The Silver Lining of Language Loss

摘要

Just As Zoologists And Botanists Are concerned about the extinction of biological species, linguists are concerned about the rapid loss of languages ["What's lost when languages are," A. Pires, Books et ah, 23 April, p. 431, review of (1)]. We should, however, view the situation from the user's standpoint as well. In this modern and connected world, we cannot fully realize our potential unless we understand, speak, and write the language of our school, media, government, place of employment, and economic centers of power.