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Indigenous languages are integral to the diversity of knowledge. Of
an estimated total of 6,000 to 8,000 existing languages in the world, the
majority have been created and spoken by indigenous peoples. Indigenous
languages are repositories of histories, lived experiences and discoveries, and
embedded in them are carefully articulated social codes and culturally specific
values.
Indigenous languages also capture unique concepts and phenomena
across the geographical, social, religious and ecological spheres and may provide
valuable insights for navigating various global challenges. For instance, language
diversity is found to be positively correlated with biodiversity, and ecological
language on local-level, micro-environmental and climatic conditions can be studied
to better inform policy responses to climate change.
Despite their benefits, indigenous languages are disappearing at an
alarming rate in recent decades. Minority languages tend to transfer towards
English as well as other rival languages and regional dialects, threatening the
viability non-written and indigenous languages. In particular, indigenous sign
languages receive disproportionate institutional support than spoken and
dominant sign languages, despite being used as a daily, community language by
both deaf and hearing people in some geographically isolated communities.
As a result of limited transmission within and beyond remaining
speakers, 430 languages have been listed as ‘critically endangered’ on the Catalogue
of Endangered Languages, with 299 languages having fewer than ten
speakers as of April 28, 2017. The UNESCO
Atlas of Languages in Danger estimates that 230 endangered languages
already went extinct between 1950 and 2010, and projects that half of all
languages will disappear by the end of the century if the decline continues at
this speed.
Endangerment is more severe in regions that heavily account for the
diversity of the world’s linguistic heritage, such as the Americas, Africa and
the Pacific Islands. According to the 2018
Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages, all of South America’s
currently spoken indigenous languages are endangered and over half of
pre-colonial North American languages no longer have native speakers. The same research
finds that twelve African languages and four Pacific languages lost their last
speakers in roughly the past fifty years.
The health of a languages is determined by sociocultural, political
and institutional conditions, as it is by the number of speakers. Societal
attitudes or stigma towards indigenous languages often lay out the domains in
which they are used and shape the linguistic landscape. Undervaluing or losing
indigenous languages has complex implications for social development and for
all kinds of diversity. As languages become homogenized, they may bias
knowledge towards dominant cultures and exacerbate the marginalization of the
speakers of indigenous languages. To make all voices count, indigenous
languages need to be recognized as a resource and preserved in a participatory
and culturally appropriate manner to reflect the values and insights of their
speakers.
Considering these demands, the United Nations declared 2019 as The International Year of
Indigenous Languages to channel a yearlong series of activities
aimed at preserving and promoting indigenous languages. Under this initiative,
stakeholders will support information and communication technologies and
policies to reaffirm the cultural and linguistic continuity of indigenous
languages, strengthen intercultural dialogue and recognize the role of
languages in building inclusive knowledge societies.
Concerted efforts to safeguard indigenous languages will prevent an
irreversible loss of lexical data and centuries of rich human knowledge. Initiatives
will also help realize indigenous peoples’ rights “to revitalize, use, develop
and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions,
philosophies, writing systems and literatures,” as stipulated in Article 13 of
the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Indigenous issues will be further discussed at the 18th Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), which will be in session from 22 April to 3 May, 2019, with a focus on ‘Traditional Knowledge: Generation, Transmission and Protection’.
Source: UNSDN