The extinction of languages.
Just thoughts about language…. What about the Mongolian language?
The most reliable instrument for people to communicate is still the language in the world today. The language is an integral part of any nation`s culture, spiritual immunity of people, and their essentiality and existence. There are 197 countries in the world, but there are about 6000 languages spoken in the world today. It is a very interesting fact that the number of languages is more than the number of countries. There are people who can speak in 10 or 20 foreign languages, but it is a relatively small amount when comparing to total of 6000 languages speaking in the world. But as same as a man becomes a king of others and a country becomes a colony of other, a language that stands out from others and becomes a dominant language has been changing. In other words, the languages are assimilated with each other, so they are in danger of extinction. Therefore, one of the important things is to maintain the foundation of the native language. In recent years, UNESCO has been actively engaging in promoting linguistic diversity and multi-lingual education in order to preserve and strengthen this essential component of the intangible heritage of human beings. We deliver our experience, culture, and knowledge with the language. Language is not only an instrument of communication but also it is the main condition for existence of human beings.
Since the British Empire invaded overseas through the ocean and occupied many countries of the world as its colonies, the English language became a dominant language. Like this, the Spanish Empire exerted its control over the countries of the whole continent in front of Mexico and spread out its language. Also, there is a fact that Portugal, which is considered as one of the smallest countries in the European continent, shipped out and spread the Portuguese language through the many countries from Brazil to Macau, leading to speak and write in the language and influencing even for the death of their native languages. The languages that are working as current official languages of the United Nations can be deemed as dominant languages of the world, leading other countries` languages in danger. In accordance with a calculation of the UNESCO, half of the languages spoken in the world will be no longer in use by the end of this century.
Unfortunately, there is a survey conducted by international experts that one language death occurs in every 14 days. A language is considered as a dead language when there is no native speaker alive in the world. Language is a very broad concept. It is worthy since the concept comprises many aspects such as oral expression, writing culture, grammar, vocabulary, teaching system and standards. Until now, it cannot be estimated how many languages were emerged in the world and how many percentages of them were faced with its death.
UNESCO launched the book “Atlas of the world`s languages in danger of disappearing” in 1996 (unesco.org, “U”). In this book, the languages are classified with its degree of endangerment as
- Extinct,
- Endangered, and
- Vulnerable.
In my opinion, there are several basic factors for language extinction.
Loss of native speakers
Any language may face the danger of extinction due to the loss of its native speakers. There are many stories of whole tribes and nations were destroyed and disappeared in the world anymore. When there is no inhabitant living, its language will be no longer spoken and it will become a history. There was a time, not long ago, the Mongolian language was spoken by only 700 thousand people. But now, more than 3 million people speak in the Mongolian language. As well as, there is an estimate that there are more than 5 to 7 million people, who can speak in Mongolian, including Buryat and Kazakh. As seen from this estimate, it can be said that there is less danger to loss its native speakers, but it should be aware.
Loss of valuable elements of native language
There are not a few occasions of that value of the language was already lost even though it is used in daily life. For example, using a word of a foreign country with equal meaning instead of using the word in the native language for speaking. It is called as foreign word, but somehow it leads to forgetting the word in mother language. In Mongolia, it is a common appearance in recent years. Especially, teenagers tend to talk mixing words of two languages with each other and to use more foreign words for oral communication. Sometimes, me and my friends face with words that we do not know even they are Mongolian. Any language is the reflect of that society. While some new words are emerging, some words become obsolete due to the development of society. But, it shall be restricted to use the foreign words when the same meaning word exists in the vocabulary of the mother language. It is difficult to translate each word, so some foreign words can be used. If there is a huge amount of foreign words using as same as Mongolian linguistic structure, it will threaten the immune system of the language. It is a definite example of losing the native words.
Aging of the language
In my opinion, it means that the older community speaks in a given language, but the younger community uses another language. When misunderstanding has appeared among the older and younger communities, it is a scene of language aging. For example, sometimes I and my grandmother cannot understand words that we said. A reason why is that there are many insensible changes that occurred in our developing society such as the emergence of new terms and words that are impossible to be translated. So, the language has changed dramatically over time. But, language development is a unique phenomenon. When language develops more and more, it may become much simpler, but some valuable things may be lost as well. Additionally, some of the words used in The Secret History of the Mongols cannot be understood well by the ordinary people. This is a clear illustration of the language aging. Even though I cannot judge whether it is good or bad, it should be marked.
Scientists believe that the most common instruments that endanger the language directly are social networks, television, and media. When those instruments are utilized properly, the language can be developed. In contrast, if they are used improperly, it makes the language poor and threatens the death of it. One of the interesting facts is that there are 520 languages spoken in Nigeria, which is a well-known country in its linguistic diversity in the world, and some languages are spoken by only one village with about 500,000 inhabitants. But, the television and media broadcast its programs in only the “Hausa” language in recent years, so some other languages seem to be out of usage nowadays. If this situation is maintained for a few years furthermore, they will be extinct from 6000 languages spoken in the world. Perhaps as a result of it, some ancient cultures of Nigeria will be forgotten together with it. In this way, a process that the languages of a few countries, especially American and European languages, become the main instrument for information, pushing out the languages of under-developed countries gradually are taking place throughout the world.
Mongolian language has been losing its value.
Mongolian language has been losing its value and people have been communicating with the words in foreign types using English, Russian and Korean languages. Brother is said as “Ubba, bro, hey nigga” or mother is as “Mama, mommy, momi”. Like so on, when Mongolians focus more on foreignization, we are losing the value of Mongolian language rather than pretending with our knowledge, mind, and spirit. As a result of distortion in the native language due to the foreign languages, the spiritual disorder is dominated at nationwide. It can be easily seen that people`s daily conversation in mother language is very chaotic and too short. And the number of vocabulary and illustrations have been decreased and literature is poor. Some scientists listed Mongolian language as a vulnerable language. Mongolian language is less used for sending e-mail or chatting via the internet. Another example is that you can see a few boards and labels written in Mongolian surrounding where you live. Most people prefer to use English words for the terms of marketing as much as possible. On one side, it is deemed as a right step in order to jump out to the international market. But, in the case of Japan, the country pursues to publish and broadcast all advertisements, media, and labels in their mother language. If we do not use the Mongolian language, who will use it.
We cannot refuse foreign terms since globalization is waving throughout the all of countries of the world, but we should not ignore our Mongolian language.
Moreover, some years have been already passed since it is argued that the usage of Mongolian language grammar has been weakened in recent years. This issue, especially common among teenagers, is directly interrelated to the social media, including Facebook, Twitter, and messenger. When using those websites where the people spend most of their time, they make changes to the language involuntarily, and a major problem may be due to they compose Mongolian words in the English alphabet. Even though we have been always proud of our history invaded almost half of the world, we are still embarrassing the truth that our history, mother tongue, and customs are being threatened by the foreign cultural attack. Each language is an expression of that nation while the culture creates inhabitants, so we shall not forget this correlation. Therefore, the words and languages embrace and express both symbolical and contextual historical significance, and also which is the factor effects on all spaces of the country including human`s spiritual mind, human being existence, life skills, traditions, psychology, intellectual development, and children` manner education.
The scientists studied that people who learned his mother language fluently have higher mental ability (Merritt, 2013).
On the other hand, we learn foreign languages mechanically. Its proof is that we are not sure what intends they are saying in their languages, but someone who can understand what they are talking about will be in doubt for converting it into his mother language.
An argument “the language spoken by a man defines his ideology” made by Israeli linguist Guy Deutscher makes international linguists for debate.
However, Israel, in other words Jewish nation, failed to have its own territory for more than 2000 years, they could save the nation until now since they did not lose their mother language. He said that “if you talk with a man in the language that he understands, the words that you said will be in his mind, but in his native language, your words will reach into his heart”.
Also, the scientists who have success in scientific discoveries have mastered in their mother language. In order to preserve the independence and integrity of the country`s customs and traditions, first of all, it must build the immunity of their own native languages. If the immune system of the language is built, all the heritages, traditions, and pride of the nation that are already lost or threatened to lose can be restored. We are the people who have more than 2000 years of history, their own mother language and nationality. Unfortunately, we are rejecting our mother language gradually. Now, we cannot say what we will neglect furthermore.
If you have a plan to invade the country, its native language should be occupied at foremost. It does not mean that foreign language should not be learnt. Foreign language can be learnt by everyone. Especially in today`s globalized world, learning a foreign language is an urgent need for every people. Due to this globalization, some languages have been dominating in the world, and the number of people learning the languages has been increasing constantly. Currently, more than 1.5 billion people of the world have been learning English actively. Also, there is a huge amount of people who learn French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and Germany. As for today, I have not faced such a difficult circumstance. If you cannot treat any disease when it is started, it will endanger your life. Therefore, it will be the best step to take into careful consideration the problems that are addressed hereby.
Since it is the creation of mankind, it cannot be measured as good or bad, and stronger or weaker. In my opinion, each language is equally worthy. Perhaps its influence will be different depending on how many people speak with the language or how much they are developed. Nowadays, English and Chinese tend to dominate the world. But, if we neglect our native language in order to study these dominant languages, we will face a problem of whether our nation exists or not furthermore. Is it fortunate to speak in 275 different languages in Cameroon, which has 24 million populations? Is it luckily speaking in only one language as for Mongolia with 3 million people? It is important to consider.
Thus, it should be used by combining the foreign language with your native language wisely.
In conclusion, in this century, the speed of everything will be increased enormously, and that speed will never wait for something, and hence it will be the main concept of a new revolution. Language development, evolution, and reformation are linked with it. A fate for the extinction of languages is for almost half of the total languages spoken in the world today and the Mongolian language is very close to being included in it, so we, Mongolian people, should consider it from various angles. A time will come that requires wise tactics for protecting the Mongolian language as same as possessing the territory safely. So, we should prevent from this time come true. As concluded from this perspective, the best solution would be to prepare the Mongolian words dictionary and to use it for all the generations. On the other hand, it will protect the vocabulary of Mongolian language somehow. Therefore, it is important to learn foreign languages in order to step forward together with the world, and besides it, it is necessary to use our mother languages.
