Language death: evolution, natural selection or cultural genocide?
We humans live in a world of just 194 countries, give or take, but speak between 7,000 and 8,000 languages.
That linguistic diversity is fast disappearing. By one estimate, a language dies every two weeks.
Hundreds of years ago, a handful of European countries colonized whole continents and organized once independent or loosely related peoples into nation-states, under a common colonial language. More recent empires followed suit.
And now the globalization of media and technology are hastening the trend toward linguistic homogeneity. But is this really cause for alarm?
Kans, a French-Cameroonian who blogs at Le Blog du Presi, wrote a post responding to a Rue 89 article on the subject, “A language is extinguished every fifteen days” (Fr).
According to Collette Grinevald, a linguist at the University of Lyon II quoted in the Rue 89 article, 90% of local languages will disappear by the end of the 21st century. Despite the thousands of languages that exist today, 80% of the planet communicates in just 83 languages. Around the world, indigenous languages are giving way to colonial ones.
Comments by French and francophone Rue 89 readers (mostly anonymous) run the gamut, with some arguing that the death of languages is inevitable, and in some ways necessary, in ethnically diverse societies; others that it amounts to nothing less than cultural genocide.
Language has long been a contested issue in France, where the onslaught of anglicisms and the rise of English as the preeminent international language have caused concern in some quarters.
Official policies helped facilitate the death of several regional languages in favor of a common, national one. In the francophone world, that process is just unfolding.
Language death: evolution, natural selection or ethnic cleansing?
“C'etait mieux avant…” encore et toujours… c'est fatiguant. J'aime qu'on me parle de l'evolution des choses, pas seulement d'empecher la destruction de ce qui existait… On ne construit plus d'edifices Romans ou Gothiques… Mais on en a garder avec le temps de tres beaux. Le temps a le merite de faire le trie, c'est vrai dans l'art, la culture et la nature…
Rue 89 reader, Alzaz:
Peu importe qu'une langue devienne moribonde et disparaisse. C'est de la sélection naturelle, appliquée à la culture. La plus forte l'emporte.
It matters little when a language becomes moribund and disappears. It's natural selection, applied to culture. The strongest wins.
Rue 89 reader, photosieste:
L'ethnocide est la destruction d'une culture.
C'est comparable à un être vivant qui naît, vit, meurt.
S'il meurt de mort naturel après avoir eu une belle vie, très bien.
Mais si on l'assassine, ou que l'on ne porte pas assistance à personne en danger, c'est autre chose…C'est pareil pour les langues menacées d'extinction…
You can compare it to a living being who is born, lives, and dies.
If he dies a natural death after a long and beautiful life, very well.
But if we kill him, or we don't help him when he is in danger, that's something else…
It's the same with languages in danger of extinction.
Another reader:
La mort d'une langue est grave non pas pour ce qu'elle est mais surtout pour ce qu'elle pouvait apporter. Une langue qui disparait emporte avec elle un schème de pensé, une vision du monde qui n'augmente que l'apauvrissement de la culture humaine et de la capacité des hommes à comprendre le monde sui l'entour.
Another reader:
Ce n'est qu'un problême d'entropie linguistique. On ne va quand même pas se suicider quand on pense à tout ce qui a disparu depuis 50000 ans en laissant la place à d'autres choses. Vous pensez en conservateur, en accumulateur, bref en capitaliste. Pensez en horloge civilisationnelle, pas à l'échelle d'une vie humaine. Dans 500 ans tout aura encore évolué, et alors ? Au profit de ce que l'époque voudra, et alors ? Il n'y aura peut-être plus un chat sur Terre, et alors ?
Rue 89 reader, jean jacques louis:
“… en biologie, la diversité fait la richesse” : oui mais la biologie ne connaît qu’une seule langue vieille de trois milliards d’années et qui est le code ADN car c’est bien une langue avec un alphabet de quatre lettres et des mots de trois lettres.
Of course as old languages die, new ones are created:
…combien de nouvelles langues apparaissent, pour chaque langue qui disparaît ? Il serait intéressant de faire un inventaire des nouvelles langues apparues ces dernières décennies, qui forment à peine des siècles. Les créoles des diverses îles, qui se basent sur l’anglais, le hollandais ou le français, et leurs multiples variantes, ou les diverses évolutions de la Darija en Afrique du nord…Au Maroc par exemple, la Darija, arabe dialectal marocain, est la vraie langue universelle, qui se base sur l’arabe, le français et l’espagnol, mais compte elle-même de multiples variantes suivant les régions, notamment sous l’influence du berbère.
Kans tells us that in Cameroon, a country with two hundred local languages, just two are official: English and French. But Pidgin English (for the anglophones) and “Camfranglais” (for the francophones) are the “two most widespread and known languages” and preferred by most urban youth to both the official languages and their maternal, local language.
He gives an example of camfranglais, a rich fusion of English, French and local languages:
Moi je vous tchat que si on ne lookot pas, meme le camfrang là on va loss all. Mais popo, je mimba que les langues du lage là, francho il faut laisser tomber le way. Sauf si on veut go speak avec les anciens pour know un peu les divers du mboa, mais qui va meme do tous leurs divers là encore? Déjà que le christiannisme les avait bien bolè, il reste meme quoi nooon?! akaa!
Colonial languages a necessary evil?
Many African countries are home to hundreds of different peoples and languages. Designating a small number of official languages, at the expense of indigenous ones, according to Kans, is often a necessary, if unfortunate, measure:
Mise en cause, la non-officialisation de ces langues. Et donc, anglais, francais, espagnol, portugais, etc. à la barre! Mais comment pouvait-il en être autrement dans des contextes sociaux tels que l'on se retrouve avec autant de langues que d'individus? Il s'impose la necessité de faire un choix, pas toujours heureux pour les langues non-choisies condamnées de facto à la disparition.
The cause [of languages dying out]? Languages remaining unofficial. And so English, French, Spanish, Portugues, etc. to the front! But how could it be otherwise in contexts where there are as many languages as there are people? It becomes necessary to make a choice, not always happy for the languages that are not [made official] and thus condemned to disappear.
Alain Colbert, a Rue 89 reader:
Si un Indien d'Amazonie ne parle pas le portugais, il n'a aucune chance de faire reconnaître ses droits de citoyen à part entière du Brésil, face aux riches et aux pauvres venus, du reste de ce pays, détruire son environnement et qui parlent cette langue, maternelle pour eux.
Kans think new technologies contribute significantly to the homogenization of language, in particular the global preference for English:
…les langues “primaires” (selon l'expression consacrée), sont aussi peut-être victime du transfert de technologie. Où comment une langue se dope de barbarismes imposés par une autre porteuse de science. Je vois à ce titre nos société africaines qui n'ont inventé ni l'avion, ni la voiture, ni les ordinateurs; y a qu'à voir les noms donnés ou adoptés pour lesdits objets pour comprendre. Et c'est la meme comparaison pour le francais vis-à-vis de l'anglais, avec des mots tels que “car”, “wagon”, “PC”, etc. Et de voir l'acharnement d'auto-proclamés défenseurs de la langue francaise, je me demande si ce n'est pas simplement peine perdue, mais bel idéalisme quand même!
In a comment, one of Kans’ readers, Keo, objects to the characterization of langauges as primitive or developped:
…objection, avec O majsucule!
Je suis d'avis qu'il n'y a ni langues primaires, ni langues développées, mais plutôt des langues négligées et des langues privilégiées…Parce que quand on parle de langues primaires, c'est comme si elles ne pouvaient jamais se développer, alors que si on les privilegiait, eh bien elles se déveloperaient comme toute les autres.
I'm of the mind that there are neither primitive or developed languages, but rather neglected and favored ones…because when we speak of primitive languages, it's as though they can never develop, but if we gave them a privileged position, they would develop like all the others.
What would a world of few languages look like?
Que deviendrait le monde si tous ses habitants parlaient la même langue ? Pourrait-on espérer que les humains, se comprenant mieux entre eux, s’entendraient mieux, et, par exemple, se feraient moins la guerre ? Certes pas, l’histoire le montre, qui a toujours vu, et voit des guerres, y compris entre « colocuteurs ».
Vive la mondialisation ! Extinction de 25% de la vie et des espèces vivantes au niveau mondial, extinction des langues vivantes, pollution, extension de la pauvreté généralisée. Elle est pas belle la vie ?
On cultural preservation
Rue 89 reader, gemrien, referring to France, writes that languages may die but they are hardly forgotten:
Les langues sont un patrimoine, aux même titre que les monuments historiques, mais aimerions nous vivre dans des chateaux forts ou dans des huttes ?
Notre devoir est de conserver un patrimoine pour le transmettre à nos enfants pour savoir qui ils sont et d'où ils viennent, mais est ce pour autant qu'il faudrait utiliser courament le patois de chaque région.
We should conserve our heritage so that it can be transmitted to our children so that they may know where they come from, but does that mean that we must use fluently the patois of each region?
The problem with this argument, as a francophone Rue 89 readers point out, is that in other parts of the world, not every dying language will leave behind monuments to its existence:
Pour prendre un cas que je connais bien, celui de l'Afrique, il faut savoir que moins de 10% – et je suis large – des 1000 langues du continent (estimation généralement acceptée) sont correctement décrites. Seule une infime minorité de ces langues sont écrites (pour les autres, il faut se contenter du boulot des évangélistes). On estime que d'ici la fin du siècle seules 10% des langues actuelles auront survécu. Pour nombre d'autres, il ne nous restera qu'une traduction du Nouveau Testament: génial!
Comprenez-vous l'urgence? Même des langues parlées par plusieurs millions de personnes sont en danger: c'est le cas du gikuyu, au Kenya, par exemple. Et encore, il s'agît d'un pays relativement stable politiquement. Mais allez travailler en RDC ou sur les mines anti-personnel du Mozambique!
Personnellement, pour reprendre votre métaphore, je ne tiens pas vraiment à vivre dans un château. En revanche, je tiens à pouvoir le visiter si j'en ai envie, et à ce que certains aient la possibilité de travailler sur son architecture, par exemple. Sur tous les continents, des châteaux disparaîssent. Sans laisser la moindre trace. Sans fossile.
Do you understand the urgency? Even languages spoken by several million people are in danger: that's the case of gikuyu, in Kenya, for example. And moreover, that's in a country that is relatively politically stable. Imagine working in the DRC or on land mines in Mozambique!
Personally, to use your metaphor, I wouldn't really want to live in a castle. But on the other hand, I can always visit one if I want to, and others have the possibility of studying its architecture, for example. On all the continents, castles are disappearing. Without leaving a single trace. Without leaving fossils.
There has been a growing movement within France to preserve regional languages after many years of neglect. However the French concern about the survival of languages like Breton or Corse does not apparently extended to languages endangered in French overseas departments.
Rue 89 reader, Sylvius:
la guyane est une region francaise au meme titre que la bretagne – 6 langues amazoniennes (sur la quinzaine de langues locales parlees dans cette region )mais les amerindiens sont isoles peu nombreux et non belliqueux…n'y a t il pas egalite et fraternite dans la doctrine francaise?pardon ca ne doit pas etre vrai pour les departements et territoires d'outre mer ! alors si on vt preserver les langues especes coutumes et peuples , pourquoi laisser tomber les ultra marins
An anonymous reader agrees:
C'est vrai. Mais il se trouve que l'histoire…a fait que quelques langues “amazoniennes” doivent également être considérées comme minoritaires et menacées en France : les langues amérindiennes parlées en Guyane française, passablement oubliées elles aussi. Le basque (qui a une presse, des médias audio-visuels, une édition, un enseignement de la maternelle à l'Université…) à côté pourrait faire figure de langue dominante…
Madagascar: An assault on the Malagasy language?
In France, government policies promoting French as the official language did most of their damage to regional languages long ago; there the debate is more abstract.
Global Voices author Mialy Andriamananjara writes about how in Madagascar, as elsewhere in Africa, policies are being put in place that may, over the long run, endanger the health of non-European languages.
The Malagasy Government has decided that it will no longer advertise official tenders or disseminate official articles in any newspapers that do not circulate at least 10000 units a day, and do not publish in at least two of the three official languages (Malagasy, French, English).
Jentilisa sees in this policy a missed opportunity for the Malagasy Government to support Malagasy speaking newspapers, and worse, a willful intention from the Government to eliminate the Malagasy language.
Dia ny fanjakana eritreretina mba hanampy ireo gazety teny malagasy ireo indray ity no vao maika mampivoitra izany fomba fisainana manao valalan’amboa ny teny malagasy izany. Nantenaina hanery ny hafa aza izy mba ho ny gazety mpiteny malagasy ihany no amoahana izay tian’ny fanjakana avoaka izay, zavatra aloa vola manko izany mba ho fanohanana ilay teny malagasy, nefa dia nivandravandra fotsiny aho sisa. Farafaharatsiny mba ho ohatra halain’ny rehetra tahaka nefa dia nanara-driandrano tahaka ny deba rehetra ihany.
The government that one hoped would support these Malagasy speaking newspapers are now reinforcing this mentality of ostracizing the Malagasy language, and treating it like a stepchild. One hoped they would force the publishing of official tenders and offers in Malagasy speaking newspapers only, because those official advertisements would zhave financially supported the Malagasy language, but I am left with only my eyes wide open. At least, that would have been setting an example for all to follow, but now they are just following the flow.
Rajiosy, a new Malagasy blogger, is less pessimistic.
Dia hoy aho hoe : tsy mila tsotsofina akory anie ny teny malagasy fa “velona sy mahery” arak’ilay hiram-piangonana iny e. Ny isan’ny mpiteny azy andavan’andro fotsiny dia ampy haha-mafy aina azy : 17 tapitrisa mahery be izao tsy manana eritreritra ny hiova fiteny ! Ho anay mipetraka aty an-dafin-dranomasina aloha dia mahatsapa tsara izahay rehefa sendra tody any an-tanindrazana iny fa miaina ny teny malagasy.
Koa aza dia kivy ambony ihany rey olona : ny mpitondra fanjakana mbamin’ny didim-panjakana mandalo ihany fa ny fiteny malagasy mbola ho lava velona !
So I say : the Malagasy language does not need any help, because it is “Alive and strong” as one Protestant hymn would say. The sheer number of speakers suffices to strengthen it : 17 millions of people who have no intentions of switching languages ! Those of us who live overseas feel when we come back home that the Malagasy language is alive.
So do not despair people : government leaders and laws are being passed but the Malagasy language long lives!
27 comments
Im sure you will all enjoy this talk by Wade Davis “The Endangered Cultures”:
Anthropologist Wade Davis is perhaps the most articulate and influential western advocate for the world’s indigenous cultures. His stunning photographs and evocative stories capture the viewer’s imagination.
As a speaker, he parlays that sense of wonder into passionate concern over the rate at which cultures and languages are disappearing — 50 percent of the world’s 6,000 languages, he says, are no longer taught to children.
What do you think new EU would do with languages. See the problems on my blog by clicking my name. A Referendum is needed for New EU
i think more funding should be put in to help those living in poverty. Health care should be free. the government should provide free health care to its citizens as right of belonging to the country. there should be more job opportunuity open to people as this will help eliminate poverty and early death. i am speaking on behalf my fellow brothers and sisters of cameroon
This is only the beginning, and lets not be confused about what “Mordern day Colonialism” is. Some individuals like Benjamin Cook from above think this topic to be trivial. As seen when he stated “People who hold on to old and fleeting languages as anything but an important piece of cultural heritage are silly to me”. As far as im concerned, inhibiting a group to engage in their native language islike writing a death sentence. . It cuts of the wisdom and knowledge that would outerwise be passed down from elders to the young. A concept that most westeners are unaware of. Vital customs and tradition which are the pulse and driving force of the group, are practiced less, and then eventually cease to exist. It may start out as somthing that seems simplistic like language and then develop into forced spirituality. A system that causes them no longer to reley on each other as a tribe, now forces them to reley on outsiders for their survival. IT IS ABOUT THE RIGHT OF WHO THEY ARE. WHAT ABOUT THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLE? As we can see they have none, and
history tells us this time and time again.
“Where today is the Pequot? Where are the Narragansetts, the Mohawks, the Pokanoket, and the once powerful tribes of our people? They have vanished before the avarice and the oppression of the white man, as snow before the summer sun”. Famous Native American quote- Techumseh(Shooting Star),Shawnee Chief
What makes the difference in terms of survival or extinction of minority/majority languages is the implementation or non-implementation of official language policies in the countries in question. Take the case of Cameroon as an example. More than four decades after attaining national independence, we are still speaking in borrow tongues: English and French at the expense of native languages!The importance of indigenous languages has been stressed by scholars in the field. It is noteworthy to point out the views of Nkrumah on the restoration of autochthonous languages as an indispensable part of our heritage. In his speech “Ghana is Born,” Nkrumah saw the use of European languages in Africa as one of the problems compromising the freedom, equality and independence of African countries. He thus suggested the following blueprint:
“It is essential that we do consider seriously the problem of the language in Africa[…] Far more students in our universities are studying Latin and Greek than studying the languages of Africa. An essential of independence is that emphasis must be laid on studying the living languages of Africa for, out of such a study will come simpler methods by which those in one part of Africa may learn the languages in all other parts”(Quoted in Kwame Botwe-Asamoah,747) In his discourse, Nkrumah not only saw the danger in neglecting one’s mother tongue, but he also underscored the significance of the linguistic factor in African unity, the more so because as Ngugi (1986:13)has pointed out,”Every language has a dual makeup; it is both a mode of communication and a bearer of culture.” Asante(1988:4) is probably right when he claims that “If your God cannot speak your language, then he is not your God.”
I was just returning to this post to watch the Wade Davis talk (http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/69), which I just watched a few minutes ago only to see that another reader, hj barraza, had already posted it!
Anyway, it’s a great talk that certainly echoes Adam’s view that it’s the underlying loss of culture, rather than just language itself, that represents the true cost of the world’s shrinking linguistic diversity.
I was actually thinking on this problem yesterday, discussing how to enable poor people stay within their local economies and not migrate. Instead, teach them how to develop their local micro-economies
One of the main reasons for culture suicide is the death of elders with no one left to pass on their knowledge, young flee or don´t care.
Somehow economies must include the preservation of cultural capital, without turning it into tourism whore.
Much has yet to be developed in micro-financing and local economy development for rural, indigenous and under developed areas.
Our language is our culture. In my country (Kenya) we are currently having the language debate because of
1. Tribalism caused by ethnocentricity.
2. Globalisation
3. Intermarriage
I think having several languages is good for maintaining culture but consider that the main purpose of language was to communicate in the first place so as long as people can still communicate it doesn’t really matter in what language it iis done i.e just because my mother teaches me my tribe’s traditions in English doesn’t mean I won’t get them just as well.
Agree with Adam, not language is a problem, but the information ingrained in it, which will die with the language.
Language per se is the understanding of the world, certain point of view developed in certain places, and just because it is small doesn’t mean it has no value. In this regard dying languages is problem