Encyclopedia of Opinion
Question
Should we preserve dying languages?
Position‹2 of 2

No, we should not preserve dying languages

Languages change, shift, and die throughout human history. Preserving a dying language is not worth the effort it takes to record, preserve, and teach endangered languages to younger generations.

Supporting arguments · 2

  1. People choose not to speak a dying language
    Speakers of endangered languages have the choice to continue or stop speaking their language. If a people group chooses to stop their language, then linguists or researchers should not interfere.
  2. Language death is natural
    Language change and language extinction are natural to human history. We should not try to preserve less-spoken, minority languages that will die out anyway.