was passed down from generation to generation through language are gone from those native speakers who has passed on. I agree that there is just so much we could learn from these languages about human history and existence, and by allowing these languages to die out we are selling ourselves short of knowing things we could better understand through the use of different languages. I hope that people will begin to embrace new languages and at least care enough to preserve them as long as we can. The native speakers of these languages could hold the key to many things and would only add to the overall knowledge of the world and how things work and fit together. I know that the world looks to move forward and that wasting the time to learn a language that won't really help them, but people forget the importance of history. English was built from many languages put together and now it is one of the most spoken languages in the world. We take these things for granted. Forgetting that without those base languages that are being lost we would not be communicating at all. We need to preserve our history and respect those who have come before us and that means embracing their languages as well.
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I feel as if when a language such as this one completely dies away with its last speaker, that the culture dies along with it. Language s are a significant component to culture and way of life and its death is absolutely tragic. Someone can study a language or a culture as much as they like, but they will never really know the true essence of it if its speakers and those who lived it first hand are no longer alive. It’s almost as if it never existed, and can be passed off as a fairy tale or a story that starts with “once upon a time, in a faraway land.” A language breathes life into a lifestyle and gives it a voice, whether it be eloquent words or primal grunts. It’s a sad thought, but eventually all of the languages of today, including English, will eventually meet this heartbreaking fate.
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I read about this woman and the loss of a language earlier this week and thought then that this was sad. I realize that there are a lot of languages spoken around the world and that it would be almost impossible to document all of them; but wouldn't it be amazing if we could? It is strange to think that when these people are growing up their family and friends all speak the same language as them and then slowly they are the last ones standing. I guess it would be kind of like a father having all daughters and his family name dying with him when he goes. That is very depressing, in my opinion. The language was theirs, but I think the real wonder of knowing your native language is to be able to teach your children that same language. But in that article, it was a good point to say that when it came time to actually learning a language, no one was willing to spend the time and effort to do it. I think it is the same way here at Penn State. I hear students all the time saying, "oh thank God I am done with my language requirements." or "I'm so glad I got language out of the way in high school."
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I understand that language may take up time and hours needed to study other core classes, but I think it is important for people to speak another language besides their own native language. Learning another language and about another culture opens up a person to new ideas, opportunites, and better experiences if going abroad. I am an Italian minor and went to Italy this past spring to study abroad and I think I got more out of it than my roommates because I was the only one that could actually communicate with the local residents. I already knew so much about their culture and how to not piss them off and I just felt like i belonged.
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My one friend is trilingual: she speaks English, French, and Bulgarian is her native language. It is amazing to me how much she can observe about different peoples from all the experiences she has had in Bulgaria, US, and France. I don't want to say we're 'worldly' because neither of us has traveled enough to be considered that, but I think the two of us have seen and experienced a lot of different things via the languages that we chose to study and learn here at Penn State. I think it's important for people to remember that language is part of our identities and when we learn we build on ourselves and expand our minds.
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When I first read this article it made me sad to think that we are slowly losing languages that have been around for years because the last living ancestor has passed away. Hearing the woman in the video speaking the Bo language was interesting and saddening all at the same times because no one will ever hear that language again.
Except then I though about it mentioning the linguist recording her singing and telling stories. Doesn’t that mean that Anvita Abbi knows the Bo language and how to understand it if she is translating it in order for the old woman to share her stories. Plus, she is pictured a few times surrounded by other people that she looks like she is interacting with. Doesn’t that mean she is communicating with them in some way and they understand her? I think that maybe part of the language is dead, but there have to be some people in the world that can speak and understand some of it if they are able to translate it for a video.
When they were talking about the last people who speak a specific “dying” language you have to feel some-what bad for them. If they truly only speak that language I can understand them being lonely and having no one to talk to. But then it goes right back to the communication part. If they can have someone quote them for saying they are lonely with no one to talk to then clearly there is a problem. Either one is fluent in the language or the lonely sole knows another language he can communicate in, which wouldn’t make him lonely at all.
Maybe I am reading into this too much and they are just trying to say the last people to rely on these certain languages are now dead and have taken their fluency with them. Take Latin for example, which is considered a dead language, but it is taught in schools and they hold conventions for people who can speak it all the time. It is called a dead language, but people use it all the time. I just think the term dead language is very misleading and many people could take it the wrong way, possibly like I did.
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When I first read this article it made me sad to think that we are slowly losing languages that have been around for years because the last living ancestor has passed away. Hearing the woman in the video speaking the Bo language was interesting and saddening all at the same times because no one will ever hear that language again.
Except then I though about it mentioning the linguist recording her singing and telling stories. Doesn’t that mean that Anvita Abbi knows the Bo language and how to understand it if she is translating it in order for the old woman to share her stories. Plus, she is pictured a few times surrounded by other people that she looks like she is interacting with. Doesn’t that mean she is communicating with them in some way and they understand her? I think that maybe part of the language is dead, but there have to be some people in the world that can speak and understand some of it if they are able to translate it for a video.
When they were talking about the last people who speak a specific “dying” language you have to feel some-what bad for them. If they truly only speak that language I can understand them being lonely and having no one to talk to. But then it goes right back to the communication part. If they can have someone quote them for saying they are lonely with no one to talk to then clearly there is a problem. Either one is fluent in the language or the lonely sole knows another language he can communicate in, which wouldn’t make him lonely at all.
Maybe I am reading into this too much and they are just trying to say the last people to rely on these certain languages are now dead and have taken their fluency with them. Take Latin for example, which is considered a dead language, but it is taught in schools and they hold conventions for people who can speak it all the time. It is called a dead language, but people use it all the time. I just think the term dead language is very misleading and many people could take it the wrong way, possibly like I did.
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I found this article to be very intriguing for it brought up ideas that I have honestly never considered before. Language is a key element to communication. I mean, how many conversations do you have in a day? Think about it. Without language, various forms of technology would all be useless. What would people read? Sure, we can look at pictures on a computer screen and figure it out from there, but we’d only have that? How terrible would it be to have a limit to communication?
I feel like the use of these different languages are being taken advantage of. I mean, how often do you think about something that comes so natural to you? Words. I wouldn’t be able to communicate on this blog if it wasn’t for the use of the English language, would I? And to read this compelling story about this woman who was the last of her tribe, it is truly a reality check for me. It is really sad to know that there are just so many languages that are spoken in this world today and slowly they are all dying out.
My parents were both born and raised in the Philippines. Their parents, grandparents, great-grandparents and so on were in the Philippine Islands for all of their life. This being said, my cousins and I are the first American-born children. For an American, I can say that I actually do know a lot about my parents’ “homeland”. I have visited all parts of the Philippines throughout my life and I have learned so much about the lifestyle my parents had and their culture.
Ever since I was little, my parents did all they could to teach me about the Filipino culture. I can say that I actually do fit in whenever I visit the Philippines. I grew up eating rice everyday, just as plenty of other Asian Americans would. I also grew up eating popular Filipino dishes, singing Filipino songs, dancing traditional Filipino dances, etc. Even though I did not grow up in the Philippines, I feel like I have a good grasp of their culture. However, the one thing that I am not capable of is having a full conversation in Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, with another Filipino. And because of this, I can definitely relate to this article.
It’s a shame to know that there are more than one hundred dialects and I am not fluent in the national language, my parents’ first language. And on top of knowing Tagalog, they each know one dialect each. And because they did not grow up in the same island in the Philippines, their dialects sound very different from each other. Sure I know bits and pieces of each dialect and I can understand the majority of words in Tagalog, but I am terrible of configuring and structuring a sentence.
Because I live in America, I speak English. I can fully understand and respond to the English language. So what are my children going to be speaking? Chances are, they are not going to be speaking my parents’ language and dialects. If I don’t fluently speak in Tagalog, the chances of generations after me speaking Tagalog is quite slim. Slowly but surely, languages are going to disappear. It’s a sad story, but one day, it is bound to happen.
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First off, I was really surprised to learn that so many languages are going to go extinct in the next 60 years or so. It's startling to think of how much our world must be changing for so many civilizations to be losing their native languages. Also, it is sad that with each language that dies, a group of people's culture and ideas die with it. Also, like the article said, we are losing knowledge of sorts, when we lose a language. Each language has not only its own words, but its own way of describing the world. I think that it would be good to make an effort to preserve the languages, even if just for the people of that culture's sake. So much is lost in the modern world, that it's sad that languages are part of the loss.
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On a day to do basis I never really stop to think about how language affects my life. Every day I communicate with other people all around me and I am lucky that they are able to understand me and communicate with me as well. I have the slightest minute idea what its like to be in a place where people do not understand me, being that I have traveled to foreign countries in which there have been people who do not speak my language and do not understand me and therefore are unable to communicate with me. But overall this idea is very unfamiliar to me. So when I read Sam’s blog post about this woman who past away and was the last person to speak the Bo tribal language, it really blew my mind. First it blew my mind thinking about the fact that for some period of time she was the only one who spoke her language. I’m sure she learned how to speak other languages to compensate for the fact that no one spoke her own, but it makes me so sad thinking about the fact that there could ever be a person in that situation. This is hard to fathom in general, let alone being an American where everyone around you speaks your language, as well as other people not native to America. Secondly, what it really got me thinking about besides the fact that this woman had to live for a period of time knowing she could never really converse with anyone in her native tongue again, is the fact that along with this language, most likely a whole entire sub-culture has died. Although I am not personally familiar with the Bo tribal language and their culture, I think it is not to hard too assume that if their language is dead, so is most of their cultures and beliefs. While you could argue that a language is just a language, like Sam has in class, pointing out that words only have meaning because we give them meaning, I still think they are important because they are all created by different people at different times and have different culture backgrounds. It also makes me wonder how many people out there are in the same or similar predicament, where they are one of if not the only one left who speaks their language. I also wonder if there is really anything you could do to prevent the death of your language if you were in that situation? Would teaching others how to speak it potentially save it? Or even if that would work and you could teach people how to speak your language would it even be worth it? Because even if someone speaks your language, it does not mean that they will understand the cultural background of how that language came to be. Ultimately although we cannot save the Bo Tribal language I think it is important the we are aware of situations like these so that we can document the language and cultures that they come from while they still exist.
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“Nobody will EVER hear these words spoken…ever again.” Those words really hit me hard. To imagine the words that we say every day and don’t even think twice about could some day disappear, is unbelievable. It really makes you realize how much we take language for granite. We don’t realize that something that comes so simple to us, and I don’t just mean people who speak English but any major language of the world – Spanish, Chinese, French, the list goes on and on – could someday not exist for our multiple great great grandchildren. The idea that the 7000 plus languages in the world will be cut in half in sixty or so years makes it seem that eventually the world is going to get to a universal language. So many people would be thrilled with this idea because I know many people who hate when people don’t understand them. But sometimes people don’t realize the history and culture that goes behind the language. Languages carry so much of the traditions of the native speakers that losing them would be like losing a piece of the world’s culture.
I don’t understand why the language was never passed down to one of Boa Sr’s friends or children. You would think that she would want to pass down the language along with the history and culture that goes along with it. As her child or friend, I would be honored and privileged to learn a language that means so much to someone so close to me. I also think it would be really cool to be one of the only people who spoke the language, as long as either other people learned it as well or I also spoke another language so I was able to communicate with others. This is a big lesson in that we need to continue to pass our heritage down to our children, even if you’ve moved from your home culture. This has been a big topic in my adoption class about international and interracial adoptions. It is the responsibility of the adoptive parents to be sure they are integrating the child’s culture and history into their lives. It is important for them to know their heritage and where they are from so they have a sense of identity. It is also a great chance for the adoptive parents and if the adoptive child has any siblings, to learn about a whole other culture and traditions that they can introduce to their lives to become more well rounded. It is also important for children, not only adoptees, to be able to carry on the traditions of their ethnicity. It seems that these traditions often get lost when people are settling in a different country than their country of origin.
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It is so unfortunate that a langauge that connected so many people for so long is dead with it's oldest speaker. I'm wondering why no one else in the tribe learned the language from her, though? It seems like it would be a pretty significant tradition at the least, to tell a few stories in this language with survived as long as it did. Anyways, I definitely think that the languages which still exist today are becoming more significantly based on which languages are spoken most in the business world. It's sad, but the world seems to be a big business in retrospect, which probably has little to no need for the Bo language. However, language is so much more than a way to communicate how much of this some company wants to purchase from another company, but I think that much can be taken from the recordings left behind by the elder who seemed so enthusiatic about her language.
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I think that it is extremely interesting and sad that entire languages are dying out. It had never really occurred to me that this was happening around the world because the english language is used by so many people. I do not think that there is any way of stopping this trend because our society has very little interest in the past and saving things that are rich with history and tradition. It is amazing that a language that has been spoken for 65,000 years is no longer in existence. Unfortunately I can see no real reason to keep these languages alive so I am just like everyone else.
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The death of this woman is such a great loss. It’s a loss of a way of life. It’s a loss of an entire culture. A way of thinking. It’s the loss of all those people who came before her. There is no way to bring it back. There’s nothing like this to make you realize how infinite we all are. I went to a presentation about dying languages in high school and after attending I wanted to go into linguistics and save as many languages as possible. For most people it’s unfathomable to think that English could ever go extinct, and maybe it won’t or can’t. But I’m sure that’s what others thought of Latin. If the Sapir Whorf hypothesis is true, then the death of this woman signifies the death of so many unrealized thoughts and ideas. It makes me really legitimately sad. Sad that people will never know about her and her people, sad that no one will stop and take a second to think about the significance. I could be just as sentimental as Sam but I’m okay with that because at least it means I feel something for other people. All sorts of cultures interest me and excite me and make me want to live everywhere in the world and meet every single person. The preservation of dying languages is so essential. There’s so much to learn. Even if only a few people are willing to learn, it makes a difference. This just goes to show how little people bother to learn about others. How can an entire language just go extinct? Is it because we want to force everyone to concede to the same words, sounds, and ideas? It’s a sad, sad fate if that’s the case. There’s so much history and feeling stored in that language. There are a people stored in those words and phrases. It’s more than just stringing together sounds to communicate. Can anyone really get it? The line of people that extends and branches out from the last speaker? How would we feel if we could look into the future and see our traditions and thoughts snuffed out with the last person? It worries me that Americans want to force immigrants to lose their language and conform to English. You’re stripping people of their core that way, taking away what they know best. It is in no way fair to ask them to do that. I realize that having the whole world communicate in one way could solve many of the problems that lead to violence. How rich would our experiences be then? The answer is it wouldn’t. The world is pointless if we all think the same. Not that I promote conflict or war.
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This reminds me of Quantum mechanics and the idea that things change when observed. We try to categorize everything, justify it with science, connect it with “wisdom”, but our interference with it may only help its extinction (whether we’re speaking of a species or a language). Throughout history it seems like our curiosity, however well intentioned it may have been, was harmful in the end. These are broad and sweeping statements indeed, but I don’t think they’re too far fetched. Science always needs to justify itself. Are the answers that it seeks worth the exposure of fragile specimens (again, species and/or languages)?
Certainly, there is value in languages though. Talk to a Spanish major, have them try to translate a Spanish poem to you and, if they are true to the language they study, they will find it difficult to completely do. There will be words, phrases even, that will not come across the language divide. English will lack the words to accurately purvey the author’s art as they intended. This example shows the uniqueness, diversity and richness of two well-studied languages. As the BBC article implies, there is plenty more to be lost than art; especially when considering lesser-studied, endangered ones. Languages encapsulate knowledge of their native environment. We see this in our own States and regions with dialects, let alone between completely different cultures. On the flipside though, we need to ask ourselves if that knowledge wouldn’t eventually be grasped without speaking that endangered language. Wouldn’t we eventually figure those things out? This of course is only the lesser of two arguments for preserving them. The main argument is to hold on to a culture: to preserve diversity.
It’s odd though. Simultaneously we have movements promoting equality (i.e. RRP) all the while people preach about preserving diversity. We’re all the same aren’t? We all need to eat regardless of what language you say you’re hungry in. Losing these endangered languages is the result of an ever-homogenizing global society. Is it sad that all these ways of living are being lost? Absolutely. But I think letting them slip away is better than trying to force people to recognize them. To be perfectly cynical, the machine is rolling far too strong them to live on.
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The death of a language just sounds devastating. A loss of a language is the loss of several hundreds of thousands of voices that had been arranged by such intelligence. As many cultures advance through technology some fall behind and remain within the shadows of humanity. Unfortunately, the advancing cultures choose not to bring other cultures ahead with them. Humans just continue to compete with each other, trying to be the most intelligent, trying to be the strongest. In other words, it’s survival of the fittest.
What’s worse is that a language is unnoticed until it is ready to vanish. It was a big “eye-opener” hearing Boa Sr say the words she speak will never be heard again. I begin to wonder, how could it just fade away like that? Hmm… maybe it’s because: 1) We’ve taken the cultures of the ancient for granted and moved on with our own out of selfishness. 2) We’ve shoved our cultures down other people’s throats just to unify society. 3) We just don’t care.
Now a new questions arise: Will we now act to save dying languages? Probably not. There are other things that people are more concerned about unfortunately, like their own intelligence. The intelligence of the people that created these languages that lasted for hundreds of thousands of years are often disregarded and render useless to advancing cultures. What many don’t know is that they can understand so much just by studying these languages. The ancients have been able to predict the weather without machines. Why can’t we? They’ve also predicted astronomical phenomenons without telescopes and computers. Why can’t we? Don’t we want to know how they did it?
Now don’t get me wrong, I do know that there are some people that actually do care, and I respect them for it. These people can see how amazing the complexity of language is. This curiosity may be the key to understanding humanity.
I can’t imagine being the last person to speak my own language. It would just be too painful to see that no one can understand and relate to you. Reading the quote by Johnny Hill Jr. about how he can only speak to himself made me feel sorry for all the cultures that get left behind.
Now back to my claim about how some cultures shove their own language down other’s throat. I was talking about the English language, by the way. Yes, I understand that we need a common language to establish trade and etc. But I feel that other cultures shouldn’t be forced to drop the language they were raised with. Every language should be cherished and spread from generation to generation. No language should ever die.
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I took a linguistics class here at Penn State during my freshman year, and we did an entire unit on dead and dying languages. I remember hearing clips of some of these languages that are no longer spoken by anyone in the world and feeling extremely sad. I suppose there is really nothing that can be done to stop this progression from happening, it seems to simply be the way things are today, but it is definitely worth reflecting on. When a language dies, with it dies a whole culture, a history, traditions. So many things are lost in basically a whisper when a language dies. I got to experience this a bit first hand when I took a trip to Chile and spent some time living with the Mapuche People, who are native Chileans. They have retained their Mapuche language for generations, resisting the Spaniards when the country was conquered by Spain. They are a people very proud of their heritage and resilient to change, but today's young generation of Mapuche people seem to want to leave their language behind. They want to get off the reservations they are forced to live in and assimilate, speaking only Spanish. Many of the young people I met, though they understood it, spoke no Mapuche at all, only Spanish. I remember thinking how sad it was. These young people had no idea of the precious piece of their heritage they were giving up. Soon, Mapuche may be added to this list of dead languages. But, I suppose that is just the fast-paced times we are living in. Things change quickly, and language is not spared from that. Still, it is very sad to see this loss of history and culture happening before our very eyes.
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I have yet to hear about an issue such as this one ever before. I can help but be upset that there is such a thing as a language being lost forever. It is almost hard to believe that something that people use every single day to communicate and because a woman just passed away the language is never going to be used or ever heard ever again. At the same time it makes a little sense because eventually languages will die out and get mixed in with other languages however I never thought that I would live to see the day that a language would completely die out. It also makes me wonder are there not any translators out there that understand the language and can translate it in another language to a different person. That translator must know to speak that language, but I guess in this case there is not one single person on the face of this plant, besides that woman but she has now passed, that can understand, speak, or write in that language. What is next? An entire culture disappearing?
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Additional Blog #2
I am sure that many people wonder what language has to do with anything. Why is it so important that we keep different languages around, even if we ourselves may only speak on language? I will tell you why. Our different languages provide each and every one of us with a piece of our cultures.
Language is a big part of our culture. It is what we use to tell the old stories passed down from generation to generation. It is the sweet words to say to one another when we are down or just need encouragement. Every language details a piece of culture that only we can possess. Through language we can explore all the knowledge and meaning behind our heritages.
If we lose our native tongues, of course we will still have other pieces of our culture, but we will not have the defining piece. How would we know our pasts, the history of where we come or came from? With language, we learn and gain a variety of things and without it, we lose even more.
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I didn't read all of the other comments to see if anyone else had this point already or not, but to me, the fact that a language will never be spoken again does not make me feel very strongly in any particular way. I do find it intriguing, however, that some people do feel particularly moved by this. To me, if English were no longer spoken after our generation, it wouldn't take anything away from what I did or was as a person. It would not stop any of the events that took place in my lifetime from taking place. It is simply a particular way of communicating those actions. As corny as it is, I guess I simply feel like actions truly do speak louder than words. I am not trying to be insensitive to the man who said he has to speak to himself, because everyone else who spoke his language died, I just think that the particular language that I speak is probably one of the least important parts of me as a person.
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This article was extremely interesting to me and really made me start to think outside the box. It seemed astonishing to me that a language that people were learning to speak for how many generations was suddenly gone upon the death of the last tribal member. Maybe I'm just naive but I never thought about the possibility of an entire language disappearing. That's usually not an issue that people tend to bring up in day to day conversation with one another. However, maybe it should be talked about more because reading this article made me realize that it's not impossible to lose something as important as our language. I think this article makes some people realize how big of an issue this really is. It's saddening to realize that a language, that was passed on through so many centuries and went through so many generations, can eventually completely disappear for good and will never be spoken again. It blows my mind to think what if that was my language that suddenly disappeared one day. To imagine a day when English will no longer be spoken in the world completely blows my mind. However, the reality of it all is that one day that might happen just like it's actually happening to other languages. It's scary to know that by the time I'm dead 7,000 languages will be dead as well. I have to ask myself what is probably an obvious question. Why can't these languages be preserved? What can people do to prevent these languages from completely vanishing off the planet? Honestly, my only response is that families could continue the tradition of speaking their languages and not let them die off. I would have thought that the task wouldn't be that hard to do, but I'm probably biased considering it's so hard to imagine the English language gone forever. However, after reading the article it seems like it's harder for certain languages to stick around because some of the newer family members in a generation may not have the desire to learn it. What is even more upsetting about this issue is that when a language dies, it’s not just the language that disappears. When a language disappears it’s like the culture dies as well as the society. Language is an essential part of our everyday lives. I feel that without our language, a part of our cultural would disappear and the society as a whole would go missing. I think many of us are naive when we think we are invincible or our culture and language are invincible. I think from this article we just need to take a step back and try to put ourselves in the shoes of another and realize that maybe one day that could be us.
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This article was extremely interesting to me and really made me start to think outside the box. It seemed astonishing to me that a language that people were learning to speak for how many generations was suddenly gone upon the death of the last tribal member. Maybe I'm just naive but I never thought about the possibility of an entire language disappearing. That's usually not an issue that people tend to bring up in day to day conversation with one another. However, maybe it should be talked about more because reading this article made me realize that it's not impossible to lose something as important as our language. I think this article makes some people realize how big of an issue this really is. It's saddening to realize that a language, that was passed on through so many centuries and went through so many generations, can eventually completely disappear for good and will never be spoken again. It blows my mind to think what if that was my language that suddenly disappeared one day. To imagine a day when English will no longer be spoken in the world completely blows my mind. However, the reality of it all is that one day that might happen just like it's actually happening to other languages. It's scary to know that by the time I'm dead 7,000 languages will be dead as well. I have to ask myself what is probably an obvious question. Why can't these languages be preserved? What can people do to prevent these languages from completely vanishing off the planet? Honestly, my only response is that families could continue the tradition of speaking their languages and not let them die off. I would have thought that the task wouldn't be that hard to do, but I'm probably biased considering it's so hard to imagine the English language gone forever. However, after reading the article it seems like it's harder for certain languages to stick around because some of the newer family members in a generation may not have the desire to learn it. What is even more upsetting about this issue is that when a language dies, it’s not just the language that disappears. When a language disappears it’s like the culture dies as well as the society. Language is an essential part of our everyday lives. I feel that without our language, a part of our cultural would disappear and the society as a whole would go missing. I think many of us are naïve when we think we are invincible or our culture and language are invincible. I think from this article we just need to take a step back and try to put ourselves in the shoes of another and realize that maybe one day that could be us.
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As I read the different article titles that I could chose from this week, I stopped when I saw this one. The woman’s face was the next thing I noticed. I had no idea what this article was about because the idea of a language actually dying off was the farthest thing from my mind. The video especially caught my eye. “Last Speaker of Language Dead” was a surprising title. I had never thought about languages and the fact that they die with the people that speak it. This woman was the last person to speak that language, which was probably spoken by many at one time. This article made me start thinking of a couple things. First, is that I was completely unaware of the death of a language until I read this blog. If I was not in Soc119, I would be ignorant to the fact that an entire language is gone. How many languages have died and were not even acknowledged? The words, phrases and sounds will never be used again. However, this is not the part of the “death” that upset me. Language is so much more than sounds and words. It is a culture and represents people, their lives, and traditions. The death of this language means that culture has either evolved or been abolished. This language is unique to one area, one group and one population. Those people no longer exist. Language can represent many parts of people. When languages die, will we ever be able to correctly remember and explain that specific culture? The second thing that surprised me about this blog is the fact that there are 7,000 languages in the world. Compared to the 6.7 billion people in this world that number is miniscule. I believe that our world is getting a lot smaller and we are losing a lot of cultures and unique people. Through colonization languages such as French and English have spread around the world. English is spoken everywhere and has replaced many other original languages. The Americanization of these areas is not necessarily a positive thing. Yes, it makes communication between groups easier, but what about those whose languages has been stomped out. Did they lose their culture, pride in their area and people? I hope not. Is making communication more convenient more important than an original culture and diversity in the world? One day will the entire world speak one language? The final point this article made me think about is language in the United States. We are an English-speaking nation, but so many speak different languages. Should we be accepting of these languages or should we force assimilation. Our culture is a melting pot and can we say things like “This is America, Speak English”. The sign outside Geno’s clearly shows they believe America should be a one-language country, but if language represents culture and the US is made up of so many cultures, how do we chose?
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I find language completely fascinating, actually. I don’t think about it that often (as you can imagine…who really does?), but as a student in the College of Communications, the subject of language and the importance of it comes up several times in quite a few classes. The concept is just plain cool. You’re just making sounds with your lips, tongue, cheeks, and teeth…and when you make a certain sound, it means something in one culture and a different thing (or maybe nothing) in another culture. This is why I have studied multiple languages throughout my time at Penn State and even back through high school. English is my primary language, but I am proficient in French, know some Spanish, and I just recently started taking a beginner’s Italian class. Granted, these three languages all have some of the same roots (especially Spanish and French), but they are also all very different in their sounds. I think it is important to learn about other languages, where they come from and how to speak them. How would you survive outside of your home, then? Your communication with others very much depends on your ability to survive in foreign places.
That being said, the sight of this old women made me smile a little bit. Is that a weird reaction? She looked so happy in some of the pictures in the video – and she obviously had plenty of company. Don’t get me wrong – of course there had to be SOME sense of loss in her head and her heart. I can’t imagine what it would be like knowing that I was the last living speaker of the English language. I would feel such a weight on my shoulders that would make me feel like I had the sole responsibility of carrying on my “family name”, in a sense. But I respect this woman and her dedication to her ancestors and their way of life – she took the language with her throughout her life – even after all of the others were gone – instead of adapting to the rapidly changing world around her.
It’s sad to think that I would have NEVER known about this entire language or culture if it hadn’t been for this post. And there are probably millions of other people who will never know about it, or this woman. It’s like the whole tribe never even existed. That’s a little upsetting. What’s even more upsetting is thinking that there are thousands of other languages that are headed down the same path into oblivion. And along with these languages, the histories and customs and stories and beliefs of these ancient cultures will be lost, as well. The only things we have to keep them alive are memories, which means that we can’t afford to take these things for granted.
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Language is who you are and its part of our culture, so to see it disappear just like that is very sad. It’s like the extinction of a species, not being able to reproduce it again, nobody will ever hear that language being spoken. I think it was a great idea to record the last phrases that were spoken by this woman of this very unique language. It makes me think of her family, her kids and grandkids, and what and why they speak a different language than she does, why they didn’t keep it in their culture? Were they not willing to learn or we they simply not taught it?
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In a world so interconnected, through language both spoken and written, it saddens me to see that some of the oldest ways of speaking are dying with their elders, and that young people seem to have such little interest in continuing the traditional way of speaking. Not only does the manner of speaking and language cease to exist but cultural aspects, traditions, and rituals, end as well. No matter how much the language is studied, post mortem, there are little subtleties of language that are likely to never be discovered. The only way to keep a language alive is to actively speak it, and the only way to actively speak the language is to have interest from younger generations. This perhaps speaks to a larger problem that young people in these societies with dying languages have no interest in continuing their heritage through traditional languages. Whether for conscious or unconscious reasons, younger generations do not feel a large enough connection to their ancestry to put the time into learning the languages of their past. Maybe it’s an effect of the big cultural melting pot, an idea I’m not particularly fond of, but for reasons not directly known younger generations are not feeling compelled to continue the oral traditions of the past.
As I listened to Boa Sr speak in her native tongue, I was amazed by the way her voice sounded, she was speaking in a way that not only had I never heard but that I didn’t even know existed. While I am not as naïve to think that the world only speaks the select few languages that I am aware of, this piece made I apparent that there are thousands of ways in which people speak, and many of them have few remaining speakers. While I agree that the world will most likely continue much as it does without anyone actively speaking these relatively obscure languages, there are most definitely repercussions especially locally for these languages ceasing to exist. Even within languages there are regional difference and accents. When I, an East Coaster, travel anywhere south of the Mason Dixon line, I hear differences in the manner and meter of people’s speech. This is the case with many languages and I am curious to think how many local dialects of languages have already died, if only one speaker remains of the particular language at all. Additionally, as was pointed out in the CNN article, these last speakers must converse with themselves and that would sadden me. To be in a place surrounded by relatives and friends and no one shows interest in learning a valuable skill that ties them not only to their past but to their relatives and culture as well would frustrate and sadden me simultaneously.
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I agree that losing a language and culture as old as this one is a loss to mankind, but in this day and age of globalization, it may not necessarily be a bad thing. The leaders of the world have been striving for some sort of unification for decades, and the phasing out of dead languages is a good way to start. Am I saying that losing a culture is good? Absolutely not, all I'm saying is that cutting down on things such as the number of languages being spoken is a good way of starting to unify the world
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It’s an odd thing that an entire language can end with the death of one person. While I think that others in her area may have understood the language as well, it will no doubt fade away soon enough. I can’t help but think that with her language, an entire culture also has died. It makes you wonder how it happens that one woman can be the only one still speaking a language. I’m not really sure what else to say except that it’s sad to see something that has been around for such a long time to just disappear.
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I found this topic extremely interesting. I have always been fascinated by the culture and language of others and have always wanted to immerse myself in that. I guess that is one of the reasons why I have always loved my foreign language classes. It saddens me that ancient languages are being lost forever. They are an important part of human history and I find it sad that new generations of these people do not want to learn the language of their elders. I know if I personally were one of the people from the new generations, I would certainly learn the language of my people. I often wish that my family had spoken a language other than English. I love learning a new language so I am able to communicate with more people than only those who speak English. Also, these people have experienced things that we could never imagine. They have documents and stories to tell in their native tongue. When a language dies, so do most of these stories. Some of these stories could be extremely helpful to future generations, but future generations will never hear them. I also find it sad how, like Johnny Hill in the article, these people who are the last one's speaking a language just talk to themselves. Also, I feel extremely bad for them because the young generations do not wish to learn the language of their people since they have adapted and learned a new language. I believe that languages that are on the verge of extinction need to be documented so in the future ancient documents and what not could be translated. The extinction of a language is much like that of an animal. Yes it existed at one time, but no one really knows that it existed and no one knows the stories behind it. It is forever lost in time and can never be revived. I feel bad for Boa. She was the last person to speak her native tongue. She was the last one to learn, just like all of her elders did, about the history of her people and stories of her people, in her native tongue. No one ever again will hear these stories quite the same as she did since her language is now gone forever. And yes, it is not as devastating as the destruction and devastation that occurred in Haiti, but it is still something profound. It is still a major loss in human history. If the world continues to learn one of the major languages, and foreign tongues keep disappearing, it will be no time till the 7,000 languages in the world become only a few. That will be an even greater loss in human history.
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