Lost Languages

As we are drawing to a close on our Oral Knowledge Unit, I have found myself wondering a couple of things:How do languages transition from oral to written?

What happens if they can't make this transition? Will the language be able to survive? Or will it die out forever?

(Not that!)

After pondering these questions for awhile, I became curious as to how languages do go extinct. It turns out, there are four main reasons why languages die out.

1. No Written Form

If the language cannot or did not make the transition to a written form then yes, it will generally disappear. Languages without a written form are vulnerable both of being forgotten and being changed. In the Book of Mormon, an entire people lost the original state of their language because they had no written scripture or language to study and help them remember the tongue. The entire language, a great expanse of accumulated knowledge, was lost simply because there was no record of it. This relates to the counsel of General Authorities today to keep journals and records for ourselves and for our posterity. Without this written record to help us recall, we will forget our experiences and even our language.

2. No Native Speakers

In an oral-only culture, the language's survival is entirely dependent upon the speakers. They are the sole bearers of an entire tongue. If they die, it dies. Or, in the case of Ayapaneco, if the speakers won't speak, it dies. A language is alive only in the mouths of those who speak it. When the speakers refuse to open their mouths, the language dies on their lips.

3. Unnatural Invasions or Disasters

This relates to a loss of native speakers. When a group of people who share a common language are wiped out, the language dies with them. For example, the Sulung people in the mountains of India are constantly warring with their neighboring tribes. If their enemies wipe them out, their language will vanish. Another example is nature itself swallowing a language up. A tsunami in 1998 which hit Papua New Guinea killed almost all the speakers of two languages, the Warapu and Sissano. If the few survivors cannot or do not pass on their knowledge of these languages, they will become extinct. Wars and natural disasters don't just kill people, they kill languages and even cultures.

4. Killer Languages

If a dominant language, or "lingua franca" absorbs the speakers of a language, it will die. These powerful languages, such as English and Spanish, can lead people to voluntarily give up their mother tongues, because it is more convenient and monetarily advantageous to speak a "world power language". It is easier to get jobs if you can speak a dominant language. You can communicate with more people in these tongues. Is the cost of convenience, however, too high?

Now that you know how languages die out, you're probably thinking "Why do I care?" Languages are more than just words that come out of our mouths. They carry great significance. They are a culmination of the knowledge of generation upon generation. When we lose a language, we don't just lose another way of saying things, we lose a connection to the past, to our ancestors. We can't revitalize it, and once it's gone, it's gone for good. That tie to the past is forever snapped and broken, with no hope of reconnection. The heritage and culture hidden in the spoken word will forever be lost, taking with it a bit of the earth's history. Diversity of languages enriches our connection to the past and our global culture. How can we preserve the languages that tie us to the beginnings of time?