Last semester, Brian Tang wrote, in his blog post titled “Everything Dies: Plants, Ideas, Animals, Stars...even Languages T-T,” that languages die out eventually. He learned that, of the 7,000 distinct languages that exist on Earth, one “dies about every two weeks.” With this trend of languages becoming extinct, which currently spoken language will outlast all of the others?
According to a 2004 study by British language expert David Graddol, the English language will never be the dominant language. Graddol said, “The share of the world’s population that speaks English as a native language is falling.” Graddol suggests that, while English won’t be the main language in the future, it will be a very important language.
According to Graddol, “it’s major contribution will be in creating new generations of bilingual and multilingual speakers.” This quote alone suggests that the English language is starting to die. The article the quote was taken from was originally published by Associated Press, an esteemed global news network. Take a look at the quote again. Notice any grammatical errors? Either Graddol – a language expert – or the Associated Press – a global news company – made a mistake. The writer uses “it’s,” which means “it is,” to describe the English language’s major contribution. The writer should have used “its,” which shows possession. In an age where people are relying more and more on technology, this may have merely been a typo, but even an editor did not catch this. (That is, if Associated Press has an editor. If it does not, then I’m truly losing faith in the news.)
I have a theory regarding the language of the future. Keep in mind, the Associated Press article previously mentioned was written in 2004. Technology has made long strides since then, with the inventions of things such as iPads and smart phones. The world is relying more on technology every day. The rules of the English language are being broken to a greater extent each year through text-talk; for example, the letter “u” is often used to replace the word “you,” in order to simplify a text message. Somewhere down the line, the English language – and possibly all other languages – will go extinct. Yet, I feel that, after all of the world’s spoken languages are lost, we will still be able to communicate with each other, using something similar to ancient Egypt’s hieroglyphics. For example, when you see these golden arches,
, you immediately recognize it as the McDonald’s logo. This goes for many famous logos around the world, such as the Apple Corporation’s signature apple (
), the Olympic rings (
), and the Facebook “F” logo (
). Even after the languages of the world are all dead and gone, I believe that, through the constant advertising that is shoved down our throats, universal logos may be the only way to communicate in the far-away future.
, you immediately recognize it as the McDonald’s logo. This goes for many famous logos around the world, such as the Apple Corporation’s signature apple (), the Olympic rings (), and the Facebook “F” logo (). Even after the languages of the world are all dead and gone, I believe that, through the constant advertising that is shoved down our throats, universal logos may be the only way to communicate in the far-away future.