What is the value of preserving indigenous languages? For example: Consider aboriginal languages with rich vocabularies used to describe the natural world.
It is undeniable that language is important to everyone. If you know the right languages, you get farther in life because often, language is power. However language is also cultural. Some languages such as English or Mandarin are necessary for success but languages such as Maori, Irish (Gaelic), and many other lesser spoken languages, are part of the culture and cultural identity (Geary, 1997). These important cultural languages are fighting for survival against the dominating languages. It is important to preserve them for both the individual cultures and the world as a whole.
As time moves on, it will be important to know and understand these cultures and what made them the way they are. It is also important to understand how certain words in the dominating languages (eg. English) came to be, as they are melting-pots of many other languages. Almost all languages have some influence over the development of others. Without the knowledge of these previous languages, it will not be know as to where certain words have come from and how the dominating languages came to be the way they are.
Similarly, as stated in the Speaking In Tongues Times article, when the language and the culture are tightly knit, when the language starts to die, so does the culture. The increasingly important languages in the area start to dominate and the other language will be spoken less and less until it is forgotten. Michael Krauss states that in the next century or two, over 95% of languages will be lost to the more powerful languages. With the high rate of language loss in the world, the cultures made up by these languages will die off with them and so will the words only spoken in their language, limiting the understanding of cultural items and experiences in the world. As the lesser spoken languages being to diminish, the more widely spoken languages will take over. This causes these languages to gain power throughout the world. The illustrating on page 5 of the Speaking In Tongues Time article presents the worlds top languages are Mandarin, English, Spanish, Hindi, Arabic, and so on. These languages are also originating and associated with some of the most powerful countries in the world. As the use of these languages grow, so will the power of the countries, making anyone who speaks the lingua franca of the time, more likely to be successful than someone who does not. Keeping the smaller languages around will allow the cultures connected to these languages continue to exist and share the knowledge of that culture and language where other languages cannot. It will also mean that no one language will be the solely spoken language of the world, making the country of origin and association of said language to be overpoweringly powerful.
These are only some of the reasons that indigenous languages need to be preserved throughout the world, accompanied by the Speaking In Tongues Time article highlighting these problems and solutions in more detail.
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