5HarmonyIndiversity

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TextADisappearinglanguagesPreviewtaskTextinterpretationCriticalthinkingInterculturalwritingLanguageinfocusContents

PreviewtaskPreviewtaskTextA1Readthetextandlearnaboutthestatusquooflanguagedisappearance.Thendosomeresearchonlinetofindoutmoreaboutthisphenomenon.Disappearinglanguages

Text1TextinterpretationTherewassomethingespeciallytragicaboutthe2008deathof89-year-oldAlaskanwomanMarieSmithJones.Thatwasbecausewithherdiedanentirelanguage.MarieSmithJoneswasthelastknownspeakeroftheEyaklanguage,thenativelanguageofthepeopleofsouth-centralAlaskaintheU.S.So,justlikeanimals,languagescanbecomeextinctinthemodernworld,too.Thiscanoccurwhenthelanguage’sspeakerseitherdieoff,orjustabandonthelanguageforamorewidelyspokenoneanddon’tteachittoyoungergenerations.Amapoftheworld’sendangeredlanguagesisproducedbyUNESCO,andcurrentlyincludesover2,400languages.Itillustratestheextentoftheproblemglobally.TextADisappearinglanguages2

Text3TextinterpretationUNESCOclassifieslanguagesindangerintovariouscategories:vulnerable,definitelyendangered,severelyendangered,criticallyendangered,andextinct.Luckilyitisnotallbadnews,astherearealsoexamplesoflanguagesthataresavedfromtheedgeofextinctionandgivennewlife,buttheoverallglobaltrendisareductioninthenumberoflanguagesthatareactivelyspoken.Thepiechartshowsthevulnerabilityoftheworld’slanguages,withonly57percentfallingintothe“safeordata-deficient”category.Therearemanyreasonswhylanguagesdeclineandsufferdominationbyother,morewidelyspokenlanguages.Externalfactorssuchascomingundernewpoliticalorreligiousdominancearecommonreasonsforminoritylanguagestodieout.Other,internalfactors,suchaschangingTextADisappearinglanguages

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