Reason: 62
Linguistic and cultural diversity on the one hand and biodiversity on the other are correlated - where one type is high, the other one is usually too and vice-versa. New research suggests mounting evidence for the hypothesis that the relation might also be causal
Reference:
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002) Why should linguistic diversity be maintained and supported in Europe? Some arguments (Strasbourg: Council of Europe)
Related Keywords:
Culture, Diversity, Sustainability
Reason: 63
Language and cultural diversity maximises chances of human success and adaptability
Reference:
Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002) Why should linguistic diversity be maintained and supported in Europe? Some arguments (Strasbourg: Council of Europe)
Related Keywords:
Culture, Diversity, Sustainability
Reason: 77
Of the 6,000 or so languages in the world, it seems probable that about half of these will disappear in the course of the present century - an average of one language dying out every fortnight
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2003) 'Taking account of the linguistic revolution' in Head, D., Jones, E., Kelly, M., Tinsley, T. (eds) Setting the Agenda for Languages in Higher Education (London: CILT), pp. 9-23
Related Keywords:
Diversity, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Sustainability
Reason: 182
As each language dies, a precious source of data for philosophers, scientists, anthropologists, folklorists, historians, psychologists, linguists, writers is lost
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Knowledge, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Related subjects, Sustainability
Reason: 189
Faced with the likelihood of losing half of the world’s languages within the next century, and of the distinct possibility of a world with only one language in it a few hundred years hence, it is this generation which needs to make the decisions
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Diversity, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Sustainability, Values
Reason: 313
Arguments which support the need for biological diversity also apply to language... The whole concept of the ecosystem is based on the insight that living entities exist through a network of interrelationships. Diversity has a central place in evolutionary thought... In the language of ecology, the strongest ecosystems are those which are the most diverse... The point has often been made that our success in colonizing the planet has been due to our ability to develop diverse cultures which suit all kinds of environments. The need to maintain linguistic diversity stands squarely on the shoulders of such arguments. If diversity is a prerequisite for successful humanity, then the preservation of linguistic diversity is essential, for language lies at the heart of what it means to be human. If the development of multiple cultures is so important, then the role of languages becomes critical, for cultures are chiefly transmitted through spoken and written languages. Accordingly, when language transmission breaks down, through language death, there is a serious loss of inherited knowledge
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Culture, Diversity, Knowledge, Less Widely Used and Lesser Taught (LWULT) Languages, Networking, Sustainability, Values
Reason: 314
Any reduction of language diversity diminishes the adaptational strength of our species because it lowers the pool of knowledge from which we can draw
Reference:
Bernard (1992: 82) cited in Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Diversity, Knowledge, Sustainability
Reason: 322
Humanity gains so much from each expression of itself in a language
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Knowledge, Sustainability, Values
Reason: 323
It is language that unifies everything, linking environmental practice with cultural knowledge, and transmitting everything synchronically among the members of a community, as well as diachronically between generations
Reference:
Crystal, D. (2000) Language Death (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press)
Related Keywords:
Culture, Historical dimension, Knowledge, Social cohesion, Sustainability
Reason: 364
Languages are a precious resource
Reference:
King, L., Johnstone, R. (2001) An agenda for languages (produced by CILT for the Birmingham Conference of October 2001, http://www.eyl2001.org.uk/agenda.pdf)
Related Keywords:
Sustainability
Reason: 411
Just as in biology, diversity is the norm. So it is with language: multilingualism is the norm
Reference:
St Clair (2001) cited in Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2002) Why should linguistic diversity be maintained and supported in Europe? Some arguments (Strasbourg: Council of Europe)
Related Keywords:
Diversity, Multilingualism, Sustainability

700 Reasons to study languages...