Should we preserve dying languages?

Encyclopedia of Opinion

Question: Should we preserve dying languages?
Position1 of 2›: Yes, we should preserve dying languages
Argument‹3 of 3: Languages contain a wealth of knowledge

Languages are more than just a means of communication—they contain a wealth of cultural, historic, and scientific knowledge that can benefit humanity.

The argument

Languages contain a wealth of scientific knowledge. Indigenous peoples, whose languages are often endangered, know about their surroundings better than outsiders. Speakers of minority languages may have centuries’ worth of information on local geography, information about animals and the environment, navigation, botany, meteorology, and more. If the last speaker of such an endangered language dies, then the vocabularies and science about indigenous peoples' environments are lost as well. Languages contain historical value. If the language has been around for centuries and does not have a written form, losing the language could mean losing centuries’ worth of history and knowledge. Like knowledge about the natural world, historical knowledge is important to preserve. Future generations of a people group can have access to their cultural heritage, and future researchers can trace human histories of migration and change. Languages are scientifically interesting. Each language has a unique grammar system, and each language's grammatical and phonetic system are worth studying to better learn about the human capacity for communication. Studying language systems helps linguists address humans' brain development, cognitive capacities, and even communicative disorders. Endangered languages are part of humanity's capacity for knowledge, and such knowledge should be preserved so we do not biasedly rely on the knowledge and culture of the few majority languages widely spoken around the world.

Context

We use language to describe the world around us. By preserving endangered languages, we preserve a particular understanding of the world. Amongst indigenous people, particularly, their understanding of the local environment may well surpass the dominant culture's.

Premises

[P1]Endangered languages, often spoken by Indigenous peoples, encode centuries of local knowledge about geography, animals, botany, navigation, and weather that is lost when the last speaker dies. [P2] Languages without a written form carry centuries of history, giving future generations access to their heritage and helping researchers trace migration and change. [P3] Each language's unique grammar and phonetics illuminate the human capacity for communication, aiding study of brain development, cognition, and communicative disorders. [C] Therefore, because languages contain a wealth of knowledge, we should preserve dying languages.

Counter-arguments

Language barriers hinder scientific advancement. Much of the scientific knowledge out there is already in English. To better promote global scientific inquiry, scientists should just focus on translating papers and information into English or other widely-spoken languages.

Rejecting the premises

[Rejecting P1] Language knowledge can be translated to other widely-spoken languages.

Proponents cited

Irina Bokova
“Contrary to popular wisdom, local languages are perfectly capable of transmitting the most modern scientific knowledge in mathematics, physics, technology and so on. Recognizing these languages also means opening the door to a great deal of often overlooked traditional scientific knowledge to enrich our overall knowledge base. Local languages constitute the majority of languages spoken across our world in the field of science. They are also the most endangered. Excluding languages means excluding those who speak them from their fundamental human right to scientific knowledge.”
Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages
“Minority languages are being increasingly replaced by various politically, economically, or socio-culturally dominant ones...Our responsibility to global and local communities of non-indigenous people is to help them appreciate the cultural and linguistic significance of often ignored minority communities, the unique knowledge systems encoded in small languages and the value of human cultural diversity.”