[intopieces]

>But they're being replaced by possibly the best example there is of a language evolving over time due to power dynamics.

Why does the power dynamic of the language speakers (and therefore their linguistic dominance) provide a counterbalance to the loss of culture? That is, why do you specifically value one over the other, and in what sense is this comical?

[curun1r]

It's not that I value one over the other. It's that I observe a dynamic that has persisted throughout human history and see people trying to fight it. Why is right now the time that we should "freeze" language adaptation to save culture? If that's the perspective, why aren't we also trying resurrect Ancient Egyptian language to preserve that culture as well?

Growing up in an area with rip tides, it was always drilled into my head that if I got caught in one and started getting dragged out to sea, I shouldn't fight it. Instead, I should swim parallel to shore until I'm out of the current and can more easily swim back to shore. Just like a rip current, language adaptation due to power dynamics is a reality. You can either accept that and try to make the best of that situation or you can put up a futile resistance.

There's no value system at play just like there's no value system in gravity or rip currents. They're just facts that you accept and integrate into whatever plan you're making.

[lugg]

First of all I fully agree with your sentiment and have similar views (re comical and more)

But

I don't think it is wrong to want to preserve culture and or language. I actually have really strong views that we MUST preserve language and everything that stems from it.

Not necessarily in the sense that we must all be able to speak it - English is going to dominate no matter what you do - but from a purely academic stand point it gives us an incredible insight into how humans have developed historically and may even help explain some of our misgivings in the future. Recording language is something we should be doing in the same way we are creating seed vaults in the arctic.

Language is what I believe truly defines us as humans. People who speak multiple languages often have completely different personalities [1] when speaking each language.

The language you speak can also alter many things including the way you view and reason about:

- Time [2]

- Color [3]

- Direction / left and right / forward and back [3]

- And even whether you know your own gender [3]

The list probably doesn't stop there but it shows you that losing these languages means we lose a completely different way of viewing the world - I think that would be kind of sad, I'm just glad we at least learned this before they're all lost.

> It's that I observe a dynamic that has persisted throughout human history and see people trying to fight it. Why is right now the time that we should "freeze" language adaptation to save culture?

I don't think "right now" is the time - I suspect all lost languages have struggled with losing their place and would have had people attempt to fight it and preserve the language.

Remember, our history likely doesn't cover the languages that have been lost and the struggle to preserve them specifically because they have been lost.

> If that's the perspective, why aren't we also trying resurrect Ancient Egyptian language to preserve that culture as well?

I'm glad you bought that up - it is a perfect example because we know how to read and write the language but we can only begin[4] to imagine how it actually sounds - and what ways it may have altered our views.

[1] https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/life-bilingual/201111/c...

[2] http://theconversation.com/language-alters-our-experience-of...

[3] https://ideas.ted.com/5-examples-of-how-the-languages-we-spe...

[4] https://www.connectsavannah.com/savannah/how-do-we-know-how-...