Finnish linguist Tove Skutnabb-Kangas describes languages that spread at the expense of others as killer languages. She calls English "the biggest killer of them all". Languages by themselves cannot kill, but the people who learn and teach them can (usually unintentionally) kill off the culture and ideas of people who speak other languages.According to UNESCO, one third of the world's 7000 languages are in danger. British linguist David Crystal estimates that one dies every two weeks. By the end of this century perhaps half of our current languages will have disappeared. While many languages are dying, English is growing. Another British linguist, David Graddol, claims that nearly a third of Asians already use it on a daily basis. But how strong is the link between the growth of English and the death of other languages?
On the one hand we have the example of the United States, where 53 local languages have disappeared since 1950. Another example is Australia, where hundreds of Aboriginal languages have been lost and many Aborigines speak only English. On the other hand, languages are disappearing in non-English-speaking countries too. Thousands of people are abandoning their traditional languages in Indonesia and India in favour of Indonesian and Hindi. In Japan, almost everyone speaks Japanese now and very few speak Ainu or Okinawan any longer. Nashi in southwest China, and Lisu in northern Thailand, are in danger from the spread of Chinese and Thai. .jpg)
.jpg)
Another reason to question the idea of English as a killer language is the prevalence of bilingualism. If someone starts speaking English it does not mean they stop speaking other languages. However, while most of the world's people are indeed bilingual, in practice it is very difficult for small languages to compete with big ones.
Take Bidayuh. Spoken by 200,000 people in East Malaysia, where 140 primary schools have Bidayuh-speaking teachers, the language should not be in danger. But it is. It is neither a medium of instruction nor a school subject – partly because there are hardly any books in Bidayuh and there is no standard form that all its speakers understand. Children grow up studying in Malay and English. They may use Bidayuh in their village but have little need for it after moving to towns for work. When their grandparents die they often stop using it altogether.
For linguists, language death is tragic. Different languages give us different ways of describing the world. But most people are less interested in preserving their grandparents' language than in teaching their children languages that help them get jobs. History shows us that languages grow, change, recede and finally die. Few have lasted for more than a thousand years. Some dying languages undergo a process of revival, such as Israel's national language, Hebrew. But Bidayuh has no nation or religion behind it and is not used in newspapers or on television.
English may not be a cold-blooded killer, but it is not completely innocent. The main reason for the disappearance of so many languages nowadays is economic globalisation, and the main language of globalisation is English. Many English speakers themselves are monolingual and fail to understand the problems of people who speak small languages. Sri Lankans call English kadda (sword) because it is a useful and powerful weapon. But like many swords, it is double-edged.
Iam surprised of the fact that 7,000 languages are in danger in the world. I think preserving danger languages are impotant for human diversity. At the class,I learned why Bidayuh is likely to die. There were two main reasons.
ReplyDeleteBidayuh does not have standard model,so it is separated from many local dialects.And also there is no writing form of the language.
Globalization forces us to speak English gradually.But we should not regard any language
as tools for communication or promotion.I hope language problem is no relation to Majority rule.
Globalisation may sound good. But in fact, it's very cruel. Very sad to know that one language dies every two weeks. By the end of this century perhaps half of our current languages will have disappeared.
ReplyDeleteAs Satoshi mentioned, it's very important to preserve languages in terms of protecting any cultures. If not,the world will become monotonous.
Come to think of it,I guess it's working properly in Japan, because most Japanese don't like to study English. Maybe...in a way,we're protecting our language???
Hi Satoshi and Keisuke and thanks for your perceptive comments. As a native English speaker I have mixed feelings about this subject of language death. I find it both sad, and also destructive to the human and possibly even the natural environment, that so many languages are dying off. I also admire Japan as a language-community that has excelled economically and technologically while preserving most of its language and culture. At the same time I believe most people are unsentimental about language. They want to teach their kids whatever will be useful. Most Japanese parents do want English, for example, and they want it early, to save their children having to spend so much time and effort learning it when they are too old. But of course Japanese is not in any danger of dying out, unlike Bidayuh.
ReplyDeleteSad to see a language die if you are an older person and you can't communicate with your grandchildren. Sad to see a language die when all the folk songs go with it. Sad to see a language die when all the stories and poetry go with it. Sad to see a culture die when skills like cooking or weaving are replaced by global brands like McDonalds or Calvin Kline.
ReplyDeleteAnd isn't the United States Information Agency and the British Council actively promoting the spread of English without protecting minority languages? They are like the loggers and the ranchers in the Amazon, sweeping away the variety in the forest and replacing it with monocultures.
Link to Language Death.... http://wh5.blogspot.com/search/label/language%20death
I found we can't do anything for prevent the disappearing of languages.It is sad to know While many languages are dying, English is growing. It's not strange for that Asians was forget their originally language. Because nearly a third of them already use English on a daily basis.
ReplyDeleteNot only English will kill the language. In Shanghai,there is more and more chriend can't speak Shanghainess now. Maybe it was caused by the develop of mandarin. In the near future I think Shanghainess will be disappeared.
On the other hand, more and more people can hold communion with the people from different places.
So after all this world, it is difficult to judge what is the correct.
I think many Japanese think English is cool(I also think so). But English have a aspect of killer language. So I am surpreised that fact.
ReplyDeleteDiversify is said that important. But it is inevitable to spread of globalisation. So I think many people should know the fact and have a interest of various culture and language if it is minority language. It is difficult problem, but I hope many culture and languages are protected.
to be sure, English have killed the other languages because we have faced a economic globalisation and the main language is Englisn.
ReplyDeleteHowever, I am wondering wheter globalisation and the prevalence of English have only killed the other languages, have only produced nagative things.
In my opinion, they also have produced positive things.For exampl, we can cominucate with each other in English more easily than before. and we can share knowlege because we can understand a specific language which is tuaght very well.
so even thugh English killed the other language but English made us be able to cominucate and share knowlege.
I think language disappearing is sad and main reason for the disappearance of so many languageof globalisation, and the main language of globalisation ia English. But if it is not English, maybe Japanese it is.By chance English became global language. English is most important language and we have to learn English.But there is important thing that we must protect our language and introduce our children.
ReplyDeleteI think language disappearing is sad and main reason for the disappearance of so many languageof globalisation, and the main language of globalisation ia English. But if it is not English, maybe Japanese it is.By chance English became global language. English is most important language and we have to learn English.But there is important thing that we must protect our language and introduce our children.
ReplyDeleteRoue said...
ReplyDeleteThis is the problem of my niece right now, she is speaking English in our house, but then her school is having Filipino Subject - A study of the National Language of the Philippines. My niece would return home with her test paper in Filipino subjects with usually 1/10 , 0/10 score. She would always complain in our home that she cant understand Filipino, if fact this is our national language... Now this is the reason how powerful and influential English language is. The fact that my niece could not understand Filipino does not exempt her for the learning it, the fact that English is taught in the school does not the reason that Filipino will be left behing - die. Even if Englsh language is very influential, we should maintain our identity, our nationality, that we have our own language that we can be proud of. Language will just die if the people will obviously no longer use it, but preserving it is one way of showing to the whole world how united we are as a nation and as a state as well....
That's a valuable insight for me, Roue. I have Indonesian friends and Malay friends who have difficulty getting their kids to learn Indonesian and Malay, but it is the first time I have heard this kind of thing from the Philippines. I imagine your niece never uses Filipino except at school so she cannot see the point. Perhaps she only uses English or does she use another Philippine language? You don't say how old she is, but in my experience children start to depend more on the influence of their peers than of their parents form quite an early age, so unless her friends at school use Filipino (i.e. outside the classroom) I don't know how she could be persuaded to do so, unless by the compulsion of exams themselves. In Malaysia, for example, people have to have a credit in the Malay language to enter government service or many of the professions such as law, so that provides a powerful incentive. But if they work in the private sector they might not need it. How about older members of your niece's family? Perhaps do they also know English, or would she need another language to communicate with them?
ReplyDeleteI think English is the killer language,too.
ReplyDeleteBut if people learn English,they can't exchange between international county. It is good to protect our local languages.
But if English isn't taken in,new cultures aren't introduced.
Anyway the county which uses miner languages will become extinct.
So it is important that English and local languages frequency of use are compatible.
In this way , making the comment in English may kill Japanese as my first step.
Why is English a big language??I don't know.
ReplyDeleteI didn't know many languages die every two weeks.
I think the language will be died out. Why not?? The language is evolving and many countries are internationalizing. For international, many people need to speak English. Why?? Many people speak English. The country which can not be speak English, that don't evolve.
So many countries must be speak English.
So I think many languages are dieing out.
In fact, many small languages have disappeared with economic globalization. And many of those languages are killed by English. But I still wonder why English is a standard of the languages in the world. "Because the United States is a large country and population is large as well?" If that's the case, I think it is also suitable for Russia and China. Now, English is the most important in the economic globalization, but I think it is important that the country which will not lose the own language and also take care of that. Because people do not forget their own culture or traditions from the past, they are able to tell them to the next generation. The country like Malaysia might be a better country or more global country than current situation in the future, because of the spread of the English. Therefore, I think English is not only a killer language, the language with both sides(good sides and bad sides).
ReplyDeleteTherefore, knowing the minority languages will be killed by English, but most people still do not like to learn and promote Esperanto, a language recommended by UNESCO to protect the dying of languages. Just saying is not enough, it must act.
ReplyDeleteSaluton Sinjoro. Dankon por via komento - mi placis vi menciis Esperanton. Mi provis lerni ĝin sed mi bezonas multe pli da tempo! Kvankam Esperanto favoras homoj kun eŭropa lingva kaj kultura, mi kredas ke tiu lingvo estas pli justa ol angla kiel tutmonda lingvo. But I am not sure Esperanto can help save dying languages. We live in a world where English is the most global and powerful language, whether we like it or not. It would be great having more people learning to speak Esperanto, and the burden would not be so heavy as to interfere with the languages they already speak. But would people without much time or money choose to learn it rather than English?
DeleteI also wonder about this assumption that English is a killer language. In Australia and the United States it definitely is as regards the indigenous languages there. But elsewhere another language, such as Portuguese or Indonesian, is doing the actual killing. The French linguist Jean-Louis Calvet says that all the world's languages are linked like the planets and moons in a solar system, with smaller ones orbiting bigger ones. All bigger languages have some responsibility for damaging smaller languages. It is not just English. Maybe Esperanto would be in free orbit, though. What do you think?
Kiu asertis, ke la angla lingvo estas la mortiganto en ĉiu lando? Mortiganto estas la ĉefa lingvo de la koncerna lando. Tamen, la ĉefa lingvo de iu ajn lando probable ensuĉas pruntovortojn el la angla lingvo.
DeleteTiu ideo estis asertita de multaj lingvistoj, inkludante Kuttnabb-Kangas (menciita en la blogo) kaj Robert Phillipson, speciale en la 1980-aj jaroj. Mi ne auxskultos diris ofte nuntempe. Mi ne scias se la kialo estas ĉar la lingvistoj rimarkos ke lingvo morto estas multe pli komplika ol simple la ekspansioj de la lingva angla, au ĉar ni ne havas elekton ol akcepti kaj eĉ bonvenigas ĉi tiu ekspansio. Calvet (franca lingvisto) kredas ke ĈIUJ lingvoj subpremas malgrandaj lingvoj, sekve estas lingvo konspiro. La ideo de lingva imperiismo certe estas ankoraŭ vivas. Cetere, la angla estas kutime centra al tiu ideo
DeleteI really sympathized when I read this theme. I often see foreigners who are wearing a strange Japanese T-shirts like 変人(im a strange person),龍男(dragon man) in the city. And also when I wan in United States, my American friend who loves Japan wore a necklace of the word "蛇"(snake). so I asked, "why are you wearing it?" This is a quite interesting question for me. And then she said, "this is the coolest word in Japanese Kanji". Also other friend who gots a tatoo 〝鬼”had a same reason too. When the foreigner choose the Japanese words, it is very emphasize to choose the "shape" or sometimes "the meaning of the word". Meanwhile Japanese paople have a same feeling too. But Engrish words or Engrish stuff are high likely to misleading for foreigner who visits to Japan. So we need to fix itself from the bottom.
ReplyDeleteSaluton Ric
ReplyDeleteI am sorry I could not reply to you in the same coloumn as the line is not too good. I wish you could follow it in this new thread.
Well, you are right, all the national languages will kill the languages as the people of the whole country have to learn it.
But, if you have noticed that Esperanto is used for intercommunication between the different tribes but not within the same tribe.
Esperanto will not replace the mother tongue unless that person is too lazy to learn his/her mother tongue and forgo it himself/herself for the convince.
You are right, the Indonesia Malay is killing more languages now though Malays are less than 5% in Indonesia.
By introducing Esperanto as a common language is to protect the mother tongue. All countries should allow to use mother tongue in the teaching till a certain period of time.
Now, what we need a second language for better brain, and Esperanto is the best to help.
http://www.mondeto.com/1/post/2011/09/immediate-and-lasting-advantages-of-early-esperanto-1-brain-building.html
The most difficult foreign language to master is the first one you learn. English and other native languages are like a jungle, full of traps and irregularities. If one chooses such a language as the first one, the result is poor. It was shown many times that choosing esperanto first and then other foreign language as the second leads to success much greater than with this second language taught as the only one. That is the problem with English - it is being taught world wide as the first foreign language and it only makes people language handicapped - 3 from 100 will get it right - 97 will not. Is it not worth to be considered?
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting addition to this debate, Aleksander. We'd love to read some of the literature supporting the learning of a more 'regular' foreign language before tackling English - can you send us any academic references on this please?
ReplyDeleteActually I used to think that one of the reasons Britons are so poor at foreign languages is that the first (and for many, the only) one they tackle is French, whose pronunciation and writing system can be challenging. But Americans generally learn Spanish first, which is widely considered to be more straightforward as far as spelling and pronunciation are concerned, and they are no better than the Brits!
Ric,
ReplyDeleteThis is called the Propaedeutic Effect. The research of it is long enough and it is almost 90 years now.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaedeutic_value_of_Esperanto
I learnt Esperanto and then come back to learn Chinese and I could identify the grammatical errors due to this effect. That is the benefit of me and I thus promote Esperanto for better learning.
Thank you Sinjoro, I was just looking at the experiments cited on Wiki - very interesting. And especially instructive for me to read that learning Esperanto helped you when you went back to learning Chinese since one of the arguments commonly levelled against the language is that it is eurocentric and won't help non-Europeans or those using non-European languages.
ReplyDeleteWhen I teach languages I am increasingly conscious of not teaching the language per se but rather language awareness. Maybe teaching Esperanto after I've improved a bit more in it myself (or learning it together with my students, whose brains are more agile than mine these days) would be a good way to do this.
Ric, it is those who did very few travelling or know one language would argue for that the language is euro or asia. Whether we, Asians, learn Esperanto or Spanish or English, it is still European languages, and we learn Esperanto is also European language based, what is the big deal. The only thing that they are too foolished is they are trying to pushed down Esperanto as International language, because Esperanto is called Internacia lingvo. I am tired of this silly arguement but for a fair and equality, Esperanto will be the best besides other good stuff that came in later now as I have given it on the site of the early bilingual.
ReplyDeleteMy mother is Chinese and i learnt it without knowing the grammar and I quickened the speed the of learning the grammar through the help of Esperanto.
My learner of Chinese is also the same. He got faster than others who have not Esperanto based. You got less to explain when the learners know Esperanto. For example 美丽的花 bela floro. They know 美丽的is bela,adjective in Chinese need the 的。
美丽的評語! Bela komento!
ReplyDeleteDankon al vi por via komplimento. Ric, ĉu vi scias ke via paĝo mi uzis en mia artikolo ? Mi supozis ke multaj homoj jam legis vian paĝon. Bv legi mian artikolon ĉi tie
ReplyDeletehttp://www.loyarburok.com/2012/09/17/malaysia-asia-if-part-2/
I've just been enjoying your many contributions to loyarburok, which is a wonderful forum - I hope other followers will check it out, especially those interested in Malaysia.
ReplyDeleteNi eble havos okazon renkonti kaj trinki teho tareka en KL!
Dankegon al vi Ric, bedaŭrinde ke mi ne loĝas en la ĉefurbo de malajzio. Vi, eble serĉas iuj ĉe vizaĝlibro http://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/120454611320088/
ReplyDeleteMi deziros,ke ni povos renkonti en KL kaj havos teon. Brakumojn al vi.
We, Japanese people have never been and will never be in such a danger that Japanese is killed by other languages. Some people might say yes we have, when we lost the WWII, but I do not think so, because there were a lot of written forms that would be inherited to next generation such as literature, newspapers, magazines and so on.
ReplyDeleteWhat we have to consider deeply is that how strong impacts not only on the change of communication but also on something which helps to build our identities such as culture and history will be if our own languages be killed, because it happens every two weeks in fact.
TANI, Michiru
ReplyDeleteI think there are two causes of the disappearance of languages. The first cause is the inner cause. For example, school do not teach children the unique language. The second cause is the pressuer from outside. For example, the colonization. I think the first cause is a more intricated problem.
At first sight, frankly speaking I think that spread of single language doesn’t seem so bad because the existence of common language can lead to easier communication. People in different counties, cultures or languages can trade, talk or negotiate without misunderstandings caused by difference of languages. However, erosion of languages by killer languages invade a lot of cultures. I think in especially many developing countries, English works as a killer language. Some people learn and speak not their mother tongues but English in order to get a good job or live a wealthy life.
ReplyDeleteThat’s why in many developing countries, the ability of speaking English is regarded as an important factor in business and studies. Therefore, a lot of people tend to make light of their mother tongues, I think.
I think Japanese have less dangers of disappearing. But some country try to protect their language by establishing law. For example, in Pakistan constitution, there are a good text that Pakistan should protect traditional cultures and languages. If Japan have dangers of disappearance Japanese, we should establish some systems like Pakistan. But, fortunately, we have less possibility disappearing Japanese. So, it is important to keep use Japanese and love it, and be careful to think a great deal of Japanese.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, It is not until getting jobs or education depends on mastering the languages that languages become killers. When people cannot make a living if they cannot speak the languages, they have no choice but to give up their native languages, and accept and use new languages for life.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read this article I considered that we should think of languages which are dying in our country. It is not bad to use standard language of the country and global language like English because it can communicate with foreign people and countries. But we mustn't forget our traditional and minority language. I think they are one of the cultures in a country. If they were disappearing, it means one culture vanish from the country. So to avoid such a situation, we need to protect our language for example, in a school studying our languages more deeply.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletelanguage is closely related to culture, the way of thinking and so on. it is because people think various thing by using their mother tongue. So, it is difficult for us to think deeply about things which we cannot express with mother tongue. That's why I think language connect with everything. Therefore, disappearing of language is serious problem. Of course, there are some merits of unification of language, especially in nowadays. However, there is a value of existing of languages. we should make efforts to preserve variety of languages.
ReplyDeleteI think it is important to preserve the diversity of language. The reason is that language is one of the bases of precious culture. If the language is killed by other language, the culture will also decline and die. As this blog says, English have affected other language and it often causes some disappearance of other language. English is useful to communicate with foreign people but we should care about the diversity of language.
ReplyDeleteIt is difficult for us to communicate with foreign people without standardization of language to some extent in globalization, in terms of business, economy, politics,science. Standardization of language is needed for development of lives of people in all over the world. However, in terms of culture, history, way of thinking, (including religion) cannot be expressed exactly in standardized language, because they were born and developed in their unique language. Moreover, these things are important elements as same as other things like politics and economy, especially for people related to the language. Therefore, to protect their unique elements, we have to make an effort not to kill languages which the number of speaker is small completely.
ReplyDelete830
ReplyDeleteI can speak Japanese, but I feel difficulty when I talk with my grandparents, of course they speak Japanese. That is because they live in Kagoshima, Japan, and they speak in dialect. However, I don't have a problem when I talk with my cousin who live in Kagoshima, because they don't speak in dialect. Then I think Japanese dialect is decreasing because children who live in the country(especially dialect is spoken) are educated in normal Japanese.