Endangered ethnic languages -- reviving or archiving? (fwd link)

[Chun Jimmy Huang]

quote:
"[language's] survival or death has been natural selection of the 
environment."
"...no one should interfere in their [indigenous people's] 
decision-making."
"is it wise and worthwhile trying to turn an unstoppable natural 
trend around?"

Wow so the decline of mother tongue use and the shift to Mandarin 
are all "natural" and have nothing to do with the history of 
Han-Chinese nationalism/colonialism. The govt has made an effort 
to "preserve" the indigenous cultures and so need not take 
responsibility of their (dis-)continuation.

It's funny how (the collectivist, communist) China is now speaking 
capitalism and everything is explained in terms of (individual) 
free will.

Jimmy


On Wed Jul 29 17:49:13 EDT 2009, phil cash cash 
<cashcash at EMAIL.ARIZONA.EDU> wrote:

> Article quote:
> 
> "There are approximately 130 different languages of 55 ethnic 
> minority groups in
> China, but more than 100 are dying out - and 60 are on the verge 
> of extinction,
> according to statistics from the Chinese Academy of Social 
> Sciences. Across the
> world, more than 6,000 languages are disappearing at a rapid 
> rate, and 3,000 of
> these are in an extremely critical state."
> 
> Endangered ethnic languages -- reviving or archiving?
> www.chinaview.cn  2009-07-29
> http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-07/29/content_11793112.htm
> 
>