In the past year, you’ve probably stumbled upon the words “endangered” or “extinct” in the news, most likely in reference to some species at risk. While these extinctions are a concern to keep in mind, there is a whole other looming extinction concerning humans that is often not discussed: the extinction of our languages. 

At their fundamental level, language extinctions operate similarly to species extinctions, as they’re both contingent on population numbers, considering languages only go extinct when the population of people who speak them drops to nothing.

As Maria Anderson of the Smithsonian phrased it, “A language can eventually reach a point where it loses all of its speakers. When that happens, the knowledge and traditions that are passed down through it are lost as well.”

Similarly to species extinctions, language extinctions can have lasting effects on our world and how it operates. Yet, compared to species extinctions, negative consequences of language extinctions may seem less obvious. Delving into how these extinctions occur can help us better understand this devastating phenomenon.

According to the Harvard International Review, almost half of the world’s population speaks the 10 most common world languages. As a result of technological advances spreading to culturally isolated groups, their people begin speaking more global languages instead of their native ones. 

There are also darker causes behind language losses. 

MacKenzie Stuart of The Archive, an online publication dedicated to bringing lost history to light, pointed out that causes of language endangerment include genocidal violence, exemplifying one extremely tragic backstory behind endangered languages. 

Leading drivers of language endangerment have been technologically induced globalization and pressures to conform — even to inhumane extremes — that have resulted in many language speakers using more common languages at the expense of abandoning their own native tongues.

Some may argue that the loss of some languages shouldn’t be a major concern, and that knowing common languages is useful. But even though common languages can be beneficial, rarer or minority languages are undeniably still worthy in their own right. 

Erasures of such languages, whether unintentional or deliberate, pose threats not just to the languages themselves, but to the culture and ideas they contain. Lenni Montiel, the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Economic Development, has remarked that language preservation saves “invaluable” wisdom, traditions, knowledge and art.

Rachel Nuwer, a features correspondent at BBC, discussed how languages carry culture, history and ideas. She offered a relevant example of the Native American Cherokee language, rich with unique understandings of the world that deserve preservation. 

For instance, Cherokee has no word for “goodbye,” only a word meaning “I will see you again,” serving as a beautifully hopeful approach to farewells that we are perhaps lacking in our own society.  

Other endangered languages besides Cherokee — including Romani, Kangdi and Ligurian — also mark a group of people’s special perspective on life. Preserving endangered languages is necessary for preserving their wealth of diverse and irreplaceable cultures, world views, identities and knowledge. 

Various people and organizations have dedicated themselves to this fight, even originating from USC. The Language and Computation Lab at USC researches topics in linguistics, including endangered languages.

As USC Today reported in 2019, a group of undergraduates went on a summer research trip to Italy in 2018 and “recorded people speaking Ladin, a language used by only a few hundred people.” In 2021, USC alum Lewis Lawyer’s book on Patwin, an endangered language from Northern California, became the first published grammar book for the language. 

Preservation efforts are also occurring on the international scale with organizations like the Endangered Language Alliance, Wikitongues and the Endangered Languages Project all working to counteract language extinction. Still, these current efforts alone are not enough to save many endangered world languages, which account for around half of all languages. 

But we can do our part to help ensure many of these endangered languages survive into future generations. For instance, those of us who know endangered languages can seek out others of our community to continue staying connected with our languages and cultures and be able to share them with the world. 

The rest of us can get involved directly with documentation efforts or more indirectly work to grow awareness and resources for the issue. USC offering students opportunities to independently study or enhance their knowledge of languages under faculty guidance for University credit, beyond just the 15 it currently offers, could be one way to promote a more diverse linguistic culture. 

Ultimately, any increased support for language preservation we can encourage would immensely expand protections for the many remarkable cultures these languages embody.