1. By Kenan Malik From Prospect, November 2000
Let Them Die
By Kenan Malik
From Prospect, November 2000

2. Words and Structure expressing the extinction of language
When she dies, so will her language.
Die
Take…to the grave
Kill off
Pass away
Disappear

3. Para. 1: When does a language die?
Common sense – when the last speaker dies: Some endangered languages are listed.
Language Interaction Produces Bilingual Speakers.
Bilingual Individuals: “Drop” Language if not economically useful
people stop speaking a language and start speaking another – language shift
Most frequently – all speakers shift to other languages – Australia and Americas
If every speaker shifts and the original language is no longer spoken anywhere – language death

4. Statistics show that some languages are on the verge of extinction.

5. How do languages become extinct?
Languages become extinct when a community finds itself under pressure to integrate with a larger or more powerful group.
The community is pressured to give up its language and even its ethnic and cultural identity -- ethnic Kurds in Turkey, are forbidden by law to print or formally teach their language. Younger speakers of Native American languages, as recently as the 1960s, were punished for speaking their native languages at boarding schools.
Outright genocide -- When European invaders exterminated the Tasmanians in the early 19th century, an unknown number of languages died.

6. Why do languages die out?
official language policies: Occasionally by force – boarding school policy for American Indians from 1890s
Sometimes disease (Tasmania), flood, earthquakes, AIDS in Africa
Acceleration with rise of modern empires – French, English, Russian -- and migration
Socio-economic competition: Spread of an imperial language ---colonization, globalization

7. Many englishes New Englishes Older Englishes
(English-based) Pidgins, Creoles and Decreolized varieties
Africa
Kenyan English
Nigerian English
South Asia
Indian English
Lankan English
Pakistani English
Southeast Asia
Filipino English
Malaysian English
Singpore English
Etc.
North America
American English
Canadian English
Great Britain
English English
Scots
Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland
Irish English
Southern Indian and Pacific Oceans
Australian English
New Zealand English
West African Pidgin
Papua New Guinea
Tok Pisin
Sierra Leone
Krio
USA
Black English Vernacular
Hawaii English Creole
Vanuatu
Bislama
Rashi
Source: p. 9, Kandiah, T. (1998) Why New Englishes?

8. Reasons for many varieties of English
Development of language in “new and unfamiliar contexts”
Contexts marked by different ecological, cultural, linguistic, social, etc. characteristics.

9. Para.2-4:campaign to preserve linguistic diversity
Consequences of language death:
--language death results in the loss of unique biological and ecological knowledge.
Reduces knowledge about human language and mind
Death of unique cultures

10. Can dying languages be maintained?
Serious attempts from mid-20th century in US, Australia, Europe
Subjects in school, media, education
Success is limited – economic and cultural factors

11. continued Absence of realistic domain except ceremonial and political
Requires motivation to overcome economic disadvantages
At best – will be used in formal situations

12. continued
Success requires political support – usually absent with small languages
Success stories – French in Canada, Welsh, Maori, Hawaian, Catalan, Irish
Becomes a taught second language

13. Examples of success stories
Modern Hebrew was revived as a mother tongue after centuries of being learned and studied only in its ancient written form.
Irish has had considerable institutional and political support as the national language of Ireland, despite major inroads by English.
In New Zealand, Maori communities established nursery schools staffed by elders and conducted entirely in Maori, called kohangareo, 'language nests'.
In Alaska, Hawaii, and elsewhere, this model is being extended to primary and in some cases secondary school.

14. William Hague
William Hague is the Foreign Secretary and MP for Richmond in Yorkshire. He is a former leader of the Conservative Party.
He argued for “saving the pound” in his 2001 election campaign because he is Euro-skeptic.

15. Roger Scruton English philosopher who specializes in aesthetics
Conservative
He supported Ray Honeyford’s view on the future of multi-ethnic Britain: multi-cultural education was actually harmful for immigrant children.
His latest book, England: An Elegy tries to show England as reflected in its own ideals.
he claims that England died about the time he was at university. He got a pessimism about the fate of rural England and had a melancholy sense that western civilisation was doomed.
He claims English culture has become mediocratised in the last 10 years: the legitimisation of pop music and football as genuine manifestations of the nations culture being prime examples.

16. Para 5-12: The author’s counter-arguments
Some languages lose their function of communication. (para.5-6)
The preservers based their argument on the romantic notion of human differences and cultural differences, but the author believed that such belief is also the basis of a racial view of the world. (Para.7-10)
The confusions of the preservers: (para11-12)

17. Contrasts: Two kinds of arguments
Campaigners for linguistic diversity
The author
Linguistic diversity is a benchmark of cultural diversity: A particular language is linked to a particular way of life.
Preservation of diverse languages is reactionary, back-looking, and nostalgic.
Homogenizing monoculture reduces the diversity of cultures.
Like William Hague’s “pound-saving” movement or Roger Scruton’s paean to a lost Englishness, preserving linguistic diversity is impossible.
They defend for minority rights, preventing the vulnerable against global capitalism.
The dying languages lose their function of communication.
There are human differences and culture differences.
They are confusing individual rights and group rights. They also confuse political oppression and the loss of cultural identity.

18. Structure Analysis Main Idea Paragraph(s) 1
Introduction of the topic: Language Extinction
2-4
Some promote the campaign to preserve linguistic diversity
5-12
The author’s counter arguments 13
Conclusion: leave well enough alone.

19. Language revitalization
focuses on getting people to learn and speak a dying language and teach it to their children

20. What can we do to preserve dying languages?
To conduct humanitarian aid work and recruit the young for the language revitalization project.
To express our desire to keep the indigenous culture and language alive.
To document endangered languages and doing all that can be done to maintain their use.
To approach the municipal government for help in not only preserving the disappearing language, but also in revitalizing it.

21. To create a dictionary with all the possible entries for people to resort to.
To work out a concrete lesson plan for the younger generation the to use throughout the years.
To begin teaching classes to many of the community’s children and adults.
To apply for funding from the Endangered Language Fund so as to pay the workers in the community.
To let the government take action toward the extinction of their precious heritage.