When a language dies I think we all lose something. We may not notice it or care all the time because its not a part of our culture that is fading away. I think we should care though. When reading the New York times article I was shocked to realize that a language just drops off the radar about every two weeks. The fact that an entire culture's language just is gone every two weeks is insane.
Language is a huge part of a culture's identity. For instance slaves where brought to America they were not allowed to speak their own language, then they couldn't practice their customs, and the Americanization completely robbed slaves of who they were. It was a systemic process. In a generation or two the customs and words of their culture would be totally gone.
I believe that cultural identity is strongly linked to language. I had a co-worker who was half Mexican and she couldn't speak Spanish. The other Latina women would treat her differently because they tried to speak with her in Spanish and she had no idea of what they were saying. It wasn't anything she could control, but it seemed to them that she was betraying her culture.
I think if it is possible to record languages before we lose them completely. One day we could look up and English could be losing its grip as the dominant language in America. I doubt it would be a terrible loss since it is a well preserved language through film, literature, and other media. I just think we need to care more about what we as humans do to other cultures and their languages when we ask everyone to speak one language. Without language a culture loses it's essence and foundation. It becomes more accessible to outsiders and that can cause even more damage.
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