Language Endangerment and the Documentation of Endangered Languages

By Wu Xiaoxia

Dr. Aviva Shimelman from the School of Foreign Languages delivered a lecture on Language Endangerment and the Documentation of Endangered Languages at 7:30 p.m. on October 29th, in Lize Building D406. Her current job involves the documentation of endangered languages. So she shared with students the language endangerment and how to preserve them.

It is estimated that one-half of the world''s 6000 languages will disappear by the end of this century. The fortunes of endangered languages are affected by factors such as economy, religion, culture, education, politics, war etc.. A language is the carrier of cultural inheritance, which is the precious heritage given by ancestors. As for speakers, they need to keep speaking their own languages. As for organizations and government, they must provide a multi-lingual environment for people and encouraged people to learn and preserve the languages.

In the lecture, Dr. Aviva Shimelman is worried about the endangered languages and she aroused student’s interests to study languages and preserve it. Furthermore, by learning a new language one could not only know more about cultures, but also strengthen knowledge and get a better understanding of cultures.

Proofread by Ma Jingyuan