Can We Preserve Languages?

 by Isobel Geddes

One language dies out every 14 days, with 573 extinct languages being recorded in November 2019. With so many communities being threatened by the ever-more dominant languages, such as

Arabic, English, Mandarin or Spanish, is there a way to save them from extinction?

The Welsh language is often used as a successful case study to demonstrate the possibility of a language being saved before it is too late. In the 1800s Welsh was the main language spoken across the country, yet by the 1900s it was spoken by less than half of the population. This decline is partly attributed to the large numbers who migrated from both England and Ireland, but also due to certain members in Government believing that it posed a threat. The idea stemmed from the fact that during the Victorian era several revolts occurred, and thus the persistence of the Welsh language was put to blame by some. Ultimately, this led to a significant decline in the language due to it being actively discouraged in the education system, with pupils who were caught speaking it being actively punished. 

The diminishing continued with a record low in 1991 being recorded: with just 18.7% of the country speaking Welsh. So why is it that now, 30 years on, the language continues to be present? Firstly, it is important to note that the country has made significant changes in an effort to undo the damage caused in the 1900s. For instance, Welsh was recognised as an official language in 2011 in an attempt to increase its use.

Furthermore, the re-installation of Welsh in schools has resulted in over 65,000 children being in Welsh-medium primary schools (where Welsh is the main language and children are taught in Welsh). Whilst many still voice concerns over the language dying out, scientists in New Zealand were able to confirm in January 2020 that the language was not in danger, after having used a model to measure how vulnerable languages are to extinction.

Welsh is not the only language which has been saved from extinction: between the fourth century BC and the 1800s, Hebrew was extinct. A similar case is seen in the language of the Oklahoma Miami tribe, where the last native speaker died more than 40 years before the language was picked up again by students at Miami University in 2001. The resurrection of languages is possible, albeit rare, and it is one of the reasons experts today are making such a push to save those at risk of disappearing.

So what can be said for the 3018 languages endangered as of today? Although implementation of the desired language in education is vital, such changes alone cannot be deemed as enough. Such an enforcement would benefit from being put in use further afield, with a great effort being required from all communities, including those in government and public policy experts. Furthermore, where possible, technology can play an important role in the preservation of languages, with software such as ‘Wikitongues’ (an organisation giving people the platform to share their language worldwide) helping in promoting them globally. In fact, the power of AI in saving languages in danger of disappearing is not to be underestimated. A multitude of resources have been created by various organisations who have programmed AI to be able to interact with users in the target language, as well as recognise linguistic errors and give feedback.

With every language that dies out, a part of the world’s history is lost, and as a species so reliant on storytelling, it is why so many are taking the extra step to maintain our rarer languages, three decades on from when the phenomena of language extinction was fully acknowledged under spotlight.