The basic premise: Linguists estimate there are roughly 6,000 different languages spoken on Earth. In 100 years, that number may be as low as 600.
Part travelogue, part memoir, part elegy for endangered languages, Spoken Here is a fascinating exploration into what language is, what purpose it serves to mankind, and what happens when it goes away. Using examples from every corner of the globe, Abley gives poignant perspectives on the peoples, cultures, and ways of organizing the universe which necessarily disappear when language does. The outlook is grim given the massive power and money differentials in a rapidly globalizing world, but it's not all bad. There are examples of languages making resurgences, of simple programs governments can implement which foster multilingualism in children, giving them a fuller sense of their own culture, as well as multiple ways with which to view and explain their world.
No matter what Republicans may say, English is not the best language, and it's certainly not sufficient to encompass all human experience in all its forms. Example: English is not a very mystical language; it doesn't have a lot of mystical concepts or ways with which to express inexpressible things. A bunch of linguists got together and started teaching experimental maths and quantum physics and string theory to Navajos in Navajo-- a language permeated with mysticism, which has far more comprehensive and effective ways of explaining those particular ideas-- and it was a success. The students in Navajo got a better grasp on the concepts quicker than did groups being taught in English.
The fact of the matter is: no language is better than another, but each language has something to add to the expression of the human experience, something to say about who we are, and right now we are on a bullet train to losing 90% of those, and that is a tragedy.
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I remember being shown a video in one of Fellows' classes wherein a male poet (can't remember who) who was bilingual said that when he wrote about logical things or practical things, he wrote in english, but when he wrote about emotional, spiritual, or mystical things, as it's been put here, he wrote in Spanish (his native tongue).
There's definitely something to be said for the specific qualities each language has, the things each one does better. For example, I think the French 'quoi' is so much more inquisitive by nature than the english 'what.' It patently doesn't need a question mark. It IS a question, all on its own.
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