And when a language becomes extinct (no one who knows the language is left), the world has lost forever a culture, a civilization and all the knowledge it had acquired. We are losing languages at a rate never seen before in human history. And another 204 languages have fewer than ten speakers. The 548 languages with fewer than 99 speakers, make up nearly one-tenth of the world's languages, are all faced with certain disappearance. (not answering the question follows) In 2001, it was estimated that there were 6912 distinct human languages spoken worldwide, by the year 2101 only half of these will be spoken. regrettably, you cannot shove a measuring stick in the earth and then follow it up and down to find exactly when linguistic change occurs. Etymology is a social product that is often used in supporting one particular angle of vision of the world over others. To write,simply "Proto-Indo-European," is scarcely the simple explanation that you think it is. To claim that Arabic numbers probably originated in Persian or Hindu, must older languages than Arabic, only shows that loan words from adjacent languages found acceptance in receipient languages. Many scholars have spent their lives studying the origin of languages. But this question is hardly a simple one. I am sure that others will join with me in thanking you for galloping out with such a clear-headed approach.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |