CGU4U/C
Unit: Globalization
HOW ARE LANGUAGES SIMILAR TO ANIMAL SPECIES?
Endangered Species:
-Population is critically low.
-Live in small geographic regions
susceptible to local change
-External pressure or force acts
on species to lower population
(climate change, hunting,
predators)
Healthy Species:
-Large breeding population
-Live in wide variety of
environments/regions
- no external forces limiting
population size
Endangered Languages:
Healthy Language:
Globalization Is a Leading Factor in the Death of Minority Languages
Written by
JORDAN PEARSON
September 3, 2014
SOURCE ARTICLE : http://motherboard.vice.com/read/globalization-is-a-leading-factor-in-the-death-of-minority-languages
SOURCE MAP: https://neuroanthropology.files.wordpress.com/2010/07/language_hotspot_map.jpg
As the world becomes more connected, language diversity is plummeting at an unprecedented rate.
Forty percent of the world’s 7000 languages at risk of disappearing, according to estimates by the Endangered
Languages Project. That trend is linked to economic globalization, as suggested by new work published in Proceedings
of the Royal Society B.
The impact of intertwining global economies on language diversity has been suggested for years by linguists
like Lenore Grenoble at the University of Chicago. It’s an argument that goes all the way back to the 1970s, when
Herbert Schiller proposed the hotly debated theory of cultural imperialism, which suggested economically powerful
nations hold immense cultural sway over the weaker
countries they infiltrate. However, the connection has
never been fully quantified until now, according to
researchers.
“The dominating effect of a single socioeconomic
factor, GDP per capita, on speaker growth rate
suggests that economic growth and globalization [...]
are primary drivers of recent language speaker declines
(mainly since the 1970s onwards), for instance, via
associated political and educational developments and
globalized socioeconomic dynamics,” the researchers conclude in their report.
CGU4U/C
Unit: Globalization
In the study, the researchers first established a set of endangered languages by accounting for several factors based
on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, which outlines symptoms of endangerment: small speaker population
sizes, rapid declines in speaker numbers, and small geographic range.
After crunching the numbers using data culled from the Ethnologue, an authoritative source for basic information about
the world’s languages, the researchers concluded that 25 percent of the world’s languages are in immediate danger of
disappearing forever.
Threatened languages were numerous in economically developed regions, like north-western North America, Europe,
and Australia, and regions experiencing economic growth, according to the researchers. Though they tested for
relationships between the danger of extinction and multiple environmental factors, including precipitation, temperature,
and elevation, GDP per capita was the factor most tightly correlated with at-risk languages.
“Our findings highlight the contrasting status of threatened languages in hotspots within economically developed and
developing regions,” the researchers wrote. “Economically developed regions, such as North America and Australia,
have already experienced many language extinctions, most probably due to the negative impact of economic, and
associated political and educational, developments.”
Of course, there are factors besides GDP that play into the disappearance of languages. According to UNESCO,
“Languages are threatened by external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural or educational subjugation,
or by internal forces such as a community’s negative attitude towards its own language.” Even the internet has been
linked to the extinction of little-spoken tongues by dint of a digital divide that locks out some groups and privileges
others (and their language).
Even so, the study’s findings could very well have serious implications that lie at the intersection of economic power
and cultural hegemony. Regardless of however much the suggestion smells of dank and hazy dorm room musings, the
study lends weight to the myriad theories that implicate the spread of economic power to cultural control. In particular,
Joseph Nye’s idea of soft power—defined as the ability of a powerful nation to “set the rules of the game” for a weaker
one, culturally and economically speaking—comes to mind.
As economic power grows, the argument goes, so do opportunities to leverage that influence in order to bend cultural
institutions to the will of the dominant group. Language, indeed, is a particularly salient domain of culture that appears
to be intimately tied to economic power. The researchers’ reference to “associated political and educational”
developments is telling.
Unfortunately, it’s unclear as to how exactly culture can be preserved in the face of economic domination in a particular
region. Current efforts include cataloging languages on the internet and teaching them. The only thing that is for
certain, the researchers concluded, is that preservation efforts should be focused on at-risk areas experiencing
economic growth. The price of not doing so would be the loss of important cultural knowledge, traded for economic
prosperity.
High-lighted information:
How are threatened languages similar to threatened species?
CGU4U/C
Unit: Globalization
What is cultural imperialism? Soft Power?
What is the relationship between economic development and threatened languages?
What other social, economic or political forces contribute to language loss? Are they related to globalization?
Endangered Languages Project Map
Navigate to:
http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/
GLOBAL LANGUAGES:
Spatial Significance:
Turn on the HYBRID map in the top right corner. What sort of landscape (climate, geography) do most languages exist
in? Where are diverse languages non-existent?
Patterns & Trends:
Describe at least 2 patterns that exist in the distribution of endangered languages worldwide. Suggest a reason for
this pattern.
1.
Reason:
2.
Reason:
Interrelationships:
Use the scrolling bar
to show only severely endangered languages and then only at risk languages. How does
population size impact the threat level of language endangerment?
What effect do you think population density / distribution has on the vitality of languages?
How is climate related to diversity of language?
CGU4U/C
Unit: Globalization
There are a lot of endangered languages in southeast Asia / south Pacific. What geographic characteristic of this area
impacts the number of endangered language’s?
Geographic Perspectives:
Do you think it is important to preserve languages? Explain why
CANADIAN LANGUAGES:
Answer the following questions using the map as well as the article: The Silent Genocide
http://www.terry.ubc.ca/2013/10/16/the-silent-genocide-aboriginal-language-loss-faq/
Spatial Significance:
What type of cultures are the only endangered ones in Canada? (click on the name of each pop-up to learn more
about the language)
Patterns & Trends:
What is the distribution of endangered languages in Canada?
Interrelationships:
How does the topography of British Columbia impact the number and variety of languages?
How does the age of a language speaker impact the safety of that language ?
Geographic Perspectives:
How are aspects of globalization, urban migration, English cultural dominance impacting the vitality of aboriginal
languages?
Why is language death an issue? What do we stand to lose along with just a language being spoken?