Languages

Across the world, indigenous languages are dying, but there have been efforts and successes in the preservation of indigenous and minority language and culture.  As XXXX wrote in their work XXXX, "Languages are the pillars of cultures and the vehicles of oral traditions" (CITATION). They are an integral part of people's identities and have an important heritage to preserve. Each language is structurally unique. Each  language lost, represents the loss of centuries old knowledge, heritage and history forever.

Cultures are significantly weakened by the loss of their languages. The shift from one language to a dominant language can happen quite rapidly (Fishman, 1994).About half of world’s languages have fewer than 10,000 speakers (Ethnologue, 2009). Some reports have said that approx. 90% of world’s languages are listed as “endangered” or “threatened”. One shrinking language in existence today is Gullah, whose loss would diminish the vibrancy and culture of the South Carolinian African Americans who speak it.

I believe the preservation of language is extremely important for reasons I will explore in this paper. However my focus will be on the Gullah language, a language that has a rich history that deserves to be shared for centuries to come. There are many colorful , historic languages but factors play into their going extinct.

One large reason for language change has to do with interactions among different languages. Languages transform when facing a new environment, new political condition, or new resident status. A group's native tongue may, fail to satisfy the educational, political, employment demands and needs of their new location. In order to effectively function in society, these people are forced to use another language. As a result of this, their first languages are commonly in danger of being replaced by the second language (e.g.,Latinos, and non English native speakers in the United States). Linguists call them circumstantial bilinguals, people who were forced to learn a dominant language for survival purposes. In order to fully engage in the society, they must gain some sense of proficiency in the dominant language.

The Gullah are a distinctive group of Black Americans. Descendants of enslaved Africans who live in the Lowcountry zone of South Carolina and Georgia. They reside in communities along the Atlantic coastal plain and on the chain of Sea Islands which runs parallel to the coast. Due to their geographical isolation and tight knit community life, the Gullah have been able to preserve more of their African cultural heritage than any other group of Black Americans. However the language is diminishing. The language is called Gullah on the South Carolina Sea Islands and Geechee in the city of Charleston and throughout Georgia. Linguists refer to the Gullah language as an English-based creole language.    

For years, Gullah was thought to be poor or broken English. In the 1900s, Lorenzo Dow Turner  an African-American  linguist  and scholar  who is known as the “Father of Gullah Studies” .Turner studied Gullah on the Sea Islands and in 1949 published a book titled Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect. According to research he found that the language is composed of English and over 4,000 words from different African languages. Today approximately over 150,000 people speak the language.

Preserving minority languages is essential. Preservation can be achieved through music,technology…..