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In the distance lay the ruined Maya city of Palenque, where the glyphs that speak of the reign of the great lord Pacal are carved in stone. The glyphs can be deciphered now. Perhaps. Only perhaps, for no one knows what words were spoken, what sounds were made when Pacal the Conqueror reigned. It may seem cryptic or even Socratic to say, but, in truth, only spoken words can be heard. There are nine different words in Maya for the color blue in the comprehensive Porrua Spanish-Maya Dictionary but just three Spanish translations, leaving six butterflies that can be seen only by the Maya, proving beyond doubt that when a language dies six butterflies disappear from the consciousness of the earth." (p. 43)
Nancy Bonvillian in her book Culture Language and Communication also talks about diversity and how it contributes to language growth in general. Shorris and Bonvillian appear to agree with the notion that small languages are extremely vital for the overall development of language because it appears that our languages are shrinking today. As we mentioned earlier that Shorris found English languages to be losing words, this is what Nancy Bonvillain appears to imply in her chapter on diversity in languages. But their survival is important, the prognoses are not very optimistic. One writer says, "...languages are being murdered today...
Even the most optimistic prognoses claim that only half of today's 6,000-7,000 spoken languages will exist by 2100. The media and educational systems are the most important direct agents in language murder today." (Skutnabb-Kangas, 2001)
Globalization is widely cited as the most important reason small languages are dying out. Some believe that they fade into oblivion because local communities and educators do not stress the significance of keeping indigenous languages alive. Youth is the vehicle through which languages can be kept alive and transferred to the next generation but it appears that most young adults are not really interested in preserving local languages or culture. Due to vast exposure, they have come under the spell of stronger languages and culture which is the primary reason we fail to notice the beauty and richness of local languages.
References
Shorris, Earl. "The Last Word: Can the World's Small Languages Be Saved?" Harper's Magazine (August 2000): 35-43.
Bonvillain, Nancy. Language, Culture and Communication; Prentice Hall, 1999
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, Murder that is a threat to survival, Guradian Weekly, (March 22, 2001) Also available on the web at http://www.onestopenglish.com/Culture/global/murder.htm
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