Madison Mullikin

Language and Culture

Language Death
In the book Language Death, the author David Crystal explains the significance and cause for
the deaths of languages. He explores the factors that cause these language deaths and emphasies to the
reader that action must be taken to prevent the extinction of languages. !his book displays the
correlation bet"een language and culture, uncovering surprising connections. Crystal is successful at
keeping the reader thoroughly engaged on every page, making it a great book for research and pleasure.
Language death happens "hen a language is no one longer spoken. #ecorded and "ritten forms
of the language may still exist, but in order for a language to be $living%, it needs to have fluent
speakers. !here are bet"een &,''' to (',''' languages in existence today. Ho"ever it is estimated that
only &'' of these are truly safe. ) statistical revie" by Michael *rauss reports that $at the rate things
are going + the coming century "ill see either the death or the doom of ,'- of mankind.s languages%
/(01. 2hen a language as less than 3',''' speakers, it is considered endangered. !he most "idely used
languages in the "orld are Mandarin, 4panish, 5nglish, 6apanese, #ussian, 7ortuguese, Hindi, and
8engali, totaling over 3.9 billion fluent speakers. !here are many people documenting and surveying
languages around the "orld in efforts to gain kno"ledge and find a cure for language death.
Language death is caused by a variety of factors, but no one single ma:or factor has been
discovered. Changes in people.s culture and risk to physical health are among some of the factors that
begin the decline of the use of a language. ;ther factors include $a significant gro"th in the nation<
state in the t"entieth century, "ith an associated recognition of official languages...=and> a significant
gro"th in international and global lingua francas during the same period? and "e can deduce that these
developments "ill have put minority languages under increasing pressure% /&,1. )s cultures rise and
fall, so do the languages associated "ith them.
!he reader may begin to ask himself "hy he should care. Crystal does an amaing :ob at
opening the reader.s eyes to the magnitude of the problem posed by language death. He begins this task
by explaining ho" language is related to a person.s "orth as a productive human. He points out that $a
cost<benefit analysis of the conse@uences of being multilingual "ould bring to light a "ide range of
benefits for individuals, both financial and non<financial% /A(1. He then delves into identity expression
and ho" $local languages are seen to be valuable because they promote community cohesion and
vitality, foster pride in a culture, and give a community self<confidence% /A(1. 2ith the extinction of
any language comes the loss of repositories of history, human kno"ledge, and diversity, "hich is a
human evolutionary strength. ) culture uses its language to handle and establish important familial
relationships in a "ay that a different language could not. )s put by Marianne MinthunB
!he loss of languages is tragic precisely because they are not interchangeable, precisely
because they represent the distillation of the thoughts and communication of a people over
their entire history /A01.
Crystal makes his case about "hy people should care about language death, but he does not stop at
leaving the reader "ith a sense of urgency. He continues on to suggest "hat can be done to prevent this
alarming problem of language death.
Crystal emphasies the importance of seeing language as part of culture. It has been proven that
$political and religious factors explain the rebirth and ongoing maintenance% of some languages /(3C1.
) concern "ith stylistic consistency and an ardent loyalty by native speakers also aid in language
maintenance. )part from these observations, Crystal formulates six basic factors that explain ho"
endangered languages can be maintainedB
(. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers increase their prestige "ithin the
dominant community /(A'1.
3. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers increase their "ealth relative to the
dominant community /(A31.
A. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers increase their legitimate po"er in
the eyes of the dominant community /(AA1.
9. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers have a strong presence in the
educational system /(A&1.
D. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers can "rite their language do"n
/(A01.
&. )n endangered language "ill progress if its speakers can make use of electronic
technology /(9(1.
Crystal goes in depth "ith each factor in order to educate the reader on exactly "hy each factor proves
true. )s a people educated about the risk and damaging effects of language death that also possess the
kno"ledge and technology needed to stop it, "e bear the responsibility of taking action.
!hroughout the pages of Language Death, Crystal defends and emphasies the importance of
fighting against language death. He defines the phenomenon, the causes, and "hat can be done to cure
this consuming $disease% s"allo"ing up languages. !his book forces the reader to think and proves to
be interesting throughout every chapter. It is a beneficial source for research, as "ell as a pleasurable
read.
Crystal, David. Language Death. Ee" ForkB Cambridge G7, 3'''. 7rint.