Roughly half of the world’s current 6,000 languages are expected to be extinct by the year 2050, according to the University of Manchester. In America, many Native American languages are due to die out, as is Gullah, a language spoken by descendants of former slaves, found mainly on islands off the Georgia and South Carolina Coasts. In Europe, Sardinian and Yiddish are both endangered. In Queensland Australia, Wanyi, Wakka Wakka, and Kullilli are among the tribal languages disappearing; officials estimates one tribal tongue dies out there every three years. In southern China, a language only for women called Nushu is also in desperate straits.
Other endangered languages include: Modern Aramaic, the descendant of the tongue believed to have been spoken by Jesus, with only 400,00 people in the Middle East still using it; Pennsylvania German, which has only 85,000 speakers; Faeroese, spoken by 50,000 people in the Faeroe Islands which are not part of the EU and so not protected by the European minority-language bureau; Piraha, a language containing only 8 consonants and three vowels (the lowest number of either in any language), used by some 300 people in Lowland Amazonia (Oubykh, a Caucasian language once spoken in the Crimea also had only 3 vowels, but made up for it with 82 consonants; in 1984 there was only one man still speaking it as a native who has no doubt since passed on); Tofa, a Siberian language with 200 speakers left; Votic, spoken by a mere 30 people on the Russian coast of Finland; and Oro Win, another language from Lowland Amazonia with just 3 people left speaking it.
The are presently some 8,600 languages worldwide, with India alone having around 875 of them (1,600 if you count dialects). This is a fraction of what there once were. Languages, like all things, die out with disuse. For example, there were an estimated 1,000 languages in the New World when Columbus arrived, and today there are only around 600. Is this the result of the wanton destruction of indigenous culture in order to dominate them, as some would suggest, or is it simply a naturally occurring process?
The fact is that English has become the universal tongue for many things worldwide. There are almost 1 billion English speakers with competency in the language worldwide, not including the almost 1 billion Indians, most of whom also speak it. It is an official language in 44 countries. Half the world’s business deals are conducted in English, and over two-thirds of the world’s scientific papers are written in English. The list continues.
Attempts at artificial universal languages have all failed – for where is Esperanto-Land, where I might enjoy the wonders of Esperantine culture and literature? The fact is that English has, for various reasons, ended up in this dominant position and anything that facilitates communication between people of different backgrounds can’t be all bad.
The fact that I am a teacher of English as a foreign language in no way colors this opinion…
If we are going to suggest an international language apart from English, however, I suggest ASL – American Sign Language. It is easy to learn, elegant, able to be used in noisy places, such as nightclubs or sporting events, and, unlike other sign languages (which are structurally based on the spoken language), has its own, unique grammar structure. Attempts at an international sign language keep breaking down because each country thinks that they have the best sign for a concept, so ASL has become something like the de facto international sign language. I suppose one could still complain that it is American and so undesirable, but the fact remains that ASL is extremely versatile and simple to learn and use. It is already the third most used language in the United States (after English and Spanish).
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