语言濒危小议

在过去的一个世纪中,在政治、经济、战争、宗教、移民、文化等等因素的作用下,已有1000多种语言在地球上消失。说人们生活在一个史无前例的世界性语言衰落时期毫不过分。语言的消失对人类社会和文明都是重大的损失。这篇文章针对语言濒危问题讨论濒危语的定义,语言濒危的后果,并探讨引起语言濒危的原因。语言濒危的原因很复杂,但最根本的是使用中语言机制内部矛盾双方严重失衡。

A Discussion on Language Endangerment

In the past century, more than 1000 languages have disappeared because of political, economic, cultural factors and so on. The disappearance of language is a serious loss for human culture and civilization. This article tries to discuss the problem of language endangerment and endangered language including the contents of the definition, the consequence, and the reasons for that. The reasons are complicated, but the essential one is the unbalance between the two sides of the language mechanism.