Sample Solution

The loss of a language has long been a myth that few have paid much attention to. It is commonly believed that when a language dies, the world does not lose very much. However, this cannot farther from the truth; linguists and anthropologists all agree that with each lost language comes an entire cultural repertoire of knowledge about literature, medicine, and history which can never be reclaimed (Harrison, 2017).

A recent study found that 2/3 of languages are either at risk or already extinct (Kaye & Sallabank, 2013). This means that many stories and traditions will disappear along with them. When a language dies so too do unique words for particular things in certain areas such as specific species of plants or animals native only to those regions (Schmidt & Koch, 2019). Thus eliminating any local terms used by previous generations to describe their environment. For example, some indigenous communities may use hundreds of terms for different types of soil alone (Harrison 2017). Without these terms it becomes difficult to pass down traditional ecological knowledge which would otherwise be invaluable resources in modern times.

Furthermore, linguistic diversity plays an important role in human evolution by allowing us to communicate ideas amongst ourselves and explore new ways of thinking about our world from different perspectives (Kaye & Sallabank 2013). Each time we lose one piece of this puzzle it limits our ability to learn from past generations who shared insights into culture and science through their languages. Therefore proving the notion wrong that there is little consequence when a language “dies” .