Does Language Preservation Matter?

The UNESCO World Atlas of Languages currently recognizes 8,324 languages, approximately 7,000 of which are still in use. Experts estimate that 50%-90% of these languages will be seriously endangered or extinct by the year 2100. That means that in the worst case, only about 350 of the world's 7,000 languages would survive the next 75 years. This is a shocking statistic.

Many people wonder why the death of a language matters at all, but in reality, the impact of language extinction cannot be overstated. Every language that disappears is an incalculable loss for the entire world, resulting in the permanent disappearance of unique cultural, historical, ecological, and scientific knowledge. One way to look at this is by imagining essential information as water, and the language as a cup. Imagine trying to hold water in your hands--can you hold enough to drink, to share with friends, to water your garden? Water is impossible to keep without a vessel to hold it in, and the same is true for cultural knowledge without a language. Let's take a look at the kind of information that's at stake. 

Cultural and Historical Knowledge

In her article " Why Are Languages Worth Preserving?" Anastasia Riehl talks about the Lulamogi speakers of Uganda, whose language contains specific words, terms, and phrases that are fundamental to their rituals for welcoming the agricultural seasons and preparing the bodies of the dead, as well as one of their most important customs: the trapping and eating of white ants. None of this information will survive without a language to carry it. Riehl quotes Lulamogi language advocate Nabeeta Erusaniah: “It is like when a wall of a hut collapses, the ceiling does not remain standing. What keeps the social practices and a ritual standing is the language. Kill the language, and the shelter collapses too.” Although there isn't much information on the number of speakers of Lulamogi, it is considered a critically endangered language. 

Ea Mai Hawaiinuiakea is a Hawaiian chant that chronicles the origin of the islands, traces the genealogy of Haloa, the first Hawaiian, and describes the divine origins of early chiefs and kings. Chants such as these are culturally important because they form a connection between the Hawaiian people and their land. Without a language to perform them in, the chants will be lost, as well as all the knowledge they contain. Only about 1% of the population of Hawai'i speaks Hawaiian; approximately 2,000 people speak it as their first language and around 24,000 have learned it as a second language.

Navajo sand painting is the art of arranging colored sand into intricate designs that are used in healing ceremonies along with traditional chants. In the Navajo language, sand paintings are called "places where the gods come and go," and they contain symbolic representations of Navajo mythology, sacred visions, dances, and chants. Sand painting rituals are so closely tied to the Navajo language that they cannot survive its extinction. Approximately 170,000 North American people speak Navajo, and number that continues dropping every year. 

Scientific and Ecological Information

Languages also hold valuable knowledge about medicinal practices, local ecosystems, and survival strategies. Researchers Rodrigo Cámara-Leret and Jordi Bascompte of the University of Zurich analyzed 3,597 medicinal species in North America, the northwestern Amazon, and New Guinea, and found that 12,495 medicinal applications of those species were linguistically unique, meaning that they reside in only 236 Indigenous languages. Further, as much as 75% of this medicinal plant knowledge is contained in only one of these languages. The study showed the degree to which Indigenous languages are inextricably linked to the knowledge of medicinal plants. 

The Mohawk language (spoken by about 3,500 people in North America) contains terms and knowledge related to traditional remedies that have been shown to alleviate symptoms of hyperglycemia and metabolic syndrome. In Colombia and Ecuador, the Siona people (fewer than 200 speakers) use a milky latex from the Euphorbia hirta tree to treat fungal foot infections. The Brazilian Tucano of the Rio Negro (fewer than 20,000 speakers) make a serum from the bark of the Leptolobium nitens tree to put on their arrows to paralyze the animals they hunt. With further study, all of this traditional knowledge could have a massive impact on contemporary medicine and the development of new lifesaving pharmaceuticals.

Many endangered Mayan languages contain comprehensive instructions for agricultural practices such as crop rotation and soil management that are not only effective but also sustainable and environmentally friendly. Detailed knowledge about how to grow plants during drought and raise livestock that thrive in harsh environments is embedded in the Maasai language (approximately 800,000 speakers) of East Africa. The Kuna language (about 50,000 speakers), spoken in Panama and Colombia, contains unique classification of many species and descriptions of their roles in the ecosystem, knowledge that would take centuries to recreate. 

It's hard to imagine losing all of this knowledge forever, but that is exactly what is happening right now. A language dies about every two weeks, along with all the cultural practices and knowledge that it holds. Languages matter, and they are worth saving. Our world becomes a poorer place with each language we lose.