BETWEEN FOUR JUNCTIONS

Languages also convey unique cultures. No two languages are the same. French is not just a way of saying English things differently. Cherokee, the language of the indigenous people of the Southeastern Woodlands, is a very different language to any other: it’s unique, it’s special in its own way. Words exist for things which we would not even imagine in English, such as ‘ookah-huh-sdee’, the word which expresses the feeling when you see an adorable baby or kitten. Through language, we can create, imagine and play with concepts, those intangible figments of the imagination, powered by the human mind, thoughts of what could be and what might be. Language can be imagined as a box, too. A box which contains a playful little thing called knowledge. Hundreds of thousands of millions of ideas, of experiences, of tales and of answers, all stored in this little box. It allows us to search for the truth, something we are inclined to do by nature. We can pass on this box, too, like a gift _g_iv en from adult to child, so each generation starts one rung up the ladder of knowledge than the previous, allowing us to learn. There are words in Cherokee for every berry, stem and flower in the history of the Cherokee people. The very name itself will state whether it is poisonous or not. But, when a language dies, this box is lost forever. Burnt in flames. Never to be seen again. All the knowledge it possessed is gone with it, and humanity loses a little piece of itself which can never be retrieved.

People care about identity. They want to be able to express themselves as unique human beings. People don’t want to be thought of as ‘just another person’. Language is a key to keeping yourself unique. It possesses the power to diversify each race who wields it. But with languages dying faster than ever before, our descent to becoming a monolingual species is becoming more of a risk than ever.

Some argue that languages will die, and that is just a fact of life which we have to tolerate. But languages can evolve. They change over time. Certain aspects develop and alter to fit the needs of the speakers. The fact that ‘wicked’ now means terrific as well as evil is just an example of this. Words can also be added, or taken away. ‘Clone’, ‘software’, and many other words have been introduced in the last century alone. Since they evolve, languages can become bigger, but also, smaller.

When a language dies, it can be argued that there was no reason for people to speak it. If it died, then it was the speaker’s choice not to teach it to their children, and so it was their choice that died. Who else is to choose for them? Who are we to suddenly make the decision that they have to preserve their language? If a language goes extinct, it would have happened anyway. Other languages evolve to take its place, and there was no need for it on this planet. Put like that, it sounds a lot like natural selection, except that it’s smaller, unneeded languages that die out rather than weaker species.

Between Four Junctions

Languages are ways of interpreting the world. No two views are the same. As such, languages provide insight into the thoughts, emotions and psychology of our species. Losing a language is a devastating thing. It’s fundamentally losing all the thoughts, knowledge and ideas of an entire race. That’s not a good thing.

On the other hand, some argue that what can be expressed through one language can be expressed through one of the 6,499 others: languages are unique, but they are all basically the same thing, just different forms of it. However, while that’s true, that’s not all there is to a language. The cultural heritage, the knowledge, the logic, the myths, anything which was ever thought of in that language is lost when it becomes extinct.

Let’s revisit the language-box idea. Imagine, again, that a language is a box. But, imagine thousands of boxes, each being a separate language, be it Spanish, Judezmo, Bengali or Gaelic. Now, as can be argued, every single box is the exact same. Why choose one box over another? They’re both of equal worth. But, inside each box, there’s something different, something unique. Inside we find the thoughts, the history, the discoveries and the stories of that specific race. Everything which the people have been through. Constantly changing, constantly evolving. But, one by one, a box is being taken, leaving vast, gaping voids, empty holes of nothingness.

Languages need to be saved. A language has its history and culture embedded in it. They are worth much more than what they appear to be at first glance, and the power they carry is immeasurable. There is a wealth of literature embedded in each one, such as its mythology, medicine, philosophy and cuisine. In my opinion, language extinction is a bigger threat to humanity than we realise, for it is our very history, the thing which makes us us, which we are losing. While languages seem to be a means of communicating at first, no different to the bark of a dog or the chirp of a hummingbird, they’re so much more. They’re a storehouse of ideas, knowledge and concepts. Losing them is losing a piece of our identity. It is a shame that, in this day and age, not knowing or speaking one’s mother tongue is fashionable. It goes to show that even with such great gifts, humanity is unable to acknowledge it for its true worth. Language extinction is no small matter. Indeed, I think that it does matter greatly if a language becomes extinct, and if we do not act now, our actions may be irreversible. Languages are the basis of human empathy and understanding, and must not be lost. As Ludwig Wittgenstein once said: “The limits of my language are the limits of my world.”