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extinct languages
extinct languages
Languages that are no longer in use today are known as extinct languages. Today, there are thousands of languages that are extinct. One example of an extinct language is Gothic, a European language. These languages can become extinct through the loss of the people that speak it or through the evolution of linguistics. With globalization and the threat of extinct languages, some cultural groups work to try and preserve their languages.
preservation of languages
preservation of languages
Languages are seen as important elements of a culture. Because of this, some cultural groups wish to preserve their local languages. The revival of an extinct language can even be possible. Hebrew is an example of an extinct language that has been revived. Its revival is associated with the Zionist movement, a political and religious that brought thousands of Jews back to their homeland. Hebrew was seen as a symbol of Israeli nationalism and the language was revived.
dialects
dialects
Dialects are variations of a language that may have different spelling, vocab, or pronunciation. These dialects are often region-specific. In the United States, dialects can be traced back to English speakers that migrated hundreds of years ago. They can also be traced today by immigrants from other countries. In many countries, northerners and southerners speak different dialects.
For example, the term for soda may differ in different parts of the country. On the chart below pop is representation in red, soda in green, coke in blue, and soft drink in yellow.
language diffusion
language diffusion
As different cultures and groups of people meet, languages diffuse between the groups. One of the biggest reasons why languages are diffused and spread is because of trade. Trade is important in every economy and to make it function smoothly, the use of a lingua franca is needed. A lingua franca is a mutually understood language in trade that is used between people who know two different native languages. In addition to this, there are some other key terms to know about language diffusion.
Pidgin languages are a simplified form of a lingua franca. They use some similar vocabulary words and some grammar. One example of a pidgin language today is in the West African countries Ghana, Cameroon, and Nigeria. A pidgin language formed here because of trade between natives and the British.
A creole is a language that results when a colonizer's language diffuses with the native language of the region that is being colonized. One example of this can be seen in Haiti. Here there is a French Creole that incorporates French with African dialects.
A patois is a rural or provincial speech or a nonstandard form of a language. An example of this would be the former territories of the French. The islands of Martinique and Reunion both had patois of French that were formed by the synthesis of local and immigrant linguistics.
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