Essay About Globalization’s Effect on Language

Introduction: 

Every ten days a language goes extinct in the world, and some never to return. Language loss has affected thousands of languages. In this essay, I will go into detail about the impact that globalization has on language and specifically, how globalization is affecting language loss with the Tsalagi Gawonihisdi and Tanoan languages. In addition, I will focus on these two Native American tribe’s languages and how the negative effects of language loss are affecting them. I will be analyzing the negative effects but also devising ways that we can stop language loss from destroying even more languages. This essay will also break down the opinions of Kenneth Guest in chapter four with the topic of “language.” So, the question that arises is what are the effects of language loss on local communities?  

Summary: 

What is language loss, and why is it important? Language loss is “the extinction of languages that have very few speakers” (Guest, 2020, pg. 113). Languages play a critical role in culture because they have historical importance throughout generations and generations. Also, languages carry deep meanings for different cultures because it makes that culture who they are. According to Guest, he believes that this is a crucial problem and does list a way that we can try to preserve these endangered languages by documenting the artifacts of the culture online to share with others. After reading this section of the chapter, I admired and agreed with Guests’ opinions about saving and preserving languages. Specifically, I admired the example he gave about LiveandTell and how they created an online resource for a culture to share artifacts and history about themselves. Personally, I think that if someone were able to make a big online website or resource just as the LiveandTell company did, we would be able to preserve several languages.   

Global issue: Globalization and Language Lost 

Language loss has been ongoing for centuries. Language loss is crucial because once a language is lost, the world loses not only that culture and their languages but the information on that culture. This is tragic because cultures are losing their ability to communicate the same way, continue on as a culture, and grow. While these communities also lose their language, they are losing the most important thing to them, their cultural identity (Delhumeau 2011). The most reduction of language loss occurs in the Pacific Northwest of North America, Northern Australia, central South America, and eastern Siberia (Guest, 2020, pg.113). 

Analysis: 

Some may wonder, how does globalization affect language loss? Language and globalization are essential for each other, without one there would be no other (Delhumeau 2011). Furthermore, Guest states that every ten days, about one language goes extinct (Guest, 2020, pg. 113). That means, in one year about thirty-six languages will go extinct! That is a lot of languages we are losing. A reason that we need to address this issue is because we are losing the loss of linguistic diversity throughout the world. This will then stop us from learning the full knowledge of a culture and community (Filipović & Pütz, 2016). Usually, when the first generation leaves their hometown and moves somewhere they carry on with that language.  Then, when the second generation is born, they don’t want to learn their cultural language but the language that their community uses. This is where languages start to lose members of their native tongue.  

Now, how is globalization impacting the Cherokee tribes in a negative way? The Cherokee tribe is in danger of losing their language. So, the Cherokee decided to open a preschool to try to resurge their language in northeastern Oklahoma. The Cherokee Immersion Preschool has the teachers only speaking Cherokee with their monolingual students, that only speak English (Peter & Hirata, 2008). By doing this, the Cherokee Nation is training and encouraging their students to preserve the language with ongoing assessments. This will help teach the students to use their language more often.  

Another tribe that is being affected by globalization is the Pueblos. According to the article Language, Identity, and Power, Indigenous language plays a vital role in the present-time youth identity. (Anderson‐Hsieh & Koehler, 2006). How would you feel if you had to speak about your culture in a language that is not your own? It’s apparent that Native languages have substantial, personal meanings for their culture, and those personal words and phrases are being replaced with words in English. It doesn’t have the same contextual importance which makes matters worse because in a way they are losing their cultural identity. For example, “wisti’anyi” is a ceremonial term that means dance. Another ceremonial term for rain is “ci`wana” (Lesile White, 1944, pg. 163,164). Pueblo tribes are working to get their language on paper and written down. According to ABC 7 News, the elders of a Pueblo tribe are working with people to get their language written down and into a dictionary. They are also teaching the children to speak fluently because there aren’t many more fluent speakers (Language Conservancy, 2017). Colonialism plays a huge role in language loss because when you teach people a language it eventually changes over time. In particular, Pidgin is a local Hawaiian slang that formed by mixing Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, Hawaiin, and the English languages.  This language is then passed down through generations, thus the beginning of the loss of the native language. 

A way we can end language loss is by only teaching that person’s native tongue. Another way is for those in higher education to not push English-only courses. By doing this, we would not only save many languages from going extinct but the numbers of people speaking that language would increase in a positive way. Guest provides an example about how in 2009 the company LiveandTell created this online resource where Lakota speakers can share artifacts (Guest, 2020, pg. 115). This is an incredibly innovative idea and should be made available to many more cultures globally. Subsequently, people would not lose their cultural identity and they would be able to share it with others.   

Relevance: 

In my opinion, this is an important topic to the globalized world because many people are losing the ability to keep their cultural identity and their ability to communicate the same way. In a broader impact, these ideas to keep languages from going extinct will help society on a global scale be able to have knowledge about the history of these cultures and communities. I believe that an outsider would be interested in this topic because it gives you a broader perspective and realization of what goes on around you and globally. It’s important to understand what people are going through so that you’re able to make a difference and improve society, because if you don’t, who will? By understanding what people are going through, you can help them. For instance, if you lived near a community and their language was in danger, you could help them get resources to preserve their language. They could get a linguistic anthropologist to come and study their community’s language and record it. This would improve society because it’s a kind act but also you can lead by example and possibly persuade others around you to do something similar. After this illustration, it shows that even a small act of kindness can improve society if you understand their situation and help. 

Conclusion:  

Language loss is a crucial topic that needs to be addressed and resolved. In my research, I found that language loss is a big problem that hasn’t been addressed or resolved. This might be due to the lack of recognition of these cultures on social media or by the government. I also recognized that no one has really established a permanent way to keep languages from going extinct. We need to promulgate and end the global issue of language loss so that the world has linguistic diversity.