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Languages with no monoglots | ||
Tags: Endangered Language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes  Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 17 of 26 11 February 2013 at 10:36pm | IP Logged | ||
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It takes long time and much effort to learn a nearly extinct language, and I don't think it would ever become a mass movement. Instead people take the easy way out and sing songs in the language without understanding a word of it. Or they choose one word and repeats it again and again in their song because they can't even pronounce the lost language. Even ordinary humans may use this trick - like all those who say "moin" in the former Low German area, but can't speak or understand Platt. Edited by Iversen on 11 February 2013 at 11:01pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| eimerhenkel Diglot Newbie New Zealand Joined 4389 days ago 10 posts - 19 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese | Message 18 of 26 12 February 2013 at 5:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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There's no threat if a language merely has no monoglots. The real problem lies in the dwindling number of native speakers. In New Zealand, native Maori speakers are dying out while the language isn't being pushed enough in the school system. Whenever Maori becomes mandatory, if ever, it will be too late. The only lifeline Maori will have depends on a select few native speakers, who then teach it as a second language to prospective Maori padawans. These non-native speakers then pass it on to future generations and so forth and so forth. The language and culture are being regurgitated to the point of: why bother? Unless New Zealand embraces a full bilingual society, the language will never survive. Not a healthy future, when you also consider such high immigration from India and China.
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| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6265 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 19 of 26 19 February 2013 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | ||
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Polabian, a West Slavic language, already had a significant number of Low German loanwords when some of its vocabulary began to be written down, not long before it became extinct.
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| ilcommunication Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6685 days ago 115 posts - 162 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Portuguese, Mandarin | Message 20 of 26 19 February 2013 at 10:42pm | IP Logged | ||
If the experience of Irish since the 1920's has taught us anything, it's that making a language mandatory in schools, in and of itself, does nothing for the long-term health of that tongue, and can even be harmful. That said, I think you're right that the real chance is in native speakers passing it onto some in the younger generation and so on. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6696 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 21 of 26 20 February 2013 at 2:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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If a language community already is dying then the existence of pure monoglots won't save it. Mostly they are elderly, low status and isolated - otherwise they would already have had to learn the dominating foreign language which is killing their native tongue. And elderly, low status and isolated persons aren't in a good position to defend anything against people who not only represent a world language, but also the political and economical power in their country - and who to boot haven't bothered to learn the endangered minority language.
Language enthousiasts may keep it alive (and in some cases use the monoglots as reliable information sources), but apart from Ivrit they have never been able to transform an endangered semidead language into a majority language. At best their communities can form some kind of National Park (or reservation) where you can be sure the minority language can be used. That's about how far I can stretch my limited supply of optimism. I have read texts about Ireland which suggest that the traditionel financial support for Irish Gaelic is under scrutiny. Ultimately it a question whether it is feasible to try to teach every person over there Irish when most of them don't learn it well enough to speak it. If the attempt to do so had lead to a nation of perfect bilinguals I doubt that the nation would drop such an important part of the its identity and history, but given the reported lack of success I could see some politicians be tempted to save money by cutting down on the teaching of Irish in public schools. And the few remaining monoglots won't have any influence on that decision. A complaint in Irish from a farm somewhere out West would probably not have much influence on politicians in Dublin who already see their language as a relic from the past. Just as politicians in Hamburg or Berlin wouldn't care a bit about complaints in Platt from any remaining monoglot peat digger from somewhere beyond Oldenburg. Edited by Iversen on 22 February 2013 at 12:04pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4437 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 22 of 26 21 February 2013 at 10:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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In some countries depends on the education level. A place like China there are people who
are fluent in English while others (especially the older generation) who are monoglots. Although people in China see English as the language for international business, there are those in the foreign community who see the opposite since learning Mandarin has the advantage being able to tap into a market of over 1B. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5049 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 23 of 26 22 February 2013 at 10:08am | IP Logged | ||
How is being Fluent in English connected with being a monoglot or a bilingual person? 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| petteri Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4925 days ago 117 posts - 208 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: German, Spanish | Message 24 of 26 22 February 2013 at 10:42am | IP Logged | ||
Good point. There is no doubt that the most popular spoken L2 in China is Mandarin. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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