Living in the age of language death (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Living in the age of language death
David HARRISON: Of 6,800 languages existing today, only 3,000 will
still be around in 2100

By Dmytro Drozdovsky, Vsesvit, special to The Day
Ukraine
	
In September, some Verkhovna Rada deputies launched an attempt to
change the status of the Russian language in Ukraine under the cover
of the purported desire to guarantee preservation and unfettered
development of regional languages. Unfortunately, the people’s elected
representatives have forgotten the sad experience of Ireland and
Belarus. In these countries, the desire to introduce English and
Russian at the official level (as it is proposed in Ukraine),
respectively, brought about tragic linguicide — today the Irish and
Belarusian languages belong to category of “the languages on the verge
of extinction.” Ultimately, the process of “language death” itself is
inevitable and natural. And herein lies the tragic essence of a
language: having been born, it must die one day.

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http://www.day.kiev.ua/316136