Quote:
Originally Posted by RickyMaveety
I would hazard to say, because they have been "lost" before, sometimes for thousands of years. We are only now beginning to discover much of what was lost because of that great Dark Ages Christian tradition of washing off old Greek texts and writing Bibles over them. Or, burning ancient texts because they were from non-Christian faiths and cultures.
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So, yes, I think it's a loss when a language gets lost. We have suffered the loss of so much great teaching, mathematics, medicine, art, science .... it would be a shame to lose more just because it was written in a language that no one speaks or understands anymore.
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And I'll posit that if it's
that important, it gets rediscovered.
"Important" in this context, means "aids in the survival of the society". I'll posit that things that are truly important affect all societies in one form or another, and will be conceptualized, explained, and addressed. The concept my be flawed, the explanation may be untrue, and the manner of addressing whatever it is may not be successful, but attempts will be made.
I regret things like the attempts of various peoples and societies to erase the memory of beliefs not their own. I recall hearing of an early Chinese emperor who commanded all books and scrolls be burned, so that subsequent generations would think all progress began with him.
And meanwhile, there are a number of obscure languages on the endangered list now, with few living native speakers. How do you preserve them? They may not
have a written form, and language is not stand alone - it's a reflection of the culture which speaks it and the society that spawned it. When the last living speaker of the language dies, and the culture has been absorbed and dissipated by the one surrounding it, what's left? You may have audio and written records of the language, but you no longer have the context that gave it meaning.
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Dennis