Almost 1,500 languages could disappear this century across the world

By Target Language Translation Services | Updated: 2021-12-24 11:00

By the end of this century, one-fifth of the world's recognized languages will have disappeared forever across the world, according to a new study.

Unveiling the findings in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution on Dec 16, researchers warned that of the world's 7,000 recognized languages, around half are endangered.

Titled "Global predictors of language endangerment and the future of linguistic diversity" the study was led by the Australian National University in Canberra.

Felicity Meakins, a professor from the University of Queensland's School of Languages and Cultures and one of the co-authors of the study, described the diversity of world languages as "truly breathtaking" but said that many of them are now under great threat of being lost forever.

"Of the 7,000 languages still spoken, nearly half are at risk of disappearing completely," Meakins told China Daily.

Most of them are spoken and the language is passed on from generation to generation, she said. "Nothing is written down."

Meakins, whose research is focused on Australian aboriginal languages, said Australia "has the dubious distinction of having one of the highest rates of language loss worldwide".

Prior to colonization in 1788, more than 250 First Nations, or aboriginal, languages were spoken on the continent, and multilingualism was the norm, she said.

"Now, only 40 languages are still spoken and just 12 are being learnt by children."

Meakins said it is vital to keep the languages alive as it helps in the well-being of people.

"Take away their language you are taking away a people's identity and their sense of who they are and where they belong."

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation estimates that of the nearly 7,000 languages spoken worldwide, at least 40 percent are in danger of disappearing.

In Australia, as in other countries that were colonized by the English — such as Canada and New Zealand — indigenous people were not allowed to speak their language. Children were taken from their families and raised by Christian groups speaking only English.

First Nations languages in Australia need funding and support, according to Meakins.

"Australia only spends A$20.89 ($15.08) annually per capita of the indigenous population on languages, which is abysmal compared with Canada's A$69.30 and New Zealand's A$296.44," she said.

Lindell Bromham, a professor at the ANU's Research School of Biology, said: "Without immediate intervention, language loss could triple in the next 40 years. And by the end of this century, 1,500 languages could cease to be spoken."

The study charts the wide range of factors putting endangered languages under pressure.

One finding is that more years of schooling increased the level of language endangerment. The researchers say it shows the need to build curricula that support bilingual education, fostering both indigenous language proficiency as well as use of regionally dominant languages.

"Across the 51 factors or predictors we investigated, we also found some really unexpected and surprising pressure points. This included road density," Bromham said.

"Contact with other local languages is not the problem. In fact, languages in contact with many other indigenous languages tend to be less endangered.

"But we found that the more roads there are, connecting country to city, and villages to towns, the higher the risk of languages being endangered. It's as if roads are helping dominant languages 'steamroll' smaller languages."

As the world enters the UNESCO Decade of Indigenous Languages in 2022, the study's findings are a vital reminder that more action is urgently needed to preserve "at-risk languages".

"When a language is lost or is 'sleeping' as we say for languages that are no longer spoken, we lose so much of our human cultural diversity. Every language is brilliant in its own way," Bromham said.

"Many of the languages predicted to be lost this century still have fluent speakers, so there is still the chance to invest in supporting communities to revitalize indigenous languages and keep them strong for future generations."

Linguists say languages usually reach the point of crisis after being displaced by a socially, politically, and economically dominant one. In this scenario, the majority speaks another language such as English, Mandarin, French, German or Spanish, and speaking that language is key to accessing jobs, education, and opportunities. Minority languages tend to be pushed into the background and in many cases disappear altogether.

Speakers of minority languages have suffered a long history of persecution. Well into the 20th century, many Native American children in Canada and the United States were sent to boarding schools, where they were often forbidden to speak their native language.

Today, many English-speaking Americans are still hostile towards non-English speakers, especially Spanish ones.

In Canada and Australia there are moves to try and reverse the trend, but the vast majority of native languages have already disappeared.

This article is reprinted from China Daily.

If there is a copyright, please inform us in time, we will delete it right the first time.