The process of globalization has become very intensive recently. Indeed, the whole world seems to turn into one great community with a unified culture, lifestyle, and system of values. What is more, this community tends to speak fewer and fewer languages, preferring to speak the language that is popular or simple, rather than the one that is native. On one hand, this process is essential, as far as it is based on the law of natural selection.
On the other hand, the extinction of minor languages leads to the extinction of certain cultural groups and their individualities, turning the world into a global grey crowd. So what should be done about the mentioned situation? Undoubtedly, the minor languages should be preserved.
The meaning of the languages that are on the edge of extinction today lies far beyond the linguistic concept. Indeed, languages do not only serve as a means of expression and comprehension; their function is much deeper. Apart from being a system of signs, a language carries a certain mentality, the character of the community it is spoken by. Moreover, the changes in the community’s life are inevitably reflected in its language.
Community and language function as one organism, and when a language dies out, the community also stops existing. In fact, it can become a part of another community, or adopt another language, but losing a native language means losing authenticity with no opportunity for further development and life. That is why, the process of languages extinction should be resisted.
Today the language policies aimed at preserving the minor languages are treated as unpopular and needless. The politicians see no sense in investing money into saving some language of an African community, as this investment will have no obvious use for USA or Europe. More and more money, however, are being spent on popularizing several “strong” languages, such as English, Russian, and Chinese. Indeed, all the countries of the world are to some degree English-speaking.
This is advantageous from economical and political points of view, and is bound to the experience of USSR, where the attempt to create a superpower started with accepting one unified language. The result of that policy, as well as of the one that is led today, is that the half of the world turns into one community with no certain culture, customs and traditions, but with one certain language to speak.
Due to the mentioned facts, we should realize that the preservation of minor languages is a worthy idea. This mission is close to the attempts to preserve the diversity of the nature, saving all of its creatures, their families and creatures. Every language has a history, and no language was made up just for fun.
Supporting a language that is on the edge of extinction means saving its history with the underlying culture. After all, if there is a number of popular languages, there should also be some private ones, which should be able to express some very intimate and very native feelings of their speakers.
All in all, it can be said that the intense process of modern globalization has led to the extinction of many minor languages. This process is hard to resist, however there is definitely a need for preserving the minor languages that still exist. Language policies aimed at supporting them should be treated as an attempt to save a piece of original culture, contained in a system of written and spoken signs. Popularizing the minor languages may be a purposeless task; however, their protection from dying out is extremely important.