Did you know that you could count to ten in 3000 more languages a thousand years ago, assuming they had a counting system in their language?
According to researchers from the university of Leipzig*, there are currently about 6500 to 7000 spoken languages on our planet. Their estimations show that by 2100 we might be at a total of only 3000 spoken languages and by 2200 at a total of 100. Languages desappear in an incredible rapid speed. About every other week one language dies and vanishes from our planet.
Anne Kandler, mathematician of the Santa Fe Institute, mentioned that there is only one way the old tongues will stay alive: a population itself has to decide that there is something of value in them such as reasons of patriotism, cultural heritage, or just as an attraction for some language-curious tourists.
Some years ago, Kandler and her team designed a mathematical model of the speakers of an endangered language in order to arrange a test environment for programs that encourage the learning of local languages. As a well documented language they chose Scottish Gaelic as a test case.
The designed model uses numbers from all aspects of Scottish life to demonstrate the progress of Gaelic. Important numbers are e.g. the amount of Gaelic speakers, English speakers and bilinguals in the chosen population, furthermore, the rate of loss of Gaelic speakers. Other estimates stand for the prestige of a language, that is, the cultural value that people place on speaking it, and numbers that describe the economic value of a language.
A complex system of equations that describes the growth of the three different groups--English speakers, Gaelic speakers, and bilinguals--and calculates the necessary input to develop a stable bilingual population.
Kandler used the most current numbers and concluded that in 2010 about 860 English speakers would have to learn Gaelic every year in order to keep the number of spakers the same. A new census documenting Scottish Gaelic speakers was completed in 2011.
The numbers are being analyzed right now, and Kandler’s eager to see what they show.
(* http://www.uni-leipzig.de/~muellerg/su/haspelmath.pdf)
source: http://discovermagazine.com/2012/jun/31-how-math-can-help-save-a-dying-language
Franziska
Did you know that you could count to ten in 3000 more languages a thousand years ago, assuming they had a counting system in their language?
AntwortenLöschenAccording to researchers from the University [Sp-caps] of Leipzig*, there are currently about 6500 to 7000 spoken languages on our planet. Their estimations show that by 2100 we might be at a total of only 3000 spoken languages, [P] and by 2200 at a total of 100. Languages disappear [Sp] at [prep] an incredibly [WF] rapid rate. [W] About every other week one language dies and vanishes from our planet.
Anne Kandler, mathematician at [prep] the Santa Fe Institute, mentioned that there is only one way [no det] old tongues [T/Asp] stay alive: a population itself has to decide that there is something of value in them, such as reasons of patriotism, cultural heritage, or just as an attraction in [prep] some language-curious tourists.
Some years ago, Kandler and her team designed a mathematical model of the speakers of an endangered language in order to arrange a test environment for programs that encourage the learning of local languages. As a well-documented [Sp] language, they chose Scottish Gaelic as a test case.
The designed model uses numbers from all aspects of Scottish life to demonstrate the progress of Gaelic. Important numbers are, [P] e.g., [P] the amount of Gaelic speakers, English speakers, [P] and bilinguals in the chosen population, and [P][E,coh]the rate of loss of Gaelic speakers. Other estimates take into account [E,M,coh] the prestige of a language, that is, the cultural value that people place on speaking it, and numbers that describe the economic value of a language. A complex system of equations that describes the growth of the three different groups--English speakers, Gaelic speakers, and bilinguals--and calculates the necessary input to develop a stable bilingual population.
Kandler used the most current numbers and concluded that in 2010 about 860 English speakers would have to learn Gaelic every year in order to keep the number of speakers the same. A new census documenting Scottish Gaelic speakers was completed in 2011. The numbers are being analyzed right now, and Kandler’s eager to see what they show.