Minority Languages: Chimariko
All over the world many minority languages are struggling for their existence. At one point in time there was believed to be at least 200,000 languages. Now, there are only 6,909 languages left and even those languages aren’t safe from becoming extinct. Thanks to linguists from all over the world, we have an Ethnologue that keeps track of the vitality of all the different languages. When using the Ethnologue I researched the group of the Chimariko tribe and their language.
The Chimariko tribe was one of the smallest tribes to live in the Americas. In 1849 the estimated population of the Chimariko’s was 250. The Chimariko lived up in northwestern California along the twenty-mile stretch of the Trinity River. The …show more content…
Language death is a process that affects speech communities. When the level of linguistic competence the speaker possesses of a given language decreases, eventually will lead to no native or fluent speakers. Language death occurs in many different ways. Language death can occur gradually overtime. Another way language death occurs is the bottom-to-top language death is when the language shifts begin from a low level environment like at home. Top-to- bottom is another way language death occurs and that is from a high level environment like the government. Other types of language death is radical and linguicide. Linguicide is the sudden death of a language like language genocide. The most common way a language dies is when a speaker becomes bilingual and then stops using their original language. The Chimariko’s original population estimate was 250 in 1849, and by 1880 there were only 20 Chimariko’s left. By the mid 1900’s there was believed to be no Chimariko’s left. Sadly due to the isolate language of the Chimariko’s and the conflicts with the miners this whole language and culture died. The Chimariko people were one of the first inhabitants to the America’s before the land was even …show more content…
I was fascinated by the Ethnologue that linguists created to keep track of all the languages. I loved learning about the history of the many different languages. I enjoyed learning about the Chimariko’s language and culture. I never knew they were one of the first inhabitants in my home state of California. I knew that wildlife could go extinct. However, I never even thought that a human language could go completely extinct. Now knowing that there were at least 200,000 languages at one point in time, and we only have 6,909 left worries me. I understand how people all wants to be considered normal to society, but there are so many cultures dying. I hear people complain all the time about people living here in the United States and not speaking English. I also understand now why some people don’t learn it. If everyone spoke all one language our beautiful mixture of culture would be destroyed. Which takes me back to a discussion we had in class about the Coca Cola commercial “America the Beautiful”. The commercial was a very controversial because it wasn’t spoken in English. If people could be more accepting to one another’s uniqueness and culture maybe we wouldn’t have so many language
All over the world many minority languages are struggling for their existence. At one point in time there was believed to be at least 200,000 languages. Now, there are only 6,909 languages left and even those languages aren’t safe from becoming extinct. Thanks to linguists from all over the world, we have an Ethnologue that keeps track of the vitality of all the different languages. When using the Ethnologue I researched the group of the Chimariko tribe and their language.
The Chimariko tribe was one of the smallest tribes to live in the Americas. In 1849 the estimated population of the Chimariko’s was 250. The Chimariko lived up in northwestern California along the twenty-mile stretch of the Trinity River. The …show more content…
Language death is a process that affects speech communities. When the level of linguistic competence the speaker possesses of a given language decreases, eventually will lead to no native or fluent speakers. Language death occurs in many different ways. Language death can occur gradually overtime. Another way language death occurs is the bottom-to-top language death is when the language shifts begin from a low level environment like at home. Top-to- bottom is another way language death occurs and that is from a high level environment like the government. Other types of language death is radical and linguicide. Linguicide is the sudden death of a language like language genocide. The most common way a language dies is when a speaker becomes bilingual and then stops using their original language. The Chimariko’s original population estimate was 250 in 1849, and by 1880 there were only 20 Chimariko’s left. By the mid 1900’s there was believed to be no Chimariko’s left. Sadly due to the isolate language of the Chimariko’s and the conflicts with the miners this whole language and culture died. The Chimariko people were one of the first inhabitants to the America’s before the land was even …show more content…
I was fascinated by the Ethnologue that linguists created to keep track of all the languages. I loved learning about the history of the many different languages. I enjoyed learning about the Chimariko’s language and culture. I never knew they were one of the first inhabitants in my home state of California. I knew that wildlife could go extinct. However, I never even thought that a human language could go completely extinct. Now knowing that there were at least 200,000 languages at one point in time, and we only have 6,909 left worries me. I understand how people all wants to be considered normal to society, but there are so many cultures dying. I hear people complain all the time about people living here in the United States and not speaking English. I also understand now why some people don’t learn it. If everyone spoke all one language our beautiful mixture of culture would be destroyed. Which takes me back to a discussion we had in class about the Coca Cola commercial “America the Beautiful”. The commercial was a very controversial because it wasn’t spoken in English. If people could be more accepting to one another’s uniqueness and culture maybe we wouldn’t have so many language