That’s right, languages can also die, as strange as it may sound.
I remember when I heard about this the first time, as thousands of questions suddenly popped up in my head. It is strange to think about the possibility of a dying language, isn’t it?
And when this language dies, is there any kind of funeral or burial?
Is its death somehow commemorated?
But also, how did this happen? Why did this language die? Are there any other languages in danger?
And who is in charge of declaring it dead?
Thus, I would like to dedicate this entry to making an autopsy of some sorts on dead languages, and to exploring together this odd but interesting concept.
First, we must be clear about the fact that before dying, a language was considered alive.
This may seem redundant, but the concept is a little strange so I would rather clarify this.
Ordinary languages are alive; they experience an ongoing growth and evolve hand-in-hand with human kind. We see this on a daily basis, so I invite you to pay close attention to your native language for confirmation.
Now, let’s move from the living realm to the world of dead.
Wikipedia provides this definition: Dead languages or extinct languages are those that no longer qualify as native language of any individual and, therefore, are not used by any natural community of speakers.
So, we now have the criteria to declare a language dead.
If it’s nobody’s native language, it should be considered dead.
Regardless of whether there are still a few people who know how to speak this language.
No matter if it’s still used as second language, or if it is still used in specific occasions.
Plain and simple, a language is declared dead in case is no longer the native language of any speaker.
But what about the cause? What causes a language to die?
We are not talking about something unexpected, random or unforeseen.
On the contrary.
A language dies because of a progressive lack of use; it stops being passed from generation to the next, and the number of people using it as native language gradually decreases.
So, as their speakers pass away their language dies with them.
—– Does it seem kind of sad to you? I believe it is, and pretty sad actually. I feel that as language fades away we lose an important part of our culture as human civilization. Certain global organizations such as the UNESCO track down languages at risk of extinction and work to preserve them. So if you like to learn more about this extremely important mission, please read this UNESCO article available at the following link:
Now, returning to our autopsy, we already know what causes the death of a language and when it is pronounced dead.
But who is responsible for doing it?
This is when the matter gets complicated, as there is no doctor or authority responsible for making the death of a language “official”.
So, this leads to a number of disagreements for sure.
Let’s see for example the case of Latin.
According to the above discussed criteria, Latin is a dead language.
However, there are people arguing that it is still alive, as certain sciences use a large number of words in Latin, and also because several people are still capable of speaking Latin as second language.
So, is it safe to say that in some cases we are dealing with a “half-dead” language?
This is a question that remains open for discussion.
I wanted to dedicate this entry to dead languages as some sort of post-mortem commemoration. They did not have a funeral or a burial, but at least they have this space in our blog section to remind us that they existed and will be forever missed.
AUTOPSY ON LANGUAGES THAT LIVE NO MORE
— D E A D L A N G U A G E S —
That’s right, languages can also die, as strange as it may sound.
I remember when I heard about this the first time, as thousands of questions suddenly popped up in my head. It is strange to think about the possibility of a dying language, isn’t it?
And when this language dies, is there any kind of funeral or burial?
Is its death somehow commemorated?
But also, how did this happen? Why did this language die? Are there any other languages in danger?
And who is in charge of declaring it dead?
Thus, I would like to dedicate this entry to making an autopsy of some sorts on dead languages, and to exploring together this odd but interesting concept.
First, we must be clear about the fact that before dying, a language was considered alive.
This may seem redundant, but the concept is a little strange so I would rather clarify this.
Ordinary languages are alive; they experience an ongoing growth and evolve hand-in-hand with human kind. We see this on a daily basis, so I invite you to pay close attention to your native language for confirmation.
Now, let’s move from the living realm to the world of dead.
Wikipedia provides this definition: Dead languages or extinct languages are those that no longer qualify as native language of any individual and, therefore, are not used by any natural community of speakers.
So, we now have the criteria to declare a language dead.
If it’s nobody’s native language, it should be considered dead.
Regardless of whether there are still a few people who know how to speak this language.
No matter if it’s still used as second language, or if it is still used in specific occasions.
Plain and simple, a language is declared dead in case is no longer the native language of any speaker.
But what about the cause? What causes a language to die?
We are not talking about something unexpected, random or unforeseen.
On the contrary.
A language dies because of a progressive lack of use; it stops being passed from generation to the next, and the number of people using it as native language gradually decreases.
So, as their speakers pass away their language dies with them.
—– Does it seem kind of sad to you? I believe it is, and pretty sad actually. I feel that as language fades away we lose an important part of our culture as human civilization. Certain global organizations such as the UNESCO track down languages at risk of extinction and work to preserve them. So if you like to learn more about this extremely important mission, please read this UNESCO article available at the following link:
http://www.unesco.org/new/es/culture/themes/endangered-languages/faq-on-endangered-languages/ —–
Now, returning to our autopsy, we already know what causes the death of a language and when it is pronounced dead.
But who is responsible for doing it?
This is when the matter gets complicated, as there is no doctor or authority responsible for making the death of a language “official”.
So, this leads to a number of disagreements for sure.
Let’s see for example the case of Latin.
According to the above discussed criteria, Latin is a dead language.
However, there are people arguing that it is still alive, as certain sciences use a large number of words in Latin, and also because several people are still capable of speaking Latin as second language.
So, is it safe to say that in some cases we are dealing with a “half-dead” language?
This is a question that remains open for discussion.
I wanted to dedicate this entry to dead languages as some sort of post-mortem commemoration. They did not have a funeral or a burial, but at least they have this space in our blog section to remind us that they existed and will be forever missed.
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