Anthropology 44

Question Description

1) Using what you have learned about language endangerment and language revitalization, find and describe one example of each. One paragraph per example. The examples can be drawn from your life, or those of you who you know, or people you have heard about. You can also look up examples on the internet. It’s up to you. For example, it might be interesting to take a look at regions where you have lived in your lifetime or where your family members have lived, and to look into languages in those regions that have been lost or are at risk of dying out — as well as languages there that are flourishing.

2) reply to the following discussion.

Upon reading chapter 12 “Language, Death, and Revitalization” I have come to understand that animals are not the only endangered species that fall into the classification of the term “endangered,” but also the world of language. It did not surprise me to learn that there are languages out there that are in the phase of extinction. This brought to my mind the many native languages that exist in parts of Mexico that family relatives still speak, such as my great-grandmother, for example. I remember when I was very young, I would listen to how my great-grandmother would speak to her sister. Sadly, neither of her grandchildren or daughters ever tried to learn the native language, not because we lack the engagement or we did no care about learning my great-grandma’s native language, is because I was born with parents who would speak fluent Spanish and it felt much more easier to learn Spanish than my great- grandmother’s native language. I honestly think the crisis of language extinction is due to with the lack of the resources available to learn one’s language. In my experience, I was surrounded by my mother who I would always see and speak to 24/7 vs. my great-grandma whom I would only see from time to time. Since I was surrounded by a dominant language, it enhanced the probability for the native language that my great-grandma would speak to become moribund or extinct as the author states. A good quote I want to point out that correlates to my statement is on paper 268-269 where the authors points out, “ children are exposed to less and leas of the endangered language, and the native attitudes they often absorb in the process make them ill- disposed toward using the language if they acquire it.” (Ahearn).