Would you agree with language experts who believe that eventually only 4 out of 6,800 languages will survive?

Question

One of them is English. Please provide examples and details to support your position.

Answer 1

An interesting word in your question is the word "eventually". What does "eventually" mean? How far in the future? When we use the word "eventually" we have no parameters, no time frame, so "eventually" anything could happen. A question that asks "Could something happen eventually?" is really not a question at all, because the answer would always have to be "yes".

Similarly, by "survive", do we mean survive as a written language, or if a language survives as an oral language only, does that constitute survival?

Consider the aboriginal languages of North America. Many of them have disappeared, and probably only a few of them will survive over the next century. But these languages were officially discouraged by the dominant culture for several generations, and a concerted effort was made to teach children English instead of their mother tongue. Children of immigrants sometimes had similar experiences, in that their first language was specifically discouraged in favor of learning English. That attitude is changing - more people are taking pride in their own language and making a conscious effort to ensure the young retain the language of their ancestors, in addition to English.

English certainly has become a significant language in international affairs and in the world of academia. English, or a version of it, is spoken all over the world. In most places you can expect to find someone who speaks English. However, language is a reflection of the culture it represents. Our world is comprised of thousands of cultures, with great variety in thinking, practices, and beliefs. There are words and ideas in some langauges that cannot be expressed in other languages. A language meets needs for the people who use it, and while those needs cannot be met in any other way the language will survive. Languages provide valuable insight into the people who use them. Many people learn English because it is convenient and the language of commerce, but socially and psychologically they speak their first language and they think in their first language.

There is no doubt that some languages will disappear. If a language has little or no written format and application, no books, it is difficult for it to survive in today's world. However, hundreds, if not thousands, of the world's languages can and will survive. The diversity of the world and its languages will continue so far into the future that the word "eventually" becomes meaningless.

Tujormidlarnak!

Answer 2

Many language 'experts' have suggested this as a way of grabbing headlines. In reality, there will always be lots of languages. English, Spanish and Chinese as languages are all breaking apart into different dialects rather than dominating as one overriding language. This is similar to the history of Latin in 400-500AD.

For example, as more people start to learn English, it is being regionalised. Hence, the difference between British English and US English will grow much wider as Spanglish has more of an effect in north America. Meanwhile, Chinese, African and Indian 'dialects' of English are being established.

Eventually, these may break off and become languages in their own right (like French, Spanish and Italian from Latin). What is possible is that in 100 years time, nearly all educated people will be able to communicate with each other through some universal language (perhaps English, perhaps Spanish, perhaps Esperanto, perhaps some hitherto less popular language). Meanwhile, local languages will continue to be spoken - much like the use of two or three languages in many African countries.

This is because we need language to describe our own culture, and our own world around us. The world in London is very different from that in a small village somewhere close to China, and even to a small town in the southern states of the US. How could we share a language with each other that would describe all those differences?

Answer 3

Yeah, because a couple of thousand are in New Zealand alone. China, although many dialects are spoken there, will eventually conform to one. English is widely spoken already. Spanish--ditto. And probably Arabic, although widely spoken now not a lot of speakers, but the population is growing like wildfire there.
I would also submit Hindi, and it's variations like Urdu in Pakistan. About 1/5 of the world already speak it. I would say total about 7 languages with most people speaking two in the future.

Answer 4

Different languages were originally formed when geographic and social differences isolated groups of people from each other. Logically, it makes sense that as those barriers become weaker, fewer and fewer languages will be spoken, or at least pragmatic reasons for having thousands of languages will become fewer and fewer.

I don't know if we'll get all the way down to four, but we're going to lose a lot of them.

Answer 5

I think they are probably right, but they may not be the languages they think will survive. Life has a way of being unpredictable and anything could happen. For instance if some of these rogue nations blow the west away with nuclear weapons, language would be one of the casualties. Let's hope for everyones sake, including theirs, that that won't happen. After all they will be destroying themselves in the long run too. (Even if at present, they are too ignorant to see that!)

Answer 6

I'd say English, the great borrower of languages: French, German, Italian and Spanish. I read that schools from middle to colleges can't get enough Mandarin Chinese teachers.And of course there's Arabic. I'd bet on English only.

Answer 7

yes I agree there are 7continents on this earth English is spoke in everyone of them alot of languages break off words from the english language and it will survive to me its the mother toungue spanish i feel would come next then french and others would follow

Answer 8

no longer French, in case you opt to chat splendid, fluent French, it truly is extremely no longer uncomplicated. i might might desire to assert that English is the simplest- English is extremely plenty an oral language, if it doesnt sound nice out loud, it truly is incorrect. After that, something like Spanish or Italian is easy. Mandarin, isn't that no longer uncomplicated considering there's no conjugation or grammar, inspite of the undeniable fact that it does not sound like all western language and the sentence structures are completely diverse. Plus, till you take place to stay in Chinatown, it truly is style-of ineffective.

Answer 9

No . I disagree.
There are in the world’s 6,912 known living languages
http://www.ethnologue.com/home.asp
Of those 15 are spoken by more than 100 million
http://www.krysstal.com/spoken.html
In Roman times Latin was spoken by half of the world. Them it evolved regionally into the Latin languages ( Portuguese, Spanish, french, Italian and so on.
Nowadays,Its happening to English .Do you understand Aussies speaking between themselves?

Answer 10

Bertrand Russell tried to work on a language with mathematical precision but it didn't work out. I would suggest two languages for each group of people. One for global communication and other for diversity.