How can language empower or oppress a group of people?
Language is very powerful when used correctly. Language is also a very tricky aspect of life globally. There are certain languages, such as English, that can overpower another less commonly spoken language, somewhat easily. However, as seen in the documentary 'The Linguists', these languages are trying hard to hang on. There might be one speaker to around a hundred but as long as there is someone interested in preserving that language, it won't be completely gone.
There is trouble keeping these languages around. In the over 7,000 languages still around today, it is newly estimated that one languages dies out every two weeks or so. This can happen for a number of reasons. If the children of a new language do not find it valuable to learn their cultural language, the language will only be spoken by the elders, who will not always be around to keep that language going. The native language can also be force out of the category of modern language. When people decide that learning the powerful language of the time is more important than preserving their language, they will force the youth to completely drop their language for what is thought to be a language more advantageous. They are sent away to boarding schools and forced to forget their language. By making these people feel as though their language is unimportant and will make the new generation less successful for speaking it, they are being oppressed by the overpowering language in their area.
However the complete opposite can also be true. People can be empowered by speaking their native language. They can use it as a way to combat the oppressing language. Their language can be seen as part of their identity. They feel empowered by speaking it even in the face of a powerful language. Preservation of the language that these people deem important to themselves and their being makes them feel good about speaking it. They have something that they won't let anyone take away from them. In 'The Linguists', there was a trend in the areas trying hard to preserve their native language; these places were away from heavily populated areas and were hard to visit. These people, bent on the preservation of their language, work hard to do just that, going as far as living in a completely different way as others around them, occasionally distancing themselves from everyday society. The preservation of what they love gives purpose and a reason for these people, helping to empower them in everything they do, not allowing the overpowering languages around them to hold them back.
Language is very powerful when used correctly. Language is also a very tricky aspect of life globally. There are certain languages, such as English, that can overpower another less commonly spoken language, somewhat easily. However, as seen in the documentary 'The Linguists', these languages are trying hard to hang on. There might be one speaker to around a hundred but as long as there is someone interested in preserving that language, it won't be completely gone.
There is trouble keeping these languages around. In the over 7,000 languages still around today, it is newly estimated that one languages dies out every two weeks or so. This can happen for a number of reasons. If the children of a new language do not find it valuable to learn their cultural language, the language will only be spoken by the elders, who will not always be around to keep that language going. The native language can also be force out of the category of modern language. When people decide that learning the powerful language of the time is more important than preserving their language, they will force the youth to completely drop their language for what is thought to be a language more advantageous. They are sent away to boarding schools and forced to forget their language. By making these people feel as though their language is unimportant and will make the new generation less successful for speaking it, they are being oppressed by the overpowering language in their area.
However the complete opposite can also be true. People can be empowered by speaking their native language. They can use it as a way to combat the oppressing language. Their language can be seen as part of their identity. They feel empowered by speaking it even in the face of a powerful language. Preservation of the language that these people deem important to themselves and their being makes them feel good about speaking it. They have something that they won't let anyone take away from them. In 'The Linguists', there was a trend in the areas trying hard to preserve their native language; these places were away from heavily populated areas and were hard to visit. These people, bent on the preservation of their language, work hard to do just that, going as far as living in a completely different way as others around them, occasionally distancing themselves from everyday society. The preservation of what they love gives purpose and a reason for these people, helping to empower them in everything they do, not allowing the overpowering languages around them to hold them back.
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