E
very two weeks, a language goes extinct. Within a century, the world stands to lose more than half
Phillip M. Carter has authored a book examining the world’s dying languages.
of its 6,000 languages. Phillip M. Carter is taking a stand against language extinction before
Julie Tetel Andrese
n and Phillip M.
it’s too late. The FIU linguistics
Carter
professor has dedicated his career to understanding and promoting the
LANGUAGES in the WORLD
intellectual, economic and social benefits of being bilingual — and the unique quality in being able to
How His tor y, and Pol iti csCul tur e, Sha pe Lan gua ge
experience the world from two different perspectives that comes with it. “The truly tragic part is this kind of language loss is not necessary
and globalization has played a role in
because people have the capacity to
the disappearance of an increasing
know and use multiple languages,”
number of local languages in recent
cognition works. Language
said Carter, a professor in the
years. As the world’s economies
diversity reflects and protects
Department of English. “When a
become more interconnected, major
valuable local knowledge.”
language is lost, the speakers lose,
languages including English, Russian
science loses and humanity loses.”
and Mandarin offer paths to prosperity.
some of the world’s most
In East Africa, speakers of diverse
vulnerable languages. In his
in the World: How History, Culture and
languages are switching to Swahili. In
book, Carter points to Hawaiian
Politics Shape Language, a book that
South America, indigenous peoples
as an example. Pūnana Leo, or
examines the world’s shrinking pool of
are replacing their native Quechua
language nests, have successfully
languages. It draws upon linguistics,
or Aymara with Spanish. Pop culture
produced first-language speakers
history, biology and sociology to offer
transports hip-hop music and other
of Hawaiian since the mid-1980s.
a cohesive picture of the relationship
Western creations to Malaysia,
In North Carolina, the immersion-
between language and society. The
Mongolia and beyond, adding to the
based approach to revitalization
book also offers nine detailed profiles
loss of language. Children are not
has connected older speakers of
of languages from diverse families
being educated in languages spoken
Cherokee with preschoolers to improve
to give readers a broad look at the
by a limited number of people. As
the transfer of language between
world’s languages, including Kurdish,
fewer people use local languages, they
generations. According to Carter,
Arabic, Tibetan, Hawaiian, Vietnamese
die out.
there is no silver bullet for revitalizing
Carter recently authored Languages
Efforts are under way to revitalize
dying languages. But, the single most
and Mongolian among others. Carter
“Linguists give many reasons
hopes that by educating others, and
for protecting language diversity,”
productive way is by educating
contributing his royalties from the book
Carter said. “Language diversity is
the young.
to the Endangered Language Fund,
a fundamental part of the human
he will play a part in helping preserve
condition. Because linguistic
of the world, it is not allowed,” Carter
threatened languages.
structures differ from language to
said. “But, education is key. We need
language, linguistic diversity gives
to not just teach the language but
valuable insights into the ways human
teach content in the language.” n
For the past four or five centuries language loss has been happening
“This is not easy, and, in some parts
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