Chapter 1.

2: Core course knowledge

WHY WE MUST SAVE DYING TONGUES

Over the past century alone, around 400 Canada are endangered,’ says Peter Austin, a
languages – about one every three months professor of Field Linguistics at the University

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– have gone extinct, and most linguists of London. ‘Even a language like Navajo, with 45
estimate that 50% of the world’s remaining thousands of speakers, falls into that category
5 6,500 languages will be gone by the end of because very few children are learning it.’
this century. Today, the top ten languages
If measured in proportion to population,
in the world claim around half of the world’s
however, then Australia holds the world record
population. Can language diversity be preserved,
for endangered languages. When Europeans 50
or are we on a path to becoming a monolingual
first arrived there, 300 aboriginal languages were
10 species?
spoken around the country. Since then, 100 or
Since there are so many imperiled languages, it’s so have gone extinct, and linguists regard 95%
impossible to label just one as the rarest or most of the remaining ones as being on their last legs.
endangered, but at least 100 around the world Just a dozen of the original 300 are still being 55
have only a handful of speakers – from Ainu in taught to children.
15

20
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Japan to Yaghan in Chile. It can be difficult to
find people who speak these languages, too.
One such case is Marie Smith Jones,
who passed away in Alaska in 2008, taking
the Eyak language with her. Or, in the case of the
pre-Columbian Mexican language Ayapaneco,
But does it matter whether a seemingly obscure
language spoken by a few people in one isolated
corner of the world goes out of existence?
Some people argue that language loss, like
species loss, is simply a fact of life on an
60

31
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ever-evolving planet. But there are many
the last two surviving speakers refused to talk
counterarguments. According to Mark Turin, an
to each other for years. Without practice, even
anthropologist and linguist at Yale University, 65
a native language will begin to degrade in the
‘We spend huge amounts of money protecting
speaker’s mind.
species and biodiversity, so why … shouldn’t
25 Languages usually reach the point of crisis [language] be similarly nourished and protected?’
after they are displaced by a socially, politically
What’s more, languages are conduits of
and economically dominant one, as linguists
human heritage. Writing is a relatively recent 70
describe it. In this scenario, the majority speaks
A

development in our history (written systems

another language – English, Mandarin, Swahili
currently exist for only about one-third of the
30 – so speaking that language is key to accessing
world’s languages), so language itself is often the
jobs, education and opportunities. Sometimes,
only way to convey a community’s songs, stories
especially in immigrant communities, parents will
and poems. The Iliad was an oral story before 75
decide not to teach their children their heritage
it was written, as was The Odyssey. ‘How many
language, perceiving it as a potential hindrance
other traditions are out there in the world that
to their success in life.
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35
we’ll never know about because no one recorded
them before the language disappeared?’ Austin
Endangered tongues
says. Without language, cultures themselves 80
For these reasons and others, languages might teeter, or even disappear.
are dying all over the world. Unesco’s Atlas of
the World’s Languages in Danger lists 576 as Wealth of wisdom
40 critically endangered. The highest numbers
Minority languages contain an accumulated
occur in the Americas. ‘I would say that virtually
body of knowledge, including geography,
all the [minority] languages in the US and

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2018

 Cambridge International AS Level English General Paper

85 zoology, mathematics, navigation, astronomy, away from them; uphill or downhill. It’s a much
pharmacology, botany, meteorology and more. more precise way of dealing with the world
In the case of Cherokee, that language was than English. ‘There’s a misconception that
born of thousands of years spent inhabiting these languages are simple just because many
the southern Appalachia Mountains. Cherokee are unwritten,’ Turin says. ‘But most have an 110
90 words exist for every last berry, stem, frond incredibly complex grammatical system that far

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and toadstool in the region, and those names exceeds that of English.’
also convey what kind of properties that object
might have – whether it’s edible, poisonous Scramble to save
or has some medicinal value. ‘No culture has For all of these reasons, linguists are scrambling
95 a monopoly on human genius, [so] we never to document and archive the diversity of quickly 115
know where the next brilliant idea may come disappearing languages. Their efforts include
from … we lose ancient knowledge if we lose making dictionaries, recording histories and
languages.’ traditions, and translating oral stories.
Finally, languages are ways of interpreting the But as a Cherokee elder notes: ‘It’s all well and
100 world; different languages provide unique ways 120
good that y’all want to do this, but remember,
to think and problem-solve. Because of this, they they didn’t take it away overnight, and you’re not
can provide insight into neurology, psychology going to get it back overnight.’

32
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and the linguistic capacities of our species. For
instance, speakers of Cherokee can use different
suffixes to indicate whether a noun is toward or
Abridged and adapted from an article
by Rachel Nuwer, BBC, June 2014
M
TIP TIP
Consider the number of marks shown in brackets after each Prose comprehension texts usually include line numbers in
question below. This will help you decide how long each the margin, and questions may direct you to specific parts of
response should be. the text using these line numbers.

EXAM-STYLE QUESTIONS 1
A

This activity will introduce you to the types of languages? Using evidence from the text and your
comprehension questions you will meet in this course. knowledge of the present day, justify your answer. [8]
Answer questions 1–5. 5 (i) Explain the meanings of the following words as
1 From the text, give two reasons why languages are they are used in the text. You can write your answer
lost. [2] as a single word or a short phrase. [3]
2 In no more than 50 of your own words, summarise imperiled (line 11)
Rachel Nuwer’s arguments for wanting to preserve degrade (line 23)
S

dying languages. [5]

teeter (line 81)
3 Why do you think parents decide not to teach their
(ii) Use the words in three separate sentences to
children their heritage language? In your own words,
illustrate their meanings as used in the text. Your
explain why families are likely to perceive it as a
sentence content should stand apart from the
hindrance (line 34). [4]
subject matter of the text. [3]
4 In your own opinion, what do you think is the
Total marks: 25
most important reason why we should save dying

Original material © Cambridge University Press 2018