PRESERVING RARE LANGUAGES

English, and most especially, American English has become the lingua Franca for modern IT communication.  “On the face of things, there are few more powerful forces for the extermination of languages than IT.  The internet, in particular, looks like a threat.  It spreads imperious, widely spoken tongues like English at the expense of more modest ones, as an introduced species of plant or animal drives out less robust natives” (Economist, para. 3).  An article written for the Economist in 2012, describes how IT and the internet are being used to foster and regenerate linguistic diversity.

Four projects that are described in India, Oregon, Papua New Guinea and Siberia have one thing in common; each had languages that were on the verge of extinction, and each is being re-vitalized with the creation of online talking dictionaries.  Remote groups of isolated speakers of moribund languages, such as Tuvan (a Siberian dialect), can be connected via the internet, with the aid of online talking dictionaries.  Ironically, these languages are being resuscitated because the internet, that which might be seen as their mortal enemy, has given them a new lease of life.

 
Economist.  “Embracing the future: Preserving rare languages.”  Feb 25, 2012, p. 95