GEOG-140 FALL 2018. The Linguists. Literature & Language Coursework

The Linguistics
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Institution
The Linguistics
Question 1
Linguists study languages to identify how they have changed over the years and the ones who are endangered as well as how they are passed between generations. Moreover, the study of languages helps linguistics to identify the properties that are shared by various indigenous human languages.
Languages die at the rate of one after every two weeks. Ostensibly, a language dies the moment the last speaker dies. Languages give a person a unique connection. Those who speak the same language have the same cultural beliefs. Therefore, culture and history, which are embedded in a given language are likely to disappear the moment the language becomes extinct.
Question 2
Gregory and David realized that most regions that were colonized are likely to face the problem of their languages becoming extinct. Therefore, the researchers focused on areas that were colonized because the people within the regions were forced to change their traditional beliefs and adopt the new cultures of their colonists. Specifically, the researchers focused their study in India, Serbia, and Bolivia which were colonized by the Russians.
Also, the researches choose areas which are more remote. The researchers prefer rural areas than urban regions, because the towns contain mostly people who have abandoned their Native languages and adopted a uniform national language. Therefore, the only people who can still speak the languages are found in the rural areas where they reside.
Question 3
The indigenous language will be endangered the moment the next generation of the community members stops speaking the language. The elderly in the community still know their indigenous languages, but they lack those whom they can speak to as their generation perish. Also, the new generations tend to abandon their indigenous languages and adopt a uniform language that will not discriminate against them based on their cultures and traditions. Therefore, the statement ‘’ the last person who stops speaking the indigenous language’’ means the last person to die who speaks the language.
Question 4
Boarding schools keep students away from their homes, which limit their interactions with their parents. The interaction between children and their parents using their natural languages is likely to make them learn the Native languages. However, boarding schools aim to promote a normal language that can be used across the nation to increase economic development and reduce the level of discrimination, specifically inequality based on racial disparities. For example, children are subjected to coercive assimilation by forcing them to attend the schools where they are prohibited from speaking their native languages. The act has led to the extinction of several indigenous languages and also threatened other native languages.
Question 5
The education of the indigenous groups requires that they use a common language such as English. However, the process prohibits and prevents the young generation from continuing with their Native language. Hence, the process creates a conflict between the preservation of the Native language and the education of indigenous groups. Luckily, the conflict c...