The Day a Language Died.
A This week another language died; Carlos Westez, more widely known as Red Thunder Cloud, the last
speaker of the native American language Catawba, died of a stroke at the age of 78. With him passed
away the Catawba language.
Those who want to hear the war songs or the hunting songs of the Catawba can apply to the
Smithsonian Institute where, back in the 1940s, Red Thunder Cloud recorded a series of them.
Enthusiasts might even learn some of them by heart. But Catawba as something that lived and breathed
and developed organically is gone for good. The only creature on the planet which still presumably
understands Catawba is Red Thunder Cloud’s dog, which survived him and understood commands only
in this language.
B Over the past twenty years, it has become clear to all of us that modern industry damages the world’s
ecology and causes the death of numerous species of plants and insects.
Less obvious, but still very harmful is the impact of one powerful culture on our languages and ways of
life. We are witnessing the spread of English, carried by an American culture. We are also seeing the
increasing dominance of a few great, transnational tongues: Chinese, Spanish, Russian and Hindi. Their
rise has led to the deaths of hundreds of other languages which are the losers in the competition for
linguistic survival.
C One of those under threat is Aore, the language native to Vanuatu in the Pacific. Like Catawba (until
this week) it is spoken by that island’s only remaining native inhabitant. Sooner or later it is going to die
out. Many other languages will share its fate: a large proportion of the languages of Ethiopia are used by
very few people. And their numbers are dwindling. Two speakers of the Ethiopian language Gufat were
fine until a language researcher took them out of their native jungle, which led to their death from cold.
In the Americas too, 100 languages, each of which has fewer than 300 speakers, are on their last legs.
North America, which once had hundreds of languages, has only 100 languages left.
D This is the reason why Red Thunder Cloud’s death this week made news around the world. He was
the first to recognise that the culture and languages of native Americans are in danger and tried to do
something about it. He was not actually born into the Catawba tribe, and the language was not his
mother tongue. But he often visited the reservation in South Carolina and immersed himself in the
language. In his attempt to spread word of the tribe’s language and culture, he came to Britain, where in
1992 he erected a tent in Edinburgh and gave demonstrations of story-telling.
E Now he is gone and the language is dead – but what does it mean for the rest of us when a language
disappears? To be the last speaker of a language, like Red Thunder Cloud, or like Dolly Penreath, who
died in 1778, the last person to speak Cornish as her mother tongue, must be a very lonely experience.
But what we lose when a language dies is the possibility of a unique way of perceiving and describing
the world.
F Speaking a language is a complex process. Understanding how we do it occupied experts throughout
the 20th century. Recently, Mark Pagel, a biomathematician in the Zoology department of Oxford
University, has claimed that learning a language brings about permanent changes to one’s brain. His
theory lacks scientific proof, but in experience of many people to speak another language is to become
another person. Anyone who has learned to speak another language fairly well will have had the feeling
of discovering a new personality, with new facial expressions and gestures.
1. Find the words in bold that fit the definitions.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
to be in danger, likely to be harmed or disappear
the main language you learn as a child
to become weaker or less widespread and then disappear completely
the growth or development of something which influences a larger area or a larger number of
people
happening or existing for a long time or for all time in the future
with a lot of details which makes something difficult to understand or deal with
an increase in the power or influence of someone or something
to have a negative effect on someone or something
major languages that are used in several different countries
to become known very quickly
to make something happen, lead to something, especially to some changes
not to have enough evidence or facts to support your view
2. Find in the text English equivalents of given words and phrases.
1. быть широко известным
2. умереть, уйти, исчезнуть
3. быть потерянным навсегда
4. вредное, губительное влияние, воздействие
5. образ жизни
6. растущее влияние
7. абориген, представитель коренного населения
8. разделить судьбу
9. дышать на ладан, быть на последнем издыхании
10. погрузиться в языковую среду
11. способ восприятия, познания мира
12. утверждать, заявлять
3. Look at parts of the text A-F and make up a heading for each one.
4. Answer the questions.
1. Which language has recently died? Where was it spoken?
2. Who was its last speaker? Who still understands it?
3. Whose death was in the newspapers all over the world? Why?
4. Why are so many languages dying? Give examples of dying languages? What factors contribute
to this process?
5. Why should we care about the death of a language?
6. What is Mark Pagel’s theory about? Why is it controversial? Do you agree with his findings?