Languages Die, but Not Their Last Words
Chris Rainier/National Geographic
Charlie Muldunga, right, the last known speaker of Amurdag, with two researchers who are making a record of dying languages, K. David Harrison, left, and Gregory D. S. Anderson.
Of the estimated 7,000 languages spoken in the world today, linguists say, nearly half are in danger of extinction and likely to disappear in this century. In fact, one falls out of use about every two weeks.
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6 comments:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrEhvOV8Xqs
This is David Harrison on the Colbert Report, it talks about how languages create different ways of thinking and Steven Colbert's opposing view shows the other skeptical side of preserving languages.
Wow...I had no idea that languages can become extinct...I am pretty shocked to hear that and hope it ceases to exist. Languages are the foundation of how a culture, a group of people can communicate with eachother. Every language is unique in every way. I speak two languages...which is Spanish and obviously English. Spanish is what I learned to speak first. Although I was born here, in New York, I learned Spanish first because of my family. Once I started school, I learned how to speak English and that is the language that I Speak most of the time now. Whenever i am at home with my parents, family parties, or occasionally with my best friends, friends (since half of my friends are spanish) I tend to speank Spanish. At school, When I work, and most of the times with my friends...I always speak English...and sometimes I forget a few words of Spanish every now and then and I feel guilty but trust me- I still know my spanish..my mother makes sure of that...and I know that when I have my own kids someday...I would want them to know Spanish as well. Hopefully languages will stop dying out!!!
Are Accents Negative?
Group 1 [Matthew, Mercedes, Steve, Richard, Chad, Xue(Victoria)]
Question of the Week: How does the diversity of language pronunciation & vocabulary discriminate toward others?
Accents. An accent is the way people pronounce their words. From accents, we can tell where people are from and their background. In some cases, vocabulary can show how much education a person has received. These differences can also effect the communication between two or more people. It can lead to people being discriminated against solely by the way they sound. People from New York and other northern states are known to leave out the “R” sound. Their phonetics varies from people from other states. People from the south and Midwest speak slower and stretch their words out.
We would also like to stress on the issue of body language. In China, any form of kinetics such as moving while standing or using your hands makes other people view you and your family as disrespectful and uneducated. In The United States, especially New Yorkers, are known to speak with their hands frequently.
Finding a job is very hard in the United States for foreigners. People who have strong accents and speak English as a second language may be discriminated against when trying to get a job where communication is very important. Ebonics and slang is looked down upon as uneducated. People are discriminated against just by the way they sound. In the U.S, people can find out the race of a person just by hearing them speak. In a way this is negatively discriminatory, because people are automatically labeled by their accent.
YouTube Clips - These clips are taken from stand-up skits showing how peoples accents are viewed by others
* Robin Williams, Scottish Skit - http://youtube.com/watch?v=0JGHTM5nP7A&mode=related&search=
* Russell Peters, Asians - http://youtube.com/watch?v=AxbrXD0kgrQ
* Russell Peters, Indian Accent - http://youtube.com/watch?v=vw6RgIf6epQ&mode=related&search=
* Eddie Murphy, Italians - http://youtube.com/watch?v=9fp67geuhJM&mode=related&search=
I have a totally different opinion between clopz. I think too much languages spoken is bad for the globe development. When i studied in Beijing, my English professor told us the reason why we need to study english,"It could help you to have another eye to see the world". I think this sentence is amazing, because of different language, sometime i can't totally understand the culture here. I usually translate the english to chinese to totally understand. In this way , it blocks me to see the culture here clearly. I hope there is just one kind of language in the whole world.
it's funny because i'm actually kind of the opposite of clopez. i was born here and i'm from a Filipino background, but i barely understand Tagalog (the language) although my parents speak it at home. but my older sister understands tagalog completely. all my aunts and uncles were born in the philippines, but most of them live here now. it seems like most of my generation (my first cousins), don't understand tagalog. kind of seems like in my family, tagalog is becoming extinct.
and kind of in relation to victoria's comment... my mom has told me before how when she went to school in the philippines, they were always taught that if you knew english and spoke it well, it was like a sign of "social status."
My family came to America in the mid 1700's from Germany. Since then our language has obviously changed, however coming form Pennsylvania most of my relatives speak some and understand some Pennsylvania Dutch. Earlier in history German immigrants settled in PA. With the culture change and evolution of their spoken language the PA Germans started to speak a new language (Pennsylvania Dutch). It is called dutch because over the years it has changed from PA Deutsch to Dutch since that is easier to say. PA Dutch is a combination of German and English. Today it isn't common except among the Amish.
PA dutch is not an extinct language but it is in my family. I only know a few words and my sister less. My father can speak with a Dutch accent but knows few words or phrases. For the most part all of my cousins and recent family cannot speak it at all. Part of my history and culture is lost. I hope my children can learn of the culture and hear some of the Pennsylvania Dutch but I know that it is probably lost forever, at least in my family.
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