Singing Our Language

Minority languages of the world are becoming extinct at an alarming rate. Between 6000 and 7000 languages are currently spoken in the world, and between 50-90% of these languages are expected to be no longer spoken by the year 2100. This process is caused by things like political oppression, cultural hegemony, and ethnic conflict in which languages besides the dominant language are stigmatized and oppressed. This is especially common in areas affected by colonialism such as the Americas, Australia, India, and Africa. When a community loses its native language it doesn't just lose a way of speaking that is simply interchangeable with other forms, so many aspects of culture are integrally tied into the language we speak. Traditional poetry and stories are often not easily transferable into other languages, scientific knowledge about the local environment collected over millennia is embedded within language, and unique information about the history of a people group is represented by patterns in the languages they speak. Language is essentially tied into many communities' and individuals' identities, but when a language is lost, especially without documentation, it is lost forever.

Linguists and many others have been working to reverse this global trend by documenting languages and pushing for public policy and education changes that help the process of language revitalization. These actions are important, but ultimately non-speakers do not really have control over the survival and revitalization of a language. No matter what the intention of linguists, policy makers, and community elders is regarding languages, the young people hold the key to survival or extinction of every language. It is their decision whether to continue the legacy of their ancestors' language or not. In the face of globalization, oppression, cultural stigma, and many other factors, many children are choosing to exclusively use the dominant language and abandon the language of their parents or grandparents. Many see their language as irrelevant to contemporary life with their ancestral language being a thing of the past not adapted to modernity with things like texting, social networks, and popular music.

In the face of this issue, many young speakers of endangered languages are not deciding to abandon their language in the face of the modern globalized culture, they are adapting their native language to the current environment. They are bicultural people standing on the edge, taking aspects of the dominant culture around them and applying them in innovative ways to the minority culture they are a part of. This has always been a feature of cultural change throughout history, but with our current situation of massive language extinction all around the world, this process is vitally important to the survival of linguistic diversity. An example of this is the use of contemporary styles of music like hip-hop being used for songs written in a youth's native language. This video is one taken of two youths named Songe Nimasow and Khandu Degio rapping and singing in their native language Aka in Arunachal Pradesh, India:

Not only is this process vital, I think it's something beautiful. This blog will feature people using endangered languages in music in new ways fusing aspects of different cultures, the past and present, and preserving the beauty and traditions of their communities for us all and new generations to come. My hope is to draw attention to the issue of language extinction but also show the positive developments in language revitalization in communities around the world today and also encourage and promote young artists using their language in innovative ways. My ultimate hope is to someday find a way to raise money for a grant that will fund promising young endangered language artists to be able to record in a music studio and distribute their music. Language and music are universal and important parts of culture, and the young people of today hold the future of this all in their hands. What many of them are doing is exciting and through Singing Our Language I hope to get their voices out there to the world.