The Linguists

        In the video by "The Linguists", Greg and David, a recurrent theme was that with so many languages in the world, why should one limit themselves to exclusively studying the most popular ones, when the lesser known languages may one day become extinct? Within language lies not simply a mass of words, grammar and syntax, but also the breath of a culture and the values that culture carries with it and understands. Language is more than just a means of communication; it is a connection through mind, body and spirit. That is something that should be preserved, no matter how many or how few speak it. In fact, out of the more than 7000 languages that exist in the world, 85% are spoken by small groups of people. That means once those populations die out, if the language is not documented, it will die with them. One of the languages I found really demonstrated the value of studying an endangered language was the Kallawaya language of Bolivian fathers and sons. It is a language centered on holistic medicine and one that even many native-born Bolivians didn’t think existed. It has been around for centuries in the Andes Mountains, spoken by less than 100 speakers and is used to help alleviate sickness. Such a language could be immeasurably valuable to modern medicine if it is documented and learned. Another reason depicted in the movie was of the tribal languages of India. Parents from secluded tribes in rural parts of India send their offspring to boarding schools where the children learn in Hindi and much of their culture and language is lost. Although it may be financially beneficial to be fluent in a country's lingua franca, it is equally important not to forget oneself and where one comes from. These linguists and their video help to spread this concept, and awareness that we can and should help save these endangered languages.