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.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteShamsa, I thoroughly enjoyed reading this post as you effectively unravelled the multiple elements that are in direct relation to the loss of indigenous languages to put across your point. Moreover, the bold declarative opening statement, "Language is the key to culture," would certainly be an idea I agree with as I personally believe that language and culture are inextricably linked in a way that one cannot exist without another. It was also quite interesting how you state that societies have become "involuntarily ignorant" towards their own cultures in order to align with the "modern" times. As seen in the documentary today as well, I can relate to this on a personal level as several schools in India forbid students from conversing in Hindi (the national language of the country) with the purpose of emphasizing on the necessity for the acquisition of English, an aspect viewed as pivotal to be competent in this heavily "english-dominated" society.
ReplyDeleteWhat in your opinion, is the most effective manner in which an indigenous language could be preserved in contemporary society ?
Well done!!
Thank you, Shriya for this insightful comment. Your question honestly triggered a whole scope of thoughts that I have not yet explored. I believe in the fact that humans should keep an open mind and to continue to grow with the modern world, thus encourage learning modern languages to follow up with the times. Having said that, I also believe in keeping a balance. When it comes to languages, many people obtain a black and white fallacy, where you either jump to learning modern languages and turn your back on your native tongue or decide not to learn any other languages as opposed to your own. Through personal experience, I would say an efficient method would be to ensure a balance between the use of all your languages. Speaking your mother tongue with your fellow natives, while using a modern language when times call for it such as at school or in the workplace, ensuring that you practice both (or more) languages on a daily basis. In addition to this, languages must be documented. Dictionaries, fictions, non-fictions, and poetry alike; languages in which are not recorded tend to be the languages in which die out faster. Writing and reading in your indigenous language alongside the modern languages of today would indeed help its preservation.
Delete