Of the approximately seven thousand recognized languages that exist in the world, half are considered endangered. For many of them the risk is particularly serious: according to a study by the Australian National University, without immediate interventions the loss of languages it could triple in the next forty years, and by the end of the century 1500 will have ceased to be spoken.
The researchers identified and analyzed 51 risk factors that exert varying degrees of pressure on languages, and specifically on those of indigenous peoples, and unexpected dynamics emerged. For example, the proximity of several different languages is not a problem: on the contrary, the more a language is in contact with other indigenous languages, the less it is in danger of being lost. The development of infrastructures, although it can bring social and economic benefits, has a negative impact: “We have found that the more roads there areBy connecting various points in a country and cities to villages, the more the risk of languages being threatened increases, “says co-author Lindell Bromham,” It is as if roads are helping dominant languages to ‘asphalt’ minor languages. ”
Another critical factor is school education: the increase in the years of study imposes on schoolchildren the use of language dominant in a region over an increasing period of time, to the detriment of their indigenous language. This is obviously not a critique of school education per se; rather, the study emphasizes the importance of implementing in the curriculum both languages, in order to preserve an important cultural heritage.
The theme is of great interest in Australia because there, before colonization, over 250 languages were widespread among the native peoples (aborigines and Torres Strait islanders), of which only 40 are still spoken today and even fewer are handed down to new generations. “When a language is lost, or has become ‘dormant’ as they say for those that are no longer spoken, we lose a lot of our cultural diversity human, “says Bromham,” Every language is brilliant in its own way. ”
The study was published in the journal Nature Ecology and Evolution.
© All rights reserved