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2005-01-10 Southeast Asia

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Posted by tipper 2005-01-10 10:53:29 AM|| || Front Page|| [5 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Great quote:

"Pessimists reckon that in 100 years' time 90% of the world's languages will be gone, and that a couple of centuries from now the world may be left with only 200 tongues," observed The conomist, in a plaidoyer for funding to preserve the grammar and vocabulary of doomed idioms. "French and German may not be among them; 200 years from now, at current rates of population decline, they will be spoken only in hell."

Posted by Tibor 2005-01-10 3:06:05 PM|| 2005-01-10 3:06:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Yep, that's what happens to languages. There used to be a lot more languages -- and peoples, too -- in Sub-Saharan Africa, before the Bantus, with their more efficient agriculture, took over pretty much everything (see Guns, Germs, and Steel by J. Diamond for details).

Nowadays people who speak English tend to be more successful than people who don't, whether as a first or nth language. It isn't a matter of imperialism, but of differential success. But since anyone with access can learn to speak English, this language benefit is not exclusive to the native speakers. Not like the good old days, when the dominant language was that of the conquerers, and the one about to disappear that of the conquest, often only spoken by the womenfolk after their men had all been killed off.

Of course its sad, and wouldn't we all love to explore the literature of the Etruscans, or the cavemen of Southern France, but all the fussing in the world isn't going to change it. On the other hand the fussers can look forward to the coming dark ages, when in the many isolatated small population groups English will splinter and evolve into many different languages once again.

Posted by trailing wife 2005-01-10 8:09:10 PM|| 2005-01-10 8:09:10 PM|| Front Page Top

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