In biology, there is a well-known movement towards preventing the disappearance of animal species that inhabit planet Earth. In the science of language, there seems to be a similar effort, though with its own peculiarities and conclusions. Some argue that the loss of language, just like the loss of species, is simply a fact […]
Just as photography was clearly preceded by painting or drawing, or as printed word had written word as its precursor, the recording of sound on the gramophone record lacked a previous, primitive model of representation in which sound recording could be based in order to store and consequently reproduce sound. If one had to find, […]
Esteemed linguist John McWhorter has published an article on the coming century in language evolution. Working on the idea that 90% of the world’s 6,000 languages will not survive to be in use in 2109, Mr. McWhorter then tells us why that’s not such a bad thing for him. The basis for his argument is […]
Some of the casualties of globalization and rampant cultural hegemony that has defined the world have been regional languages, many of which were not written down and survived for generations upon generations via oral transmission. Many of these languages have already been lost to the world, but there are many others that are classified as […]