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Tuesday 24 January 2017
Sunday 15 January 2017
What is the value of preserving indigenous languages?
Language is the key to culture. Humans derive their social lives and all of their customs and traditions through the means of language. Due to its role as a communicator between people, it becomes intertwined with the traditions and customs, almost inseparable; language comes hand in hand with culture. With these truths, humans tend to be protective of their values and culture and thus makes us feel as though we are indebted to our language and what it has done for our individual cultures. Even when societies begin involuntarily become ignorant towards their cultures due to the modern day, your mother tongue will always be a constant reminder of the values and virtues your people were brought up by thus proving its significance in our lives. Showing that language tends to be the last string that binds a modernised nation back to its roots. Hence instilling the need of preserving our languages.
Once modern languages such as English begin to evoke a sense of replacing one's native tongue, it also starts to evoke the feeling of replacing your cultures entire history. 7000 languages are spoken in the world today, and 5000 of them are spoken by indigenous tribes; which makes the 6% total of the world's population. Unfortunately, 90% of the 5000 languages are near extinction. Meaning that 4500 languages are dying out in the modern world, taking all of their cultures histories, autonomy, power, heritage, and connectivity. In addition to all of these losses, we lose cultures worth of artistry and scholar. All of which impacts our modern explorations. Without such connections to thousands of tribes explorations, our modern world is missing out on so much.
An example of this would be the knowledge that was lost on the Pacific coast in the nations and tribes of Polynesia. Their culture originates from the ancient voyagers that travelled the oceans. Three thousand years ago there was an abrupt halt of long-distant voyaging for a thousand years, and all the knowledge of voyaging had gone with the people's ancestors. It took their people a millennium to regain any knowledge that they previously had on voyaging. There are many instances where such cultural traditions were mysteriously put to a stop, and couldn't be rediscovered again due to a lack of records through oral or written language. This insights us to the possibility of losing such valuable cultural knowledge alongside custom explorations if there was no preservation of the languages that indigenous people spoke, both physically (in writing) and oral (spoken).
There are huge consequences that come with being ignorant towards indigenous languages. therefore we need to become more aware of all of these languages and the worth they have to our modern world, and what we could learn from them.
Once modern languages such as English begin to evoke a sense of replacing one's native tongue, it also starts to evoke the feeling of replacing your cultures entire history. 7000 languages are spoken in the world today, and 5000 of them are spoken by indigenous tribes; which makes the 6% total of the world's population. Unfortunately, 90% of the 5000 languages are near extinction. Meaning that 4500 languages are dying out in the modern world, taking all of their cultures histories, autonomy, power, heritage, and connectivity. In addition to all of these losses, we lose cultures worth of artistry and scholar. All of which impacts our modern explorations. Without such connections to thousands of tribes explorations, our modern world is missing out on so much.
An example of this would be the knowledge that was lost on the Pacific coast in the nations and tribes of Polynesia. Their culture originates from the ancient voyagers that travelled the oceans. Three thousand years ago there was an abrupt halt of long-distant voyaging for a thousand years, and all the knowledge of voyaging had gone with the people's ancestors. It took their people a millennium to regain any knowledge that they previously had on voyaging. There are many instances where such cultural traditions were mysteriously put to a stop, and couldn't be rediscovered again due to a lack of records through oral or written language. This insights us to the possibility of losing such valuable cultural knowledge alongside custom explorations if there was no preservation of the languages that indigenous people spoke, both physically (in writing) and oral (spoken).
There are huge consequences that come with being ignorant towards indigenous languages. therefore we need to become more aware of all of these languages and the worth they have to our modern world, and what we could learn from them.
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