Language is a key element and expression of identity
and in the presence of group
identity. An indigenous language is a language that originated in a specified
place and was not brought to that place from elsewhere, spoken by indigenous
people in their communityin their settled area for many generation year after
year. Many indigenous language have becomeendangered because of language dealt
or linguicide causes by, may be colonization , livelihood, lifestyle, or
any other force or compulsion - external or internal . A language disappear
when its speakers disappear or when they shift to speaking another language.
Languages are threaten by external force such as economical, religious,
cultural of more powerful group or by internal force such as negative attitude towards its own
language.
It is
estimated that if nothing is done, half of 7,000 plus language spoken today
will disappear, by the end of this century. With the disappearance of unwritten
and undocumented languages , humanity would loss not only a cultural wealth but
also important ancestral knowledge embedded in particular indigenoulanguage.However, this process
is neither inevitable nor irreversible. It is well planned
and implemented by colonial force in every part of the world. Every language
reflects a unique world view with its own value systems, philosophy and particular cultural system . The extinction of
a language results in the irrevocable loss of unique cultural knowledge
embodied in it for centuries including historical, spiritual and ecological knowledge that may be essential for
the survival not only speakers but also countless others.Language are the creations and vectors
of traditions. They support cultural identity. community's heritage. The
colonizers and their successor always suppressed indigenous languages ,
establishing their own language for
official communications , destroying texts in other native language and
insisting by force so that indigenous people learn language of
colonizers. The result of this
transformation , half of the world populations now speaks just 10 languages.
It's the
difference between a botanist having only a few different species to study in flower shop or assessing the amazing diversity
of the Amazon rainforest.The most important thing that can be done to keep a
language from disappearing is to create favorable condition for its speaker to speak the language and
teach it to their children. this often requires national policies that
recognize and protect minority languages education system that promote mother tongue
instruction and creative language writing system. The most important to build
up attitude of the speaker community
towards its own language . It is essential to create a social and political
environment that encourage multilingualism and respect for minority language so
than indigenous language can survive
from extinction.