When languages die, ecosystems often die with them

Nowadays, it is popular to talk about what the language of the world will be in five, ten, fifty years, but only few realize that while some languages become more widely spoken, many others go extinct. There are over six thousand languages spoken around the world and this number is quickly declining as the speakers of the endangered languages shift to the more dominant ones. The reason for the disappearance of these languages is rather complex but one of the most obvious explanations is globalization, more particularly, the vanishing need of local expressions and the increasing demand for intercultural communication.

However, we have to remember that these “local expressions” don’t necessarily mean the tribal word for “sitting”, for example, but that very specific lexicon describing the flore, fauna, traditions and culture that cannot be found in any other language. As per this article, “when languages die, ecosystems often die with them”. Please take a moment to read and listen to this very interesting piece on the relationship between languages and environment.

- Kornelia Lasluisa