| Sumario: | The article discusses the projected future of human language in light of a process similar to natural selection. This is said to be leading to the extinction of thousands of languages. Examples are given, such as the extinction of Native American languages in Oklahoma, including Delaware, Mesquakie, and Ottawa; the social undesirability of immigrants' native languages; and the dominance of a few languages on the Internet, including English, Chinese, and Spanish. Influences such as the replacement of words with images, the loss of authority of written words, and a changing cultural environment are mentioned. Other factors are said to include a declining neural capacity for complex thought, translation devices, and the acquisition of languages for purely functional reasons.
|
|---|