Sunday, January 15, 2017

Speaking in Tongues- Value Of Preserving Indigenous Languages

What is the value of preserving indigenous languages? 

Culture and social values play a vital role in shaping an individual in society. As humans, we tend to express what we love by evoking a sense of security towards aspects such as our culture, power and language thus, revolving around a form of communication with one another. This means that having a mother tongue reminds us of our significance in society. Dating back in history, having a language where all living things are mainly dependant on their environment to survive was common however, encountering an "Indigenous tribe" was not. An Indigenous tribe is a group of individuals born and originating from a particular place but are on the verge of extinction. Although a downfall in the preservation of indigenous language is evident in society, such issue raises attention to the great harm done towards the diminishing cultures of indigenous people that have a great extent of value to society. This is done through the ignorance of indigenous tribes significance in society that have the potential to grow in various fields scientifically and linguistically.

The preservation of indigenous languages enhances our society scientifically through the use of further professional research that focuses on the preservation of their Astronomical ideologies. Recent studies have proven to us how Australian Aborigines were able to create calendars that would function effectively during night in order to explore the core complexion of the universe. Furthermore, spotting specific constellation such as "The Saucepan" would guide Australian Aboriginals to organise years chronologically. Today, this is known as the constellation of "Orion" in Australian that is one of the most famous constellation of time. Clearly, the protection of indigenous languages are important as it effectively strengthens our knowledge of constellations.

The foremost significance of preserving indigenous languages is to our societies advance as it will linguistically amplify our knowledge of poetry through their deep use of rich vocabulary. Moreover, the evocative grievances focused on Philosophical Aboriginal poetry conveys a sense of concern suggested by the entire Aboriginal community. Such authentic style of writing allows us to comprehend opinions and appreciations of nature that surge how attached Aboriginals are to mother nature with phrases such as "a bird whose tail twitches like a eli" (Times Magazine). There is no doubt that such meaning holds deep literal justification that would not hold the same meaning if it was translated to another language. Similarly to the Arabic language where specific phrases such as "دمك ثقيل" that would literally translate to your blood is heavy in English cannot be explained to someone who doesn't speak Arabic as it really means someone who is extremely boring. This further establishes the beauty of languages that enhances the important of the language preservation in society. Undoubtedly, the preservation of such rare languages are highly valuable in terms of learning about poetry.

I believe that preserving indigenous languages is important whether the tribal people are alive or not because, protecting cultural traces of a language not only allows researchers to study their historical value in society in the past but rather- expand and broaden their knowledge though explorations of their language. This can be done through investigating their scientific and linguistic values that can vastly impact individuals understanding of language, culture and power of which is a necessity for our present, past and future understanding of this world.

4 comments:

  1. Hala, it was very interesting to learn about your stance on the preservation of indigenous languages in society today. I am in complete agreement with your perspective on the issue as indigenous languages, despite often not being comprehensible to anyone outside of a tight-knit tribe, act as demarcations of a tribe's true identity and heritage. As we observed in the documentary, "The Linguists," numerous indigenous languages have already died out and several continue to be on the verge of extinction, which is rather concerning as the relatively rapid decline of indigenous languages can be detrimental to the present global diversity. That being said, how do you think a language that is purely based on oral transmission as opposed to having any formal written script can, if at all, be preserved or even revived if it dies? Well done!!

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  2. Shriya, thank you very much for such a wonderful and insightful comment. I really appreciate it as you were able to broaden my perspectives on the perservation of indengious tribes by linking it to perspectives evident in "The Linguists" documentary. Regarding your questions, I think that a language does not have to be purely based on oral transmission in order for it to be revived or even preserved because, there will always be traces of the culture evident. As we watched in class today, the indigoes Serbian language focuses solely on the connection of our language to our lifestyle.

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  3. Hey Hala,
    I really enjoyed reading your blog post because it was really insightful and it gave me an extensive perspective of this topic due to the fact that I also chose this question. Furthermore i fully agree with you and I believe that we as humans, it is our duty to preserve indigenous languages whether the people of that tribe are alive or not. In the end they were part of this world and their language helped us to get where we are now. Each language provides an individual or a community with a different view, a different perspective, a diverse insight in the aspects of life therefore they should all be preserved.
    well done!!!
    It was a really edtailed blog post and you managed to include many specific examples within your blog.

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