Media accounts on endangered languages abound, but they don’t always explore how to materially help native speakers. Peer-reviewed research shows that such efforts don’t always have positive effects.
Sociolinguists suggest that within the next century, 90% of the world’s languages will disappear, due largely to colonial languages dominating economies, education and governance.
Welsh place names often reflect local legends, fauna and topography. The coining of English names to replace them has sparked an ongoing campaign to protect them.
Canada’s population is more diverse than ever, with many different languages represented. Government policy must reflect that diversity and offer meaningful support to minority languages.
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
The almost complete absence of French at the Public Order Emergency Commission does not come from a subservient reflex on the part of French speakers so much as their fear of being scorned.
Following the Sept. 20 federal election, an important question must be asked: How is the Canadian electoral process accommodating the country’s increasing linguistic diversity?
Anne Levesque, L’Université d’Ottawa/University of Ottawa
Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms doesn’t mean much if it can’t be enforced. That’s why the Court Challenges Program is so important — no matter what the Québec premier says.
Usually, a minor language will adopt words from a dominant language, but NZ English bucks this trend. It has been borrowing a growing number of Māori words, not always to add meaning but to mark identity.
Ghana urgently needs an official Ghanaian Sign Language (GSL) policy. Such a move has the potential to humanize education for people who are Deaf and alleviate the linguistic discrimination they face.