Colonialism and Language Death
Introduction:
Out of the current 7000+ current languages known to be spoken throughout the world, it is estimated that half will be extinct by the turn of the century. Language is inseparable from humans as a people; it carries the culture and customs of the human condition. It carries what makes humans distinct: how humans perceive themselves in the world. During the age of colonialism, which is often described as beginning during the 16th century up until the 19th century, hundreds of languages were put aside in favour of other languages such as English. This sequentially made hundreds of years of cultural heritage lost to time (Shakib; Webster). Colonialism is the root cause of most language deaths and cultural assimilation, which led to a less diverse plane of languages. An invasion of an indigenous community by colonial Empires in past centuries meant that the language of the invading country would be forced upon the people being invaded. Language diversity is a symbol of a culture that holds historical value, such loss would lead to cultural assimilation. As such, cultural assimilation eventually lead to many language deaths as newer generations abandoned their native languages in favour of a foreign lingua franca.
An Empire’s Language
An invasion of an indigenous community by colonial Empires in past centuries meant that the language of the invading country would be forced upon the people being invaded. In a paper published in 2007 by Stephen L. Morgan et al., this claim is countered by discussing whether the Japanese colonialism of Taiwan from 1895 to 1945 had a good effect on the economy, which directly impacted the language spoken in Taiwan. In it, Morgan claims that the Japanese colonies set up in Taiwan set up the small island country’s success and what he calls a “miracle economy”. Morgan counters the claim that the Japanese settlers oppressed the language of Taiwan in such a way as to get rid of the native tongue in order to replace it with the Japanese language in this case. Moreover, Morgan states that the way the Japanese treated the colony was in a much different manner, as seen with the economic boom during the time of the colony and especially after the Japanese left Taiwan in the 1950s. To convey this, Morgan says “the average Taiwanese improved his general economic conditions moderately and in a few areas, such as education and health” (Morgan 993). Though Morgan’s statements are true, he only observes a specific hyper-successful previously colonised country, that was only held by the Japanese for a short period of time; this opposes many countries that have lost their language and culture through several decades or even centuries of a colonial power censoring their languages and culture.
Countering Morgan’s research, in a paper published by Judy Iseke-Barnes of Ontario University working in the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education in 2004 focuses on the relationship between colonialism and the spread of the English language as the colonial Empire spread through indigenous communities. The paper examines how the English language has been normalised in the international setting. In the paper, Iseke-Barnes first touches on how important language is to the communities, as it held many of the community's values, tradition and most importantly their culture. Additionally, she states that English was often seen as a threat, saying “we need to consider more than new standards because English poses a threat to other languages in many colonial and neo-colonial spaces” (Iseke-Barnes 16). Running with this, she says that English as a language shows to be constantly replacing other languages in daily use and school curriculums. To further this, she explains that indigenous languages are often radically changed by the social conditions imposed by the English, as it slowly starts dominating the community in which it has inserted itself; she points the fingers at structural reasons within the society, showing inadequate resources in professional, financial and institutional networks for the nurture of the indigenous languages. Moreover, Iseke-Barnes claims that though English does eventually take over, it is a slow process rather than that of an instantaneous switch. She states that English is naturalised, as the language is typically only spoken as a courtesy towards strangers, then slowly inserts itself into everyday use, as locals slowly value English more than their native language. Consequently, she states that language is used as a kind of social control on the communities being colonised by empires such as the English Empire. She claims “Education is a site of language struggles because of its great influence and because of the power assigned to education to control and implement value systems” (Iseke-Barnes 24). Adding her point, she delineates language as playing a central role in our education system, as it is seen as the primary method of controlling the society which is being invaded. Hence, she argues that schools function in communities in order to present certain knowledge as “universal” (Iseke-Barnes). Iseke-Barnes’ research on how the English Empire specifically has greatly aided in the research of languages being forced upon by an invasive empire such as the English Empire. Moreover, her paper shows how exactly imperial powers have forced upon their culture and consequently their language through children’s education.
Furthering Iseke-Barnes’ research, in a paper published in June of 2008 by Lisa Kahaleole, a researcher in Ethnic studies at the University of Victoria holding a PhD in Ethnic Studies from the University of California at Berkeley, it is argued that United States colonialism has had a “white-washed” effect on the indigenous communities of Hawai’i, explaining that forced erasure of their culture and language led to this state. In it, she proceeds to say that the ongoing “civilising” mission of Hawai’i and their people, which was explicitly to denigrate the culture, history, belief and of course language. In addition to this, she mentions that Hawai’i has been grouped in with other marginalised groups within the United States in order to further the social justice movement, stating that this should not be done as Hawai’i have their own language and culture that is separate from the other minority groups of the United States (Kahaleole). Kahaleole furthers the idea that an empire such as the English Empire (the United States being her example in her research) explicitly belittle the native community in order to attrit their language and culture. This research is specifically targeted toward how it affected the women of the Hawai’ian community, which is an important area, as they play an important role in that culture.
In a similar article published in 2019 by Gerald Roche, an anthropologist and a senior research fellow at La Trobe University in Australia, it is discussed that language is used as an oppressive and a form of domination that is parallel with other means of oppression such as race, nation skin colour and ethnicity. In the article, Roche uses the Tibet region of China as a primary focus point, arguing that the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as a colonial regime operates in dual logics of subordination to the Han supremacy and erasure of certain populations, here being the Tibetan population. This is done in order to create a “tripartite social structure of privileged Han, subordinated minorities and erased linguistic groups” (Roche 490). In addition to this, Roche states that Tibetans in the PRC are not linguistically homogeneous, which is a direct misperception based on the deliberate erasure of their language and culture. Moreover, Roche uses a Procrustean metaphor to accurately describe the PRC’s “language death machine”; in this section, he states “Procrustes was a murderer who dispatched his victims in an especially peculiar manner. Having lured them to his home he provided the victim with an iron bed to sleep on and, finding them either too short or too tall, would stretch or chop until they fit the frame” (Roche 493). He explains that this metaphor provides a rigid conceptual framework for how the PRC is often presented in such a manner, arguing that this is wrong, rather it should be categorised as a bilateral relation of domination that crucially underestimates the extent and nature of the colonial power. Consequently, Roche states that languages are currently being replaced in an aggressive manner through their schooling system, such as what is happening to the Mongolian population of China. Though there are 6 spoken languages in this community, the standard Mongolian implemented by the PRC is taught to other ethnic Mongolian groups, which is slowly leading to a language shift within these communities. This leads to various other languages being replaced in these ethnic groups, and at the same time is being replaced by the national common language. This in turn replaces the culture of the ethnic groups situated within the PRC, which will eventually lead to the assimilation of all cultures found within the region and can lead to the death of many languages (Roche). The language of colonising imperial powers was often forced upon a colonised community as a means of enforcing power on such communities.
Colonisers: The Value of a Culture
Language diversity is a symbol of a culture that holds historical value, such loss has led to cultural assimilation. In a paper published by Ran Abramitzky, a professor of economics and the senior associate dean of the Social Sciences at Stanford University, it is claimed that the age of mass migration brought about less language diversity, as people from all around the world moved to the United States, consequently leaving behind their language in which their culture and values were inherently tied to. In the article, Abramitzky claims that as people moved to the United States, they chose to “white-wash” their families as they proceeded to choose less foreign-sounding names, and learned English; he additionally states that children with more American-sounding names completed more years of schooling and ended up with a higher degree of success than those with foreign names. Furthermore, it is stated in the paper that “Italians and other Eastern and Southern Europeans, who were particularly criticized by politicians for not trying to assimilate, were actually among the fastest to adopt American-sounding names in the 1900s and 1910s” (Abramitzky 3). Abramitzky states that the pattern seen within families in the process of assimilating may suggest that the interdependence of the degree of foreignness of names and outcome in the American population is driven by the families that decide to choose foreign names for their children; this is likely to show the pressure put on foreign families to assimilate to the current culture they are faced with. Furthermore, it is stated that with the evidence that they had collected, the degree of assimilation comes into full view, as the more time went on, the fewer foreign names found in immigrant families were found. This naming pattern is significant, as Abramitzky states that “Names are signals of cultural identity” (Abramitzky 4). The data presented by the research of Abramitzky aids in showing that cultural assimilation occurs on vast planes, considering once a child of an immigrant parent has been named with a name more lineated with the American culture, they are more likely to inter-marry with the already established American population (Abramitzky). Abramitzky reveals much about the importance of culture and one’s language, as he processes through the seeming impermanence of one’s culture or language as one assimilates to a new culture. This is especially seen through family dynamics and how such families choose the names of their children in order to assimilate more thoroughly as Abramitzky has shown through his research with his team.
Furthering Abramitzky’s research by looking at how specific groups adapted to a new culture and how that affects what they value, a paper published in 1961 by Ethna O’Flannery, a professor at Stanford University provides much insight into how cultural assimilation may affect people, in her model she studies how people originating from Puerto Rico have adapted to New York and how quickly they have assimilated to the culture and language of New York. According to her research, she found that immigrants are faced with a push from the culture they are assimilating to divert themselves from their old ways, thus adapting to the new ways of where they are currently situated. This results in foreign communities eventually being isolated from themselves and their previous culture. Additionally, she points out that the biggest problem incoming immigrants feel is figuring out how to be accepted into this new configuration in the foreign environment. Moreover, she states that the more isolated they feel, the more they will try to adapt to the new culture in order to assimilate themselves into society in order to fit in more with the people around them (O’Flannery). O’Flannery provides additional information as to how people assimilate to new cultures, including how they are and want to be accepted into their new foreign environment. This constant need to assimilate to a foreign culture does, unfortunately, lead to immigrant communities isolating themselves.
In a book published by Steven Sabol, a professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, the United States colonisation of the Sioux and the Russian colonisation of the Kazakhs are compared in order to understand how the people assimilated to the culture and language of their respective colonising powers. In it, Sabol states that in the United States particularly it was encouraged for immigrants to resettle in recently opened lands in order to hire them for work on the railroads; this was paralleled by the Soviet Union, though was done in a much more forceful manner in that region. Sabol claims that the “Population shift in the United States and Russia compelled the American and Russian governments to establish frameworks to accommodate pioneers … settling on the plains and the steppe” (Sabol 208). This further aided the cultural assimilation phenomenon occurring in both superpowers (Sabol). Steven Sabol’s book on comparing Russian and American colonialism gives more insight into how a colonial power may create a harsh environment for native languages and cultures, which in this case has led to population shifts as what the native communities hold historical value to has been destroyed or forgotten to be replaced by the languages of the colonial powers. The diversity of a language is a symbol of the hundreds of different cultures around the globe, the loss of such has been directly correlated to cultural assimilation.
Exiled Languages
Cultural assimilation eventually lead to many language deaths as newer generations abandoned their native languages in favour of a foreign lingua franca. Though there is little room for this argument, in an article published by Aamna Mohdin, a reporter for quartz and other reputable news sources, it is stated that though one may think they have lost their language, it is rather just buried deep down in their mind. She claims that a more tentative language in an indigenous community may seem to erode away as the colonial power overwhelms the previously established structure of communication, though it can be re-established. In her article, she gives examples of many people’s experiences with language attrition, which she defines as “the loss of a native language” (Mohdin). One of the prime examples Mohdin gives is of one poem going by the name of “Search for my tongue” by Sujata Bhatt, stating,
Written in both English and Gujarati, the poem encapsulates the fear of losing your native language. Bhatt is an Indian poet who grew up in Pune, but migrated to the US when she was 12. In her poem, she describes a war between these two languages, as they compete for dominance. She writes about her anguish as English seems to be winning out, but it’s when Bhatt is asleep and vulnerable, when she longs most for home, that her first language asserts itself more powerfully than before. Every time she fears she’s forgotten, Gujarati comes flooding back to her. (Mohdin)
Consequently, she explains that though one may think that they have lost their language, it is actually just buried deep into their mind and that one just have to overcome the “inhibitory mechanism that made one language more dominant than the other and overcome that barrier takes practice and lots of it (Mohdin). Mohdin’s research shows that not all hope is lost when it comes to language, as she shows that with work languages and cultures can be brought back and have not been lost to the power of colonialism and time. In her research, Mohdin shows that structures of communication can eventually be re-established.
Contrary to Mohdin’s research, in a journal published by Daniel M. Abrams, a professor of Engineering Sciences and Applied Mathematics at Northwestern University, and Steven H. Strogatz a mathematician and the Jacob Gould Schurman Professor of Applied Mathematics at Cornell University provide evidential modelling data in order to accurately present how 90% of today’s surviving languages will become extinct within today’s current generation. In it, they use historical data paired with examples of declining languages such as Welsh, Scottish Gaelic, Quechua. Using this data, Abrams explains the use of his modelling as “a linguistic parameter that quantifies the threat of language extinction can be derived from the model”. Abrams continues on this notion by contrasting his modelling of the dynamics of language death with previous models, those having focused on the transmission and evolution of syntax, grammar or other structural properties of language. His model, on the other hand, idealises language as a fixed measure, and “as competing with each other for speakers; he also adds that for simplicity’s sake his paper will assume a highly connected population with no spatial or social structure, and there are only monolingual speakers. To test the model, Abrams collected data on the number of rendered language speakers in 42 regions of Peru, Scotland, Wales, Ireland, in which they found that the decline in speakers between the years 1880 and 2000 remained a constant (Abrams and Strogatz). In their research, Abrams and Strogatz found that using their model was of much better use in order to research language death. Using their model, they found that native languages have been on a steady decline since the specific countries studied had been colonised.
In a review published by Jennifer Ament a professor at Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in December 2021, analysing the role of English as Lingua Franca (ELF) and English Medium Instruction (EMI) in Higher Education, it is contended that using ELF or EMI is directly correlated to the internalisation of higher education institutions around the world, especially in non-English speaking countries. In it, she first describes how current findings from EMI research show that using such methods is essential for the internalisation of higher learning institutions around the world, whether that is for the best or not. Furthermore, she identifies that using English as an EMI has its issues to tackle, one being that policymakers seem to be blissfully unaware of the complexities of using a foreign language as it comes with the caveat of language identity, attitude and content learning outcomes and language equity, which are all overlooked. After analysing how EMI works, Ament goes over ELF, as it is a much younger field that does overlap with EMI in various ways due to the academic and international nature of EMI. Additionally, she expounds on the nature of today’s English, as it has become a more international language as it continually becomes further removed from the nations and cultures that speak it as their first language. This is important as ELF is considered to be a different kind of English from Native Speakers of the language due to differing communication strategies such as trans-languaging or code-switching (Ament). Ament’s research establishes a clear line in which to identify a lingua franca, which aids in distinguishing how cultures may lose their native language as it is replaced by a newer language, which often becomes the lingua franca for those native cultures. Adding to Ament’s research, in an article published by Salikoko S. Mufwene, a Congolese linguist working in the Department of Linguistics at the University of Chicago in 2004, it is confounded that there is a clear correlation that can be drawn between birth and subsequent death of a language. In it, he explains how since the late 1980s language death has been studied and discussed separately from language birth, which he has found to be a shortcoming of the study of linguistics. In it, he explains “the notions birth and death actually provide more arguments for treating languages as species. Languages are unlike organisms in the way they are born or die”. This, in turn, shows that it is not appropriate to use the terms “birth” and “death” when speaking about languages, as languages are not organic in their nature. Furthermore, Mufwene attributes the phenomenon of language death to the movement of people, and globalisation to be key points as to why languages “die” over time; though he does mention that this phenomenon is often compared to McDonaldisation, which is the spread of McDonald's stores around the work. With this notion, Mufwene explains that the connection between colonisation and globalisation is critical in understanding language death. In this, he points to the example of Native Americans, pointing out that their languages have not died out, yet numerous European have given up their heritage languages in favour of the dominant one in the Americas. Moreover, Mufwene elaborates on this idea by saying that language shifts (which inevitably lead to language death) are a response to socioeconomic shifts, which are brought on by the advent of colonisation. Continuing with this, he explains “globalization seems to have exerted the greatest impact on languages at mostly the local level, and the impact has been more disastrous to indigenous languages in former settlement colonies than to this in exploitation colonies”. Furthermore, he explains that fewer Native Languages have died out in Latin America compared to North America, showing that the differential evolution may reflect a difference in how the settlers may have conducted their economies (Mufwene). Mufwene’s paper elaborates on how the assimilation of a culture may eventually result in language deaths. In his paper he concludes that many cultures across the globe have given up their language in favour of a lingua franca, English being his example in this case. In addition to this, he reiterates that this is different from what people often see as the “McDonaldsisation effect”, and that languages must first go through a language shift first, which is brought on by cultural assimilation. As newer generations abandoned their native languages in favour of a foreign lingua franca, cultural assimilation resulted in many language deaths.
Conclusion:
Colonialism is the root cause of most language deaths, which led to a less diverse plane of languages. An invasion of an indigenous community by colonial Empires in past centuries meant that the language of the invading country would be forced upon the people being invaded. The language of colonial Empires in past centuries has often been forced upon indigenous communities in order to assimilate them to the former. Due to the historical value and direct connections to their cultures, the loss of languages can be directly linked to cultural assimilation. The gradual abandonment of native languages by succeeding generations in favour of a lingua franca ultimately led to many languages dying off. This paper focuses on various points surrounding the effects colonial empires have had on indigenous languages, focusing on how in many instances it may lead to assimilation which is directly correlated to the death of hundreds of languages. Specifically focusing on how in many instances these invading powers use education as a means of assimilating the communities being invaded. Moreover, it shows the destruction of culture through these means. After evaluating all of this research, I personally recommend preserving culture as this culture serves as a time capsule for hundreds of passing generations.
Work Cited
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