E R

The Exodus of Languages

The following reading is adapted from the article The Exodus of Languages: How the loss of languages is much like the
loss of a species by Jessica Kwik © 1998. Reprinted from Imprint Online with permission from the author.

"I have made an impression on this first group of Inuit people. My arrival to arctic Canada was a cold
one, but I'm warmed thinking of the events that will someday be stories to tell. The Inuit were surprised to
see my white skin and they told rather humorous jokes about me in Inuktitut.' They stopped laughing
though, when they heard my rebuttal in a dialect of their own tongue. I think I will enjoy this journey from
Greenland to Siberia."

It is doubtful that Knud Rasmussen1 made such a diary entry on his travels, but these events did take place in
the 1920s. Inuit communities throughout arctic Canada understood the Inuktitut spoken by the Greenland-
born Rasmussen. Since the dialects had a common core that could be understood, the diverse dialects show a
common origin, or the same mother language. This divergence of language contrasts with the converging of
languages today that is endangering languages worldwide.

Languages seem to be converging to a smaller number, as languages like English seem to eat up regional
ones. The three languages used the most by first language speakers today are Mandarin Chinese, English,
and Spanish. English is being used more and more as the main language for business, science, and popular
culture. Evidence suggests that the dominant languages are squeezing out the local tongues of various
regions in the world. Linguists estimate that of the approximately 6,500 languages worldwide, about half are
endangered or on the brink of extinction. According to some linguists, the estimated rate of language
extinction is one lost in the world every two weeks. If this sounds like the world is losing a species, in a way
it is.

When a language is lost, meaning no living person can teach another, a world perspective is lost. Some
foreign language expressions simply cannot be translated. Colloquial phrases are pleasant to the ear, not only
because they are familiar, but also because they reflect a unique aspect of a culture. Aboriginal languages in
Canada and other countries such as Australia have words that reflect a way of life that is connected closely to
the Earth. There are fifty different words that mean 'snow' in one Canadian native language, and in the
Eastern Arrernte language of Central Australia the word nyimpe translates to 'the smell of rain.'

These various views of the world are essential for science to help create new ways of understanding and new
connections between the human and the natural world. Botanists have discovered new species of plants by
digging deeper into the meaning of Aboriginal names of flora that seemed identical. Archaeologists are also
using languages to track migrations of historical cultures. University of Waterloo Professor Robert Park
knows that the ancestral origins of the present Canadian Inuit communities can be partly explained by the
language spoken by the Inuit today. The Thule culture spoke the same Inuktitut of present-day Inuit to a
greater or lesser degree. Dr. Park knows the prehistoric Thule migrated east from Alaska and eventually to
Labrador and Greenland by the evidence of the mutually intelligible, living dialects of today.

Languages are much like living creatures that become endangered when numbers dwindle. Local natural
disasters, war, and famine are some of the reasons languages slip through the cracks of history. The
language that bore the different daughter languages for the Eskimo and Inuit was almost wiped out after
World War II. The mother language, Proto-Eskimo Aleut, was under siege when the Aleut people were
forced to leave their land. Fortunately, some Proto-Eskimo Aleut, which originated 6,000 to 8,000 years ago,
is still spoken. Languages also so become endangered when they are not passed on to children or when a
metropolitan language dominates over others.

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES 231

 E R

Some groups are taking action in preserving languages. Revival of languages such as Irish is gaining ground.
There is an Irish-language television channel and the largest age group of fluent Irish speakers is now the
under-twenty-fives. International organizations are mobilizing for the cause as well: UNESCO has mapped
the Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing in 1996. The editor of the atlas believes the
preservation of moribund languages, which are spoken only by the elderly, should be a priority since they are
on the brink of extinction.

Preservation can occur in two ways. First, linguists can study moribund languages and seek to preserve the
components of the language: the sounds, the vocabulary, the grammar, and the traditions. The second way is
to teach children the language and have linguists advise on language maintenance. An example of this latter
method is the Maori language of New Zealand. It has seen a resurgence in the number of speakers from the
1960s and 1970s when there was virtually no parent to child transmission. New Zealand has since set up
'language nests' in early childhood centers to teach children Maori, exposing 100,000 children to their native
tongue so far.

For many linguists, preserving endangered languages is vital; a loss in global languages means a loss of the
diverse ideas and cultures those languages once held.

----------------
1
Knud Rasmussen: A Danish explorer and ethnologist who extensively researched Inuit culture.

232 ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC PURPOSES