Linguicide: The Disappearance of Unwritten and Undocumented Languages

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It is estimated that, if nothing is done, half of 6000+ languages spoken today will disappear by the end of this century. With the disappearance of unwritten and undocumented languages, humanity would lose not only a cultural wealth but also important ancestral knowledge embedded, in particular, in indigenous languages. Discussion Social Institutions and Education and its Influence on Linguicide To understand why English is a dominating schools and eventual employment internationally, research must be done in the following areas: Business, Literature and Science. According to Nick Morrison from Forbes, English may be the third most widely spoken native tongue (after Mandarin and Spanish), but it is by far the most popular second language; an estimated two billion people, more than a quarter of the world’s population, will be learning English by the end of this decade (Graddol, 2006). He also speaks about bilingual speaking and how learning 2 or more languages could mean better access to the business world and, thus, being more successful. (Morrison, 2014) And in literature, an article published by the Centre for Economic Policy Research states that English is dominating the world of literature, but not for the right reasons. “… if the English language dominates world publishing, very few translations except those from English to other languages will be commercially viable. As a result, virtually only those writing in English will have a chance of reaching a world audience and achieving ‘classic status’. The outcome is clear, Jacques Mélitz (Centre de Recherche en Economie et Statistique, Paris and CEPR) argues: just as in the sciences, those who wish to reach a world audience will write in English. “World literature will be a... ... middle of paper ... ....aspx Talhouk, S. (2012, December). Don't Kill Your Language. Beirut: TEDxBeirut. Torres-Leclercq, B. (2014, February 21). Indigenous communities demand legislation to protect mother tongues. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from The Santiago Times: http://santiagotimes.cl/indigenous-communities-demand-legislation-protect-mother-tongues/ UNESCO. (2001). The Atlas of World's Languages in Danger of Disappering. (S. A. Wurm, Ed.) Barcelona: UNESCO. United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. (n.d.). Indigenous Languages. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from Indigenous People Indigenous Voices - Fact Sheet: http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/unpfii/documents/Factsheet_languages_FINAL.pdf W3Techs. (2014, April 19). Usage of content languages for websites. Retrieved April 19, 2014, from W3Techs - Web Technology Services: http://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_language/all

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