İhsan Doğramacı Foundation

Bilkent Erzurum Laboratory School

2011-2012 Academic Year

9th Grade Main Course Term Project

Language Death (Causes and Effects)

Kemal Vatansever

9-D 216

Teacher’s Name:

Aslı Kahramanoğlu

Table of ContentsLanguage................................................................................................................................................1

Endangered Languages.......................................................................................................................3

Language Death..................................................................................................................................5

Causes of Language Deaths............................................................................................................6

Poverty-Wealth...........................................................................................................6

“Dialect Languages”...................................................................................................7

Degeneration...............................................................................................................8

Effects of Language Death..............................................................................................................8

Cultural.......................................................................................................................8

Independence..............................................................................................................9

Religion and Beliefs....................................................................................................9

Expression.................................................................................................................10

Resources.....................................................................................................................................11

1

Language Language is the way that human beings use to communicate by the time when the

people are created on the world. The language is also the tool that is used by ears and eyes to

combine society. This “Language” term comes and changes with human nature by the effects

of the nations, politics, and life styles for nearly 5000 years. By the process of formation of

the first communication step, the main part was the movement of body parts (each move

means a different type of meanings) and mime (sign languages). Thus, eyes were used

understand the first language of human nation.

In the process of developing of the language concept, eyes got more importance by the

effects of emotions (the base of eye contact) and a

new part of the body was used to build another

branch of language: Written Languages. People

speak each other to create a common point:

Understanding.

The development of the human nature required a more spaces to live. Some group of

people gathered and spread through the world. They had to make a common spoken language

and each nation made their common voices to speak. By the time this also required to grow

the relations between nations (trade, wars, and

agreements) brought “Writing” to make deal. That

was cornerstone of Structural Language type. The

base of history, inventions, science was discovered

with the founder of accuracy.

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By the time, the couple of speaking and

writing had one of the highest ranks on the

powerful tools list. The nations that have improved

their languages got power by knowledge. They got

the biggest inventions in education, medicine,

military. They have developed with the inability of

undeveloped nations so that these countries had to

have more resources in terms MONEY and man

power to maintain their developments.

After the discovery of the power of language, two main branches (also sides) of this

power appeared significantly: Influence of powerful languages and Disappearing of

depotentiated languages (actually cultures.)

The first one is mainly about the effectiveness of the languages that are being

supported by powerful economies and politics. The powerful languages become the common

spoken language of the world. Unfortunately, everybody has to learn these leader languages

and also do their requirements under pressure.

The second one is the collapse of languages by the “effective” nations, so again the

languages. This is the war between languages. People who want

to use their native languages in their daily life become unfamiliar

with their own culture when they influenced by the idea that

“Why I am trying speak a language that is hardly spoken my daily

life?” Also if they do not think like that and they are conservative

about their language, they get the pressure of language

colonialism. The search of resources rotates the powerful

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countries to the less-developed countries and makes the colony nations, such as Morocco,

Algeria and such African countries. The structure education system is changed by these

countries as the idea influence effect in childhood. The native language of colony nations is

not spoken, and the colonialist state’s languages are spoken all over these countries.

Endangered Languages

An endangered language is a language that is at risk of disappearing out of world

culture. If there are no speakers of this language, it causes endangered language to become

death language. These languages are

also called "extinct language". When it

is considered that there are

approximately 2300 languages from

6900 predicted spoken languages is in

danger of language death according to

UNESCO Atlas of the World’s

Languages in danger (near 34%), we

have to know how to classify a language as endangered. To do this there are three steps that

must be identified: language documentation, language revitalization (both of these are also

used as a rescue for languages about to die) and statistics about the speakers.

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Language documentation check is the step that

the language is examined in terms of its grammar, its

lexicon, its oral traditions (stories, songs, religious

texts), and its word structure. It so important to take the

culture of the language to understand the requirements

of this language, its history and what it means when

you speak (to understand stand yourself and other people who are speaking this language) to

see the future of language.

Language revitalization check is the step that the language is examined by the attempts

to increase the number of active speakers of the endangered through language community

political and educational. Persistence of language is mainly situated on this issue.

The third check has the greatest importance in those three: statistics about the

speakers. Three main branches of these statistics (number of currently speakers, average of

ages of speakers, and the percentage of young speakers) cover a huge area to be discussed.

Firstly, the number of speakers is very important when it is known that there are 199

languages have less than 10 speakers and there are 178 languages have 10-50 speakers.

Second, it has to be known that the average

age of speakers to predict the capacity of the

generations to improve and maintain the

language. The last and the most significant

branch is that the percentage of young

speakers of language. If a child becomes

distant with his/her own language by effect of environment (mainly education language is

different), that will be the end of that language because there is not a person maintain the

language with most correct way in terms of cultural awareness and communication skills.

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Most efficient way to detect a language as endangered language is to make survey on the

young speakers of this language.

Language Death

Language death is a process that affects language family where the level of linguistic

competence is decreased, eventually

resulting in no native or fluent

speakers of the variety. Naturally, this

is not a short time such as 5-17 years,

it occurs in the long time intervals as

15-25 years because of “Sub

pressures” that acts slowly but in a deep and effective way to destroy the language. The

language deaths caused by these “Sub Pressures” are separated into five groups: Gradual

language death, Bottom-to-top language death, Top-bottom language death, Radical language

death, and Linguicide.

The gradual language death takes the lead of most languages that are death or may be

dead. In this process, a community of speakers of one language becomes bilingual in another

language, and gradually shifts allegiance to the second language until they stop using their

original language. This is also called language assimilation which may be voluntary or may be

by the pressure of society.

Bottom-to-top language death (sub-branch of directory of language death, not a type),

as represented in its name, starts in a small group of speakers such as at the home or at a

village.

Top-to-bottom language death (also sub-branch of directory of language death, not a

type) starts in a high class environment such as in the government or in the statesman council.

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By time passes less and less speakers of an endangered languages stay on world so

these small, isolated population of speakers can also die when their speakers are annihilated

by genocide, disease, or natural disaster. This language death is called Radical language death

and Linguicide.

Causes of Language Deaths

Poverty-Wealth

By the invention of writing in 3200 BC in Egypt, many and many languages appeared

on the world and disappeared by the time.

However, some languages’ roots were strong in

terms of grammar and economic power of its

nation. The language, symbols of the each living

nations, was covering the knowledge about these

people. As a requirement of human nature,

leadership feeling was both in the economy so in the language as a of symbol rank in the

class-conscious structure. Money, the main reason of almost all problems and answers,

established wars and immigrations for new

resources of petrol, mines, and workforce. By

these cases, some of the weak languages cannot

even have resistance to other languages power;

unfortunately disappeared. The powerful

languages become a communication language of

whole world, and the others that have some resistance to these languages are crushed under

pressure of poverty by the changed education systems, advertisements, and the whole written

documents between world countries (Most of them in English which is the worldwide

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language of present). All of the colony countries lose their languages in this way and also

their futures with the thoughts of different languages in their mind.

“Dialect Languages”

As a result of communication and long distances on the world between nations, there

are over 6000 languages spoken languages and times of these quantity is lost in the world

history. From the main branches of the linguistic system, many dialects are derived because of

regional differences on the culture and life styles. As in such small regions like villages or

burgs, some dialects that are changed too much that they cannot be understood as a branch of

language is accepted as a language. Also few members of unknown religion or nations that

are conserved from other religions and nations have special

languages that are only for them and this language is not

needed for other people.

In these kinds of small groups, their languages

preserved and do not have to change accordi ng to foreigners

because there is no foreigner such as a desert in Africa, a

village in the mountainside of Mountain Everest. These

languages are much closed to risks of Linguicide. A disease or a natural disaster can bring end

to the language by the death all presenters of this language.

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Degeneration

Middle class and upper-middle class countries, for example Turkey, combine and add

new words from the worldwide languages to their national languages.

The obligation and requirement of human nature; communication and

trade combines people. World-famous brands distribute products (From

military articles to daily products, mainly technology) to every country in

the world. In the course of time, people got used to these common terms

in foreign languages for easier and more useful (!) communication. They

lose their nationality and also personality with their language. They become unfamiliar with

their own culture.

Effects of Language Death

Cultural

The languages are the bridges that combine history with future. Thus, the culture of

nations is transferred by these bridges to new generations of civilization. When there are

improper stones or cables on these bridges, they

can change the direction of the road or completely

damage the way. The roots of the words tender the

knowledge of patriotism and personality. Each

term is combined with the traditions because of that

the exact definitions of different languages’ words

cannot be found. When the bridges are destroyed by the improper stones, the children, future

of a nation, lose their personality and defend other nation’s rights. Not only the language is

lost, but also the history, future, and culture is gone with that. Thus, the most efficient way to

destroy a nation is to have influence on its language.

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Independence

As in the cultural side, if a person loses his/her language, then he/she will lose his/her

independence too. This process covers the base of sub-colonialism. The policy of the present

is that to stave secretly. The more words that another

language has on your language means more right speak on

you because they tell themselves you with hypnosis. With

more right, they demolish your language and replace with

their language and soldiers in your country. The country is

yours in words, but you don’t have a speech to change

anything. And if you give up in your challenge to not lose

your language, at this point you got out of your independence.

Religion and Beliefs

The languages changes by the time and identify with its nation in terms of everything.

For example, the Bible is written in many European languages

that have roots of Germanic languages, and Kuran_i Kerim is

written in Arabic. The Bible has the terms of European

languages and for example Turkish has Arabic terms, so

Turkish nation is Muslim. When the exchange of powerful and

weak languages occurs, society cannot live their beliefs in

different languages because they are foreign to themselves. Or the phrases of the religion

changes according thoughts that are brought by different words. Thus, there will not be

peaceful place to live through opinions.

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Expression

As it considered, there is no exact definition of words in

different cultures, there will not be a proper expression of opinions

that separates human from the animals. In a way that people speak

will show a different culture effect and view. So that anybody can

improve their individual qualities.

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Resources

http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_family

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dialect

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_death

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_language

http://www.google.com.tr/imghp?hl=en&tab=wi

http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8311000/8311069.stm

http://listverse.com/2008/06/26/top-10-most-spoken-languages-in-the-world/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_genocide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extinct_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_extinct_languages

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language_revitalization

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Last_speaker_of_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regional_language

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultural_hegemony

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_endangered_languages

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocide

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linguistic_imperialism

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