On the future of language
While I reflected upon How To Tame A Wild Tongue, I realized that it shared common themes with Should Writers Speak They Own English. Both prompted similar thoughts in my readthroughs. As a result of this realization, I was able to remember an idea that I thought about, but hadn’t finished exploring, earlier on in the semester. When I read Should Writers, I thought about the fluidity of language and how it can evolve, transform, and branch into many naturally with the passing of time. And I wondered about the future of language, specifically, our languages of the modern era. Through the rise and acceleration of globalization, people can now talk to each other from opposite sides of the globe. This has introduced new ways that language can spread and change throughout people.
At the time, I thought briefly about two interesting possibilities (though, there are certainly many more): one, all the common languages of the world could merge into a single one naturally, and two, separate and distinct languages could persist, but instead of being localized to regions of the earth, they would be localized to culture.
Now, I want to revisit that possibility of a singular language. Hypothetically, if it is the path the languages of the world will take, what would be the consequences, both good and bad?
A clear benefit of a universal language is clearer communication. Sometimes ideas get mangled in translation, this would not happen if everyone spoke the same language. Also, the need for translating or learning other languages, would be absent. This results in convenience for some, however, I think a lot of people gain enrichment from learning new languages. When learning a new language, you usually indirectly learn the culture it comes from, and many people enjoy learning about new cultures.
I wonder how the extinction of all other languages would affect how we think as humans. It is said that the language we primarily speak in determines the way that we think (Wikipedia). If this is true, the multitude of languages we have today works to expand the total breadth of human knowledge. We are able to think about more things, in more ways, than we would be able to if every human being spoke and thought in the same language. Diversity of thoughts in any population is always a good thing; it prevents stagnation. Because of this, I think that this loss in the variety of perspectives we gain from multiple languages is the biggest downside with a singular universal language.
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