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Multilingual histories

Erasing diversity

By June 21, 2013May 27th, 201973 Comments7 min read21,528 views
Barely legible today but evidence of 'super-diversity' in the 9th century: Runic graffiti in Hagia Sophia

Barely legible today but evidence of ‘super-diversity’ in the 9th century: Runic graffiti in Hagia Sophia

On a parapet in Hagia Sophia’s gallery there is an obscure little graffiti written in Viking runes and dating back to the 9th century. All that is legible today is ‘alftan,’ which refers to the Norse name ‘Halfdan’ and it is assumed that it was part of a formula such as ‘Halfdan carved these runes’ – the medieval equivalent of the modern graffiti formula ‘XY was here.’

How did a medieval Viking get all the way to what is today Istanbul and was back then Constantinople, the centre of the Byzantine Empire, the most powerful metropolis on earth? Maybe Halfdan was a mercenary in the Varangian Guard. Drawn from all over Northern Europe, the Varangian Guard were an elite army unit serving as personal body guards of the Byzantine Emperor. The Byzantine Emperors felt safer with foreigners as body guards who had no local loyalties. Little is known about the motivations of the young men who left Northern Europe to serve far from home in present-day Turkey but I imagine the usual mixture of lack of opportunities at home and the lure of the metropolis – a lure so powerful that medieval Constantinople drew migrants from all across the known world to this multilingual and multicultural city.

Evidence of contemporary 'super-diversity:' Chinese flier in Antwerp (Source: Blommaert&Rampton, 2011)

Evidence of contemporary ‘super-diversity:’ Chinese flier in Antwerp (Source: Blommaert&Rampton, 2011)

The Viking graffiti in Hagia Sophia reminded me of the Chinese flier in a contemporary Antwerp shop window that Jan Blommaert and Ben Rampton recently used as example to explain the scope of linguistic research under conditions of super-diversity. Arguing that the example – an ad for a room for rent – bears traces of worldwide migration flows which make language varieties and scripts globally mobile, they outline the theoretical and methodological implications of migration and globalization for contemporary sociolinguistic research. I largely agree with their conclusions but I cannot help but wonder that two qualitatively similar examples – Viking graffiti in 9th century Constantinople and a hand-written Chinese flier in 21st century Antwerp – have such different effects: why has sociolinguistics been oblivious to linguistic diversity through the ages and why is the recognition that linguistic diversity is fundamental to all research in language and communication relatively recent?

Why does evidence of contemporary linguistic diversity move us to re-think sociolinguistics in a way that evidence of linguistic diversity through the ages has not? I answered that question previously with reference to the position of key linguistic thinkers in monolingual environments. However, there is another answer, too, and – like the medieval Viking graffiti – it also stares you in the face here in Istanbul. That further explanation is that multilingualism has been actively expunged from the historical record.

Ottoman Turkish inscription above the gate through which Mehmed II entered the city: its Greek name is Χαρ[ι]σίου πύλη/πόρτα ('Gate of Char[i]sius') and its Turkish name is Edirnekapı ('Adrianopole Gate')

Ottoman Turkish inscription above the gate through which Mehmed II entered the city: its Greek name is Χαρ[ι]σίου πύλη/πόρτα (‘Gate of Char[i]sius’) and its Turkish name is Edirnekapı (‘Adrianopole Gate’)

To begin with, the linguistic record, by its very nature, is fleeting: the spoken language disappears and even the written word is usually quick to disintegrate. Paper used to be valuable and only few people could read and write. So, historical equivalents of ‘room for rent’ notices by their very nature are unlikely to have survived. Even graffiti etched in stone are smoothed out quickly and no one pays attention to them anyways (the ‘Halfdan graffiti’ was only discovered in 1964 by Elisabeth Svärdström).

However, the transient nature of language is only part of the story why we fail to see linguistic diversity in the historical record. The other part of the story is that evidence of linguistic diversity has been systematically erased from the historical record.

This obelisk inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs has been part of Istanbul's linguistic landscape since the 4th century when Emperor Theodosius had it brought in from Egypt. The pedestal with its bilingual Greek and Latin inscription was added at the same time.

This obelisk inscribed with Egyptian hieroglyphs has been part of Istanbul’s linguistic landscape since the 4th century when Emperor Theodosius had it brought in from Egypt. The pedestal with its bilingual Greek and Latin inscription was added at the same time.

When Halfdan wrote his Viking graffiti and, presumably, spoke some form of Old Norse with those of his fellow Varangians who shared his dialect, the main language of Constantinople – and the lingua franca of its diverse population – was (medieval) Greek. Latin was also widely used and then there were the languages of all the city’s migrants and visitors. Christian Constantinople was a hugely multilingual place.

The city’s linguistic make-up changed on May 29, 1453 when Mehmed II took the city: not only did the Christian city become a Muslim one – and the Hagia Sophia church a mosque – the city’s dominant languages also changed from Greek and Latin to Arabic, Persian and Turkish.

What did not change was the fact of the city’s multilingualism: Arabic was the language of prayer and religion, Persian was the language of the court and Turkish was the language of the troops. Greek found itself as the language of a now down-trodden and subjected population and, as before, there were many other languages spoken by the city’s diverse inhabitants: Armenian, Hungarian, Italian, Ladino, Russian and Serbian would have been particularly prominent.

The Turkish that came to predominate over the centuries as Istanbul’s lingua franca was itself a highly heteroglossic language. Ottoman Turkish was inflected particularly by Arabic and Persian but also by all the other languages of this great melting-pot city.

Arabic calligraphy in Hagia Sophia: Quranic verse inscribed in the dome

Arabic calligraphy in Hagia Sophia: Quranic verse inscribed in the dome

The city’s multilingualism and the multilingual character of Turkish officially came to an end with the proclamation of the Turkish Republic in 1923. The new Turkey wanted to sever its links with its Ottoman and ‘Eastern’ past and wanted to become modern and European. The multilingual laissez-faire of the past was now seen as decidedly ‘backward’ and ‘Eastern.’ Languages other than Turkish started to be repressed, with Kurdish as the most well-known victim of the new repression of linguistic diversity by the state. Not only was Turkey going to have only one language – Turkish – but that language was going to be ‘modernized,’ i.e. rid of the traces of other languages, particularly linguistic traces associated with ‘the East,’ i.e. Arabic and Persian.

The most well-known aspect of the Turkish language reform is the abolition of the Arabic script and its replacement with the Latin script. In one fell sweep, modern Turks lost access to their written historical record. Another target of the language reformers was Arabic and Persian vocabulary. Such words were replaced with ‘Turkish’ ones or loans from ‘modern’ European languages.

The futility of this undertaking – even if lost on everyone but the philologist – is nicely encapsulated by the word for ‘city’: Ottoman Turkish used ‘شهر‎ şehir.’ Because of its obvious association with Persian ‘شهر‎  šahr’ the language reformers saw no place for it in ‘Modern’ Turkish and cast around for a ‘pure’ Turkish word. They found it in the ancient ‘kent.’ The irony is that ‘kent’ is iself a much older loanword from Sogdian, the lingua franca of Central Asia before the Islamic Conquest.

Multilingualism has made a powerful comeback thanks to the tourism economy: this restaurant menu sports entries in 10 languages. And, no, this particular dish doesn't sound appealling in any of them ...

Multilingualism has made a powerful comeback thanks to the tourism economy: this restaurant menu sports entries in 10 languages. And, no, this particular dish doesn’t sound appealling in any of them …

The reform was “a catastrophic success,” as the Turkologist Geoffrey Lewis has called it. As a result, most contemporary Turkish speakers are cut off from their linguistic and cultural heritage predating the 1930s. A famous – and also ironic – example of the monolingualization of Turkish is the fact that a major 1927 speech by Atatürk, the founder of the Turkish Republic, has had to be ‘translated’ repeatedly into contemporary Turkish so as to remain comprehensible to contemporary Turks.

In Istanbul, as elsewhere, contemporary examples of ‘super-diversity’ – the Russian ‘Sale’ signs in the shop windows, the tourist communications in all the languages of countries with strong currencies, the handwritten Arabic ‘for rent’ signs, the Kurdish music stalls – are impossible to ignore. By contrast, the fact that super-diversity has been a characteristic of Istanbul-Constantinople-Byzantium since time immemorial is easy to overlook.

Monolingualism and the Turkish language – just as all other standardized languages – are invented traditions. Diversity is, in fact, the normal human experience, as the anthropologist Ward Goodenough, who passed away last weekend, pointed out back in 1976. A research agenda that takes linguistic diversity as the basis of sociolinguistic inquiry must also include the hidden histories of linguistic diversity and modernity’s attempts to erase diversity.

ResearchBlogging.org Jan Blommaert, & Ben Rampton (2011). Language and superdiversity Diversities, 13 (2)
Goodenough, W. (1976). MULTICULTURALISM AS THE NORMAL HUMAN EXPERIENCE Council on Anthropology and Education Quarterly, 7 (4), 4-7 DOI: 10.1525/aeq.1976.7.4.05x1652n

Ingrid Piller

Author Ingrid Piller

Dr Ingrid Piller, FAHA, is Distinguished Professor of Applied Linguistics at Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia. Her research expertise is in bilingual education, intercultural communication, language learning, and multilingualism in the context of migration and globalization.

More posts by Ingrid Piller

Join the discussion 73 Comments

  • Hasan says:

    Thank you for sharing this interesting article with us about diversity and language. Turkish language diversity is the opposite of linguistic diversity in Bangladesh. In Bangladesh, Bangla is the main language. However, there are at least 35 indigenous languages spoken in Bangladesh by about 54 indigenous people. Sadly, due to the aggression of Bangla these old languages are losing their heritage and speaker. The Education system and common language for day-to-day use is Bangla, so indigenous people are somewhat forced to learn Bangla and use it as a day-to-day language. Some of the indigenous languages don’t have any written script, only their speakers are keeping them alive. So, these languages are losing speakers by generation. The Government is trying to save some languages, by publishing pre-primary textbooks in some languages but it doesn’t seem to be working. In a country where people sacrificed their life for Bangla, the situation of these indigenous languages is an irony.

  • YJ says:

    Thank you for sharing us this interesting article. After reading it I was reminded of the demise of linguistic diversity in China. There are more than 120 languages in China, and more than 30 endangered languages are dying out one by one. China’s endangered languages are mainly reflected in minority languages, such as the “Aou” dialect of Gelao language. In the 1950s, although some children were using it, they were all Lun Lao-Chinese bilingual speakers. Due to the effects of inter-ethnic marriage, cultural changes, and language changes, in the growth process of these children who use Lunlao-Chinese bilingualism, Chinese gradually occupies a dominant position, and thousands of years of native language inheritance are fading in their generation. Now this group of people has entered middle age. Their children have learned Chinese from novels, and they themselves use Chinese as their main language. Their mother tongue level and ability weaken with age. In language surveys, it was found that they have forgot some basic words have been used by them. Some of them could remember through memory, mutual enlightenment and discussion. Such languages will soon complete their natural demise.

    The demise of language prominently reflects the unbalanced development of society, politics, economy and culture. Due to the continuous spread of powerful languages, it has caused great pressure on minority languages in the external environment, and a large number of minority languages have become endangered languages. At the same time, people have different views and attitudes towards the phenomenon of language extinction. But it is undeniable that the demise of language is an irreparable loss of human culture. The diversity of languages should be protected, and the languages of endangered ethnic minorities should be rescued and recorded.

  • Bob says:

    Thank you for this interesting article. I was especially fascinated with the runic inscription you mentioned. I think it’s a great example of how we humans love to leave behind little indicators that we have been here. And I can’t help but draw some parallels between this example and the Viking invasion of England, which contributed to the formation of the English language. I think, at some level, the Vikings that invaded England have left their marks on history, similar to how Halfdan has made his mark on the parapet at Hagia Sophia.

  • Em says:

    Thanks for the eye-opening article. I’m not sure how I feel about replacing the original language with something else, as it seems to have affected a huge number of people even today. However, this had apparently happened, and it is part of everyone’s history. I know that my mother tongue Finnish has also experienced changes during the years after autonomy, because I have tried to read the text in the old Finnish language, but I did not understand everything. I remember reading something about the old Finnish language that contained loanwords and different sentence structures from other languages like Swedish and Latin and maybe German? Nevertheless, I know that Elias Lönnrot and his work Kalevala, has been seen as a significant factor of the Finnish language. Still, it is a fact that languages have to evolve but it would be useful if the change would include the older mode of the language as well, for the language to be understandable in the future generations as well.

    • Thanks, Em! It’s not quite right to speak of language replacement – all languages change and finding older version of a language difficult is normal (remember how we read John of Trevisa’s reflections on language variation in class?) However, what happened with Turkish is that additionally the writing system was changed from the Arabic script to the Latin script; so modern-day Turks can’t read older Turkish texts …

  • KyKy says:

    Diversity is acceptable. Elimination of the original culture with that of the newcomers is not. I do feel that language is important when addressing Indigenous issues and people in general. It should always remain most respectful and concurrent with the community involved. For example, colonialism put many Africans in a predicament because they were grouped into countries where a multitude of languages were being spoken, so now they use the language of their colonizer as a medium. In my own view, the linguistic diversity of Africa should be maintained but for African people to truly appreciate their languages they must go through a serious de-colonization of how they view language and even how they view literacy.

  • Siqi Wang says:

    The erase in linguistic diversification also occurred in ancient China. In the Qin dynasty, which is from 206 to 211 BC, Chinese characters were for the first time unified under the order of First Emperor of Qin. Before that, there were several different writing systems across the whole Chinese land. But what’s different from this article is that it was only the writing system, i.e. what a Chinese character looks like, that has been unified, which basically means that an officer was assigned to decide which Chinese character stands for the word “horse”, which for the word “bull”, etc.
    Nowadays, there are 56 ethnic groups in China, each with their own cultural conventions and languages. Since the official lingua franca of China is Mandarin, all the nationwide tests such as the University Entrance Exam are conducted in Simplified Chinese, but most people still communicate with their families and friends in their own languages.

  • Anas says:

    This article has made me reflect on my own country, Jordan. The main language spoken is standard Arabic. With 10% of the population are migrants, Arabic is still the predominant language spoken even by the minority community. However, when it comes to linguistic diversity, there are three varieties of Arabic spoken in the country: urban, rural, and Bedouin Jordanian. As the name suggests, the type of Arabic used reflects one’s socioeconomic status. My experience in Australia is somewhat interesting. Coming here to study academic English, as Australia is, to the best of my knowledge, an English speaking country. I say ‘to the best of my knowledge’ because my experience of certain suburbs in Sydney has actually opened my eyes to the multilingualism of some places. Some Western suburbs such as Lakemba and Granville have shown very strong middle eastern influences with some shops advertised in Arabic. Cabramatta was another interesting cultural and linguistic discovery for me. As mentioned in the article above, “Diversity is, in fact, the normal human experience, as the anthropologist Ward Goodenough, who passed away last weekend, pointed out back in 1976”.

  • Kim says:

    Indeed, there are quite a lot of interesting parts that I can relate to. One of those is the story of Mehmed II that has been one of the popular heroic histories I have frequently heard from my teachers during my study in an Islamic school in Lombok Indonesia since a decade ago and red in some Islamic literature for a couple of times. He has been one of the role models for many Muslims in the world for his individual quality of knowledge or literacy about Islam, courage, good governance, leadership and also respectful of diversity and collectivity. There is one interesting fact that this article has added to my repertoire, that the event when he took the city has brought quite a big shift for the society at that time especially in regard to their religion and language and perhaps to their culture.
    It is also interesting to see that the city has several languages that each of them is used for particular context. This, to a certain degree, has made the city rich of culture as it has come with the language its self, and might have contributed to the improvement of the literacy in the country.

  • Xinyue Ji says:

    我坚信语言多样性和许多其他形式的多样性已经开始被消除,因为全球化的影响越来越大,而且我们现在能够移动和联系来自不同地区甚至是现代技术进步的国家。例如,在许多中国地区,存在许多不同的方言,为了能够与来自其他地区的个人进行有效的沟通,个人必须说标准的中文。随着时间的推移,随着标准汉语变得越来越重要,家庭可能会选择不教孩子中国方言,这些方言将有助于消除中国语言的多样性。同样的原则可能适用于许多其他地区和语言。

    I do believe that the diversity of language is decreasing and the reason may be due to the global influence and the power of English. In fact, many languages do not be inherited and I think it is a loss and problem. As a result, I believe it is significant to protect the language diversity rather than ruin it. Recording the languages enables the next generation to gain knowledge of different cultures.

  • tting says:

    The loss of language can lead to a loss of culture in a community. Trying to protect any language is necessary because language is a network of communication, while also asserting that community identity. In many cases, language helps to discover and develop many aspects of past traditions and customs. In conclusion, I agree with the view that although individuals may need to learn and use a common language to communicate with people from different backgrounds, they must still retain their own language.

  • Fern says:

    I believe that it is important to consider the idea of erasing diversity is a planned act of the language planners. For instances, in multicultural, multilingual modern Australia, it is worth investigating how many languages can be seen in the linguistic landscape of the country. Also in what spheres are languages other than English used , in what contexts for what purpose are they used should be examined further in linguistic research. Therefore, diversity or super-diversity being celebrated while excluding the languages of these diverse groups is questionable.
    On the idea of’ purifying’ languages, in my context, I can think of a movement called “Hela Havula’ which focused in purifying Sinhalese of Sanskrit (its root language) words where many erudite linguists, poets, educators took it to their hands to cleanse the language of Sanskrit words. An article on this movement can be found on
    https://www.colombotelegraph.com/index.php/the-gloomy-doom-of-the-sinhala-language-another-focus-in-need-of-nurture/

    However, my belief is until multilingualism is accepted in a society, and promoted in education and in public services, a society cannot be called a diverse or multicultural society.

  • Shaher Mohammed Shaher Asiri says:

    I think, many countries were effected on creating and changing on their linguistics diversity as a result of colonization. The colonial process may have impact to vanish local language or disappear their cultures which highly influence of their language.

  • Nana says:

    The first time I heard the word graffiti was in school and we used between friends like a modern word. later in History I discovered that this was a really old word that was used to refer to a written or drawing made typically in a wall in some way hidden. the graffiti written by the Viking is one of many that probably we do not know because they were erased. The linguistic diversity has been crucial to develop the languages and communication systems we have nowadays as well as the evolution of languages, the multilingualism has always been influences by the religion and the government.

  • Ary says:

    Since the arrival of Esperanto in the late 19th century, it seemed that the need of a “commonly shared” language was becoming stronger. However, after a century, the development of such artificial language has not made any significant global impact, on the whole, to the world’s languages, and, as mentioned in the post, multiculturalism still exists without any sign of being subdued. Furthermore, one cannot discuss aspects of language without any consideration of the culture from which the language rooted itself. As far as I’m concerned, people from around the world are working their ways towards keeping their distinctive culture(s) intact for several reasons: national preservation, tourism benefits, and so on. Hence, as long as multiculturalism is still having its course of the era, multilingualism would be very likely to prevail.

  • Thi Bach Tuyet Nguyen says:

    I think that when languages are on the edge of extinction, it will negatively affect the inhabitants of that communities as well as their lives. As a result, it is important for us to preserve those languages so that their cultural diversity can be kept because each language has its own features, for example, this article indicates: “Arabic was the language of prayer and religion, Persian was the language of the court and Turkish was the language of the troops”. In fact, languages tell us more than just language used for communication purposes.

  • Thi Bach Tuyet Nguyen says:

    I personally believe that there is a close connection among languages, cultural diversity and historical records. Then, once languages are on the edge of extinction, it will negative affect the inhabitants of that communities as well as their life. In fact, the supreme importance and prevalence of English over any other language makes other less popular languages to erase their diversity. As a result, it is important for us to maintain those languages so that their cultural diversity can be alive.

  • Orpheus says:

    I can relate this post to the present situation of a written language in Vietnam. In my country, until the end of the 19th century, common novels and poetry were written in a special kind of script called “Chữ Nôm”, which is a combination of Chinese characters for Sino-Vietnamese words and a unique set of characters for the native words. This script existed until the period of French Indochina in which the Latin alphabet, which is called “Chữ Quốc Ngữ” script, turned to be the written medium of the literature in all over the country. Today, there are only a few people, who are elderly scholars, understand and can use “Chữ Nôm” in writing; therefore, this language is now on the verge of extinction. Acknowledging that this script is of importance because it does reflect a historical period and keep many cultural values that need to be preserved, many researchers are trying to bring this kind of script back to life by launching many campaigns to raise the awareness of the community. Fortunately, a great number of classes are now established for those who are into learning this kind of writing, preventing it from being driven to the verge of extinction.

  • Lai Ng says:

    The above article just explain the missing piece of linguistic research in history due to political reasons. New ruling party often destroy one or more previous langauges and set up their own new one.
    On one hand, it explains the scope of linguistic research under conditions of super-diversity. Multilingualism is actively expunged from the historical record. On the other hand, the linguistic record , in the very nature means, is fleeting and being erased under such situation. As mentioned, such change may be a ‘catastrophic success’ as precious old heritage may be destroyed while a fabulous new one is developing.

  • Siyi Wu says:

    There are two sides of the language diversity. On the good side, the globalization and the development of technologies can assist language diversity. For example, in China, because of the introductions of English TV shows and programs, there are lots of people using English and even put English words in their dally life. “Chinglish” is created from this situation. These are the combination of Chinese society and new cultures. But it will cause some old language disappearing for sure, like mongolian which has not much people to use it. Thus, It is obvious that language will not be erased but it might become simplification.

  • Cami says:

    I found this article quite sad and also fascinating. It is really sad that the rich cultural heritage entwined in the language could be so easily discarded. It seems akin to the destruction of cultural monuments and sites at the hands of extreme regimes. Perhaps this is language terrorism. I also find it fascinating that this kind of reform was possible, as it seems like it would be quite hard to monitor the removal of words from people’s vocabulary.

    It seems like language reform is quite a common phenomenon. My father told me that Dutch was also reformed and grammar rules were simplified. I’m not sure if this might have horrified some speakers of Dutch as it was. I also find it sad that some of the verb forms and words for you were discarded however I guess there are some people who are happy that it was simplified.

    The idea of language purity is also really interesting. I find the case of North and South Korean quite interesting too. North Korean has done it’s best not to adopt English words and has also replaced some Sino-Korean words with “pure” Korean equivalents, whereas South Korean has allowed the assimilation of English. However, South Koreans discontinued the use of certain words that were associated with North Korean political ideals. This shows that language, politics and ideology are all closely related and even now relations between countries can be examined by investigating terms used or discontinued.

  • Gab says:

    The concept of linguistic diversity is I think common around the world in almost all cultures. In my country in particular, there are more than 180 languages being spoken and used by over 100 ethnic groups. What strikes me the most and makes me contemplate on is how these languages merge and create new breeds of languages which are not learned in a formal setting but are naturally adaptive to humans.

  • Luv says:

    I can relate this post to super-diversity and systematically erasing diversity in my country of origin, Mexico. In the Pre-Hispanic times, there was a linguistic diversity, multilingual civilizations with the major groups, which have conquered the central parts of the country, leading and using or kind of imposing a language (Náhuatl) as a lingua franca for communication and trade. Then, with the Spanish conquest, most of the population was forced to speak their language and adopt their ways of living. Some indigenous groups were resilient to the change and that is why we still preserve some of these languages (more than 60), with more than a million people who still speak Náhuatl. This is why in Spanish and Mexican Spanish some of the words that are used come from different native languages. These words could not be changed as there were things that did not exist or grow in Europe which remained in the language. However, there were also words that even though they existed in Spanish, the word that came from Náhuatl was preferred, eg. ‘kite’ which means ‘cometa’ in Spanish, but we use ‘papalote’ which means ‘buttefly’.

  • Naoya says:

    Historically, as this article says, there is no doubt that linguistic diversity existed all over the world. For instance, Istanbul indicates multilingual aspects, such as language use of Russian, Arabic and Kurdish. In contrast, Turkey attempted to get rid of cultural diversity from their language for modernization. However, there is the fact that the language used in Turkey was made of a mix of different languages, which proves culturally how colourful the world is. When it comes to origin of Japanese as my mother tongue, it was influenced by Chinese and then, it developed well in Japan, resulting in existence of four different characters in Japanese: Hiragana, Katakana, Kanji and Romaji.

  • Piiigah (kamali) says:

    During the past 15 years in my country, Iran, people’s lives have been affected by the introduction of western technology and culture. Since things like satellite dishes for TV became common, there has been a considerable change in our daily media life in Iran – people start to use English words in their daily conversations. And it has brought a new cultural diversity in my society. The usage of English words in Farsi conversation became a very classy and luxury trait – mostly among teenagers. This phenomenon affected the Persian language, and many English words are now part of it – so much so I can’t remember the equivalent Persian word. These kinds of changes are an undeniable fact. Many languages are affected by other languages – because of tourism, social media and the general connectedness of the modern world.

  • angela says:

    this is quite unique and different from my country. It is interesting for me that Russian restaurants provide many different languages to explain the menu, which environment is more multilingualism. However, compared to this situation, my country is more likely to be monolingualism, which means only one language is recognized as lingua franca in mu cointry. No matter where you go, you just only see one language. The more time has passed, we have currently had more different languages such as English, Mandarin and Korean. But those languages are used only for travelers. This means that other language can not be used in daily life or not really necessary to live in my country.

  • Yan Yan says:

    The Chinese written unifild language has been a major factor for integrating our nation. There are many advantages and many disadvantages of these measures. Eliminating diversity allows language to spread more widely, but it also limits the development of language. Many beautiful languages ​​have disappeared into the world because they have not spread widely. These languages ​​may be difficult to learn and may be difficult to apply, but each language has its own unique charm.

  • Yan Yan says:

    In 221 BC, Qin dynasty unified China and the Chinese words. The Chinese written unifild language has been a major factor for integrating our nation. There are many advantages and many disadvantages of these measures. Eliminating diversity allows language to spread more widely, but it also limits the development of language. Many beautiful languages ​​have disappeared into the world because they have not spread widely. These languages ​​may be difficult to learn and may be difficult to apply, but each language has its own unique charm.

  • Nidhi Dhir says:

    This article has shown the struggle of languages since ancient times. Nowadays advancement technology and prevalence of globalization causing loss of diversity which means not only extinction of language also the degradation of culture as both are interconnected. This is plight situation of languages that linguist diversity is dying as mostly people choose to learn English (Lingua Franca) to be capable to understand technology and worldwide concepts. This is fact that diversity is being lost and many cultures are loosing their uniqueness.

  • Arnon says:

    Nowadays, people around 7 billion on the planet speak approximately 7000 different languages but the world’s languages are spoken just 4 % of the people. Each language has its own way and its own particular history. If many languages lack of preservation, they likely are being on the verge of extinction. When we lose a language, we also lose the potential for greater diversity in the cultures. Due to the world of technology we must use them to safe many languages for the next generations.

  • Preeya says:

    According to this article, language diversity is absolutely necessary to the human heritage because of it is the production from culture and history. Currently, language diversity is continuously disappear. In the past time, Thailand has a diversity of scripts in the carved and stones, more than 70 languages are spoken within the country. Through the time, these language deleted and changed into Thai language, nowadays. There are 44 the Thai consonant symbols, 15 vowel symbol that combine with 28 vowel symbols and the 4 tone diacritics to use to write and spoken. It has too much changed from the various time. Currently, most of Thai people, especially, Thai new generation people, have used many different kinds of languages in order to communicate in daily life; for example, English language, they erased the diversity of traditional language, it seems like the Thai cultural and history will be destroyed. This could affect many of Thai citizen in many different ways. Even though English language as a language is becoming dominant all over the world, in my point of view, the loose of Thai culture, history, and values and traditional Thai language in each region of Thailand is going to be lost or extinct. Language is not the key to the heart of people anymore, keeping and protecting the language diversity should be responsible for the citizens.

  • Thuy Linh Nguyen says:

    This article helps me to acknowledge the diversity of languages and the erase of language variety dating back to the past. The standardized languages in many countries invented by reformers play an important role in joining everybody together but simultaneously affect on the diversity of language. Therefore, it is of necessity for research taking linguistic variety as the basis of inquiry to include these phenomena to provide a comprehensive perspective.

  • J Ng says:

    To some extent, I agree that for many reasons among which globalization is widely known as the most obvious one, some languages and customs around the world are on the verge of extinction, which leads to the erosion of diversity. Whether this phenomenon is positive or negative is still a controversy. From my point of view, the disappearing of language may result in cultural loss within a community. I am, therefore, still after the preservation of any languages as language is a network of communication and also claim the identity of such community. In many cases, language contributes to discovering and developing many aspects of past traditions and customs. In sum, I’m in favor of the idea that individuals, despite the fact that they may need to learn and use a common/shared language to communicate with people from different backgrounds, still have to preserve their own language.
    I also found many comments from friends interesting, particularly some comments are related to the cost of multiculturalism. I am, in fact, keen on doing further research and reading to get more knowledge on such problem. Up to now, I felt that multiculturalism actually encourages the use of a dominant language for communication but at the same time as long as people in multicultural society understand the value of each language and culture, multiculturalism also allows people to practice and share their cultural traditions and languages, and this helps them to maintain their national identity within a society that aims to become a global common home for all.

  • A D I A says:

    This article allows me to think and reflect on my own place Sumbawa island, where we used to have rich vernacular languages but for some reasons they are now losing their purity and being unknown by today’s generation. Mostly, it caused by migration and intermarriage. These people choose to speak the national language at home to make their communication simpler and faster. Consequently, their children will not have any chance to learn and speak their parents’ vernacular languages and this is when they cannot preserve the language diversity that actually is our precious historical and cultural heritage.

  • J.J says:

    Language is a product of culture and history. People use the language to convey meanings, knowledge and thought to others. That is, when people use a certain language, they own culture which is implied in that language can be maintained. As various people have used different languages which are embedded in societies, cultures and histories, it enables people to keep their own culture in the world. In this reason, the diversity of languages should be kept and protected.

  • Ngoc Hiep Nguyen says:

    The article illustrates how linguistic diversity has witnessed a rollercoaster history by exploring and analyzing the two noticeable examples – Runic Graffiti in Hagia Sophia and Chinese flier in Antwerp representing the super diversity, with the multilingualism; and the monolingualism with the Turkish language reform which lead to the abolition of the Arabic script and its replacement with the Latin script. It is obvious from the article that there was a period of super diversity in language usage in the 9th century but this came to an end with some language reforms to serve the contemporary authorities. It can be also seen that language diversity has been still available up to now to many cases. Vietnam’s language diversity is a good case in point. There are variety of ethnic minorities in Vietnam besides Kinh people, with more than 50 languages being used. Although a common standard Vietnamese is taught and used throughout the country and this actually contributes to less language diversity to some points, other ethnic minorities’ usage of their own languages helps the diversity sustain.
    It seems to me that with the globalization and internal integration, language usage has been changing day by day, with a competition between the new and the old traditions in the linguistic field, but ultimately the diversity of languages will depend on the authorities that control them. For example, Chinese authority always tries to protect their language against the increasing dominance of English in both domestic and international arena. If other countries do the same, the overall diversity of language throughout the world will be preserved to some extent, and vice verse!

  • Rochelle says:

    Here, it mentioned that linguistic diversity has been systematically erased in the historical record. I would like to emphasize that this depends on the community’s responsibility to hold the culture as well as the linguistic features of the language. Linking this with the post about the literacy represents the power which one holds and also the value which one shows as, together with linguistic diversity intertwined to show that these affects one another on how one sees it to be in his or her life. However, this also depends on who are the register of the context (audience), and the ultimate message which one wants to convey to the audience of the context. For example, in Singapore, there are no proper standardized language in a sentence in an informal speech due to the inventions of the mixture of multilingual languages (English, Mandarin, Bahasa Malay, and other dialects), Singlish is formed and therefore diversity is erased eventually that people do not even know their own heritage language like Hakka, or Hainanese and more.

  • Au says:

    I believe that the erasing of a language will lead to the cultural loss of inhabitant who use that language because language has ability to transfer or convey culture in a great extent. Although a dominant language is not a new term, it is still a debatable topic on account of the relationship between language and culture. The language diversity in my opinion does not conflict with human’s benefits. In fact, the more language people can speak, the more experience they can gain. Therefore, we should protect those languages on the edge of extinction.

  • zhongliang lin says:

    This article reminds me of the TED talk ‘stop speaking English’ which I watched recently. In fact, learning English worldwide has become one major reason for erasing diversity. Some languages disappeared because people stop using them. Here take Australia as an example, where nearly all of the 231 spoken aboriginal tongues are endangered. Some linguists suggest that one language that cannot be brought back, but at least we made a record of it.

  • Yangyu says:

    There is no double about erasing diversity of language. Vietnamese language, for instance, there are 54 ethnic groups with the minority of spoken language. Hence; we use Vietnamese as the main language to communicate together. I support to reduce a diversity of language and to choose a dominant language to communicate as a daily life, but we should maintain and preserve a minority of languages, we should not erase them because if we ease a language which seems to culture will be lost as well.

  • Luis Torres Vasquez says:

    To some extent, I agree with the fact that diversity is “the normal human experience”; however, could it be possible to say that the tendency to erase languages or cultures is part of the normal human experience as well? In a way, the article itself makes that case when referring to the Constantinople invaded by Mehmed II, which of course has not been the only case (you pick your conqueror). Perhaps what I want to ask is, is there a price “the receiver culture” has to pay for diversity? Or who could be accountable for the traditions, languages and so on that may be lost when two or more cultures clash? While it is true that diversity carries in itself a “designing component” which makes it so enriching and nurturing, I would like to propose that diversity also bring along a “re-designing component” which redefines nations, cultures or even languages. Take for instance the success of English, or as Swales (1997) suggested “English as Tyrannosaurus rex”, and the implications this has created in regard to aboriginal languages around the world. It is irrefutable that English has brought people from several nations together, but how many people decide to learn an aboriginal language after or even before learning English?

  • Nasser says:

    Australia is one the most diverse countries in the world. According to data from ABS (Australian Bureau of Statistics) over 400 languages (including Aboriginal languages) are spoken in Australia. English followed by Mandarin, Arabic, Cantonese, and Vietnamese are the most common languages spoken at home. This indicates the impact of migration on the country and the socio-cultural varieties that this phenomenon has introduced. The integration of such a wide range of cultures and languages would not have been possible without the Australian governments’ supportive policies and programs as well as Australian citizens’ openness towards these diverse communities which has facilitated the acculturation and assimilation of the individuals.
    Considering the linguistic exchange and interaction between the Aboriginal communities and the newly arrived residents, there were too many borrowings that entered English. These words mainly included features of the environment such as nouns for animals, flora and fauna.
    While maintaining and promoting language diversity seem to be a virtue, the laissez-faire approach of governments requires consideration. For example, in Iran, the phenomenon of ‘language change’ is feared to be the impact of cultural invasion (mainly imposed by Western values) contributing to over-borrowing of English vocabulary. This has also influenced the pronunciation especially by Iranian teenagers -mostly from middle and upper class – imitating the pronunciation of ‘r’ (alveolar tap in Farsi as opposed to all the variations in English).

  • Naive* says:

    It is clear that language diversity is gradually erased, especially within a country. Due to various reasons, people tend to speak the same language to communicate with each other with ease. Take Vietnam as an instance, there used to be a lot of languages spoken in the country even though there has been always a dominant language. Through time, the number of those languages decreased and the dominant language, which is Vietnamese, has changed a lot. It was first written with Chinese characters, then it was developed into a new script based on simplified Chinese characters and finally, the aforementioned alphabet was developed in the 17th century by Alexander Rhodes. Vietnamese now is affected by many languages, especially Chinese, Khmer and French.

  • Hasnahana Hasnahana says:

    This article reminds me of my own country’s language movement history. My country’s (Bangladesh) people fought for their mother tongue against Pakistan who wanted to establish ‘Urdu” as the native language but 30 lac people died in 1971 and establish “Bangla” as their native language. Like this, everyone has a love for their mother tongue though nowadays people are adopting other languages as well as a culture because of the globalization. It can be like a threat to some people who actually want to keep their individual culture alive.

  • Sirin says:

    As a German with Turkish origin I found this article particularly interesting to read. It is fascinating to see how many languages and cultures have impacted what is now Istanbul, a heterogeneous metropolitan city full of history and linguistic diversity.  As someone who feels strongly connected to the Turkish culture, I can say for a fact that Turkey is far from being monolingual. Just to give a few examples: Arabic is still the language of prayer and religion; there are large Kurdish-speaking communities, especially in eastern and south-eastern parts of the country and large communities also emigrated from the present-day Balkan area, preserving their cultural heritage and languages. For linguists, the establishment of a monolingual context in Turkey surely is a great loss, as the countries’ cultural make-up could have been preserved.
    Nonetheless, the events that lead to the establishment of the Republic of Turkey in 1923 should not be disregarded, as the country had to sacrifice many of their people. Language and identity being directly connected, it is understandable that a nation facing a major collapse held on to their language as a form of identity and unity. Looking at the facts from outside a culture is not always revealing and every Turkish person will agree with me on the fact that the diversity has not been erased but is still very alive in present-day Turkey. Maybe not on paper, but surely in the nations roots. 
    Also, as a side note: The term “sehir” for city, is still in use. Even though “kent” might be the standard form, it is a rather odd term to use in day to day communication. 

  • Mengyao APPL941 says:

    Prof. Piller has introduced the history of the modification of modern Turkish even talked about the language diversity and contemporary, due to the deliberate modification of modern Turkish, It seems to become harder for some younger generation to catch the traditional Turkish. In my opinion, It is natural for any changes in language need to experience a complicated process over a long period, there are some reasons leads to language changes which including business, tourism, migrant or refugee as well. Globalization results in the culture crash happened in different regions, the later also impacts on the changes of language. While some languages disappear, some languages flourish turn into an Inevitable trend.

  • Karly says:

    I strongly believe that language diversity and similarly many other forms of diversity are starting to become erased due to the growing impacts of globalisation and the ability for us to now move and connect with others from different regions or even nations given advances in modern technology. In many Chinese regions for example, a number of different dialects exist however, it is imperative that an individual speaks standard Chinese in order to be able to effectively communicate with individuals from other regions. In time, as the standard Chinese language becomes increasingly important to grasp, families may choose not to teach their children Chinese dialects which, in time, will help to erase Chinese linguistic diversity. The same principle is probably applicable to a large number of other regions and languages.

  • K says:

    I strongly believe that language diversity and similarly many other forms of diversity are starting to become erased due to the growing impacts of globalisation and the ability for us to now move and connect with others from different regions or even nations given advances in modern technology. In many Chinese regions for example, a number of different dialects exist however, it is imperative that an individual speaks standard Chinese in order to be able to effectively communicate with individuals from other regions. In time, as the standard Chinese language becomes increasingly important to grasp, families may choose not to teach their children Chinese dialects which, in time, will help to erase Chinese linguistic diversity. The same principle is probably applicable to a large number of other regions and languages.

  • YY says:

    A plural linguistic space allows the wealth of diversity to put in common. It accelerates the exchange of knowledge and experience. The cultures of many countries can be linked together, for example, Shakespeare’s words can be understood all over the worlds because of the language connection. The Bible can be praised by many countries to express its unique meaning. Language diversity has brought obstacles to global cultural exchange.

  • AN says:

    Languages around the world are disappearing, and progressively fast. It is a little disturbing to imagine the number of the world’s languages that may actually fade out by the end of this century. Although this may not seem as important now at this moment, in our day-to-day lives, the effects of language loss in the long run may be devastating. Although the fading of older, uncommonly spoken languages and the evolution of those commonly spoken is as expected with human cultural development, it is the rate at which it is happening around the word that is concerning. Eventually, many cultural traditions, accumulated knowledge over the years (that were not written down, but rather, passed down from one generation to another), biocultural diversity and most of all, the true ‘identity’ of an individual may all face extinction.
    I can closely relate to this where many children in my neighbourhood back home, including many of my friends I grew up with, are no longer able to speak their first language as fluently as they do English – for a common reason that English is more socially acceptable, and useful, and knowing their native language would not actually help them in the long run (i.e. in terms of education, job prospects, etc.). Is it sad to think of how future generations may not have the chance to realize the importance of knowing their native languages.

  • Qianxin says:

    The language diversity is a normal phenomenon but also an essential thing in the city where I am from, Guangzhou in the south part of China. Almost all the people from Guangzhou can speak both Cantonese and Mandarin. Mandarin is the primary language in China. But the Cantonese will not be replaced by the Mandarin in Guangzhou. The reason is evident that Cantonese is not only a language but also a tool to record and inherit the culture of the canton. Therefore, it is impossible to erase the diversity of language unless the culture is disappeared.

  • Salam Moussa Oghli says:

    As an Armenian from Aleppo, a city close to Turkey, diversity has always been an essential part of my life and you can clearly see it in my name (Arabic and Turkish) and ethnic background (Armenian and Syriac). It is amazing how I can not only relate to other Armenians and Arab speakers when it comes to culture but also Turks, Persians, Kurds, Greeks, Assyrians and Syriacs because even though languages change fast, tradition and culture take much longer to evolve in highly collectivist communities as the ones in the Middle East.
    While I was doing religious studies, a lot of emphasis on “the purity” of certain languages and sects which play an essential role in Middle Eastern beliefs have been proven not to be accurate. A language and an idea cannot evolve and develop from only one source and not only a language and a culture are rich with diversity but so are our genes as there are “graffiti” of “XY was here” from different peoples around the world and it would be only irrational and intolerant to deny this fact. Of course, we can always change our self-identities, physical appearances, style of clothing, habits, and affiliate with certain communities and groups, but admitting the fact that we are a complex mixture by nature does not make us less of how we want to represent ourselves. On the contrary. It only makes us more human, and more importantly, more humane.

  • Farzaneh Morovati says:

    Hello,

    It is totally clear that diversity was dominant before 9th century and languages alongside cultures and customs had more clear-cut identities and peculiarities defined for them. A quick review over the past records like Persian poems and stories would reveal this fact. I think language preservation used to be conducted more in the past centuries mostly because of writing in large loads (at least this point is true in case of the history of language in my country, Iran). There are so many records left from the past which mostly are not valued and applied nowadays anymore. Persian language is largely different from the one used in the past and there are so many factors such as internet, migration, neighbouring countries, etc which have changed the growing path of Persian language. I think most languages and cultures are losing their richness and power, mostly the less popular ones, due to globalisation and new linguistic policies. It is undeniable that people around the world are in contact with one another more than past years and this would be one of the dominant factors that lead the people of all around the world towards nearly similar linguistic styles and patterns (for better communication). Generally, languages of different countries will be on constant transformations through which many other factors in the societies may get affected such as the cultures, traditions, policies, and communication patterns.

    Thank you
    Farzaneh Morovati

  • Haley says:

    It is indeed unfortunate that the language reform in Turkey has been so successful. I believe this is a downside of many conquering or dominant ruling powers. The winners are the ones who are writing history and they are predominantly writing it in their language.

    Anecdotally though I have viewed a few of the minority languages alive and well in Turkey, despite the obvious persecution. Kurdish is still spoken among the Kurds in the south and taught in the home, even if they are careful to speak only Turkish in public. In the north, you will also find Lazuri people still speaking their native Laz.

    While the written records may be unfortunately lost, a lot of the time cultures find a way to survive and live on, even if it is only through spoken stories, passed down through generations.

  • Eraserhead says:

    Throughout history we have seen how colonisation processes come with an imposition of a language and consequently the eradication of the linguistic diversity of an area. This is one of the reasons why many languages have disappeared and others continue to disappear. However, nowadays there are many countries in Latin America and in the rest of the world, for example New Zealand, who are making an effort in trying to preserve their aboriginal languages in an attempt to protect the cultural heritage that is part of every language.

    • Plus Ultra says:

      Hi Eraserhead.

      I found this comment in particular interesting, and remembered looking at some of those efforts to preserve endangered languages many years ago. I tracked down one such project I remembered using, the endangered languages archive: https://www.soas.ac.uk/elar/ where one can actually look at the progress that has been made in one aspect of preserving some endangered and critically endangered languages. Some languages have a relatively vast deposit of materials, with many speakers of that language being filmed or taped speaking their native tongue, whereas for others there is a very unfortunate dearth of material (though there may be more as part of other projects). Looking closer to home, one can compare what is available for Australian Sign language (endangered) with 800 videos and the critically endangered Australian-Irish sign language, with only an upcoming book resource. Even for the languages that have larger corpuses however, these efforts to ensure a written and audio record of the language won’t preserve it if it isn’t being passed on to future generations by the current speakers.

  • Yang says:

    I think erasing the diversity of language is just like destroying the culture of nations even of the country. In China, there are 56 nations, but there are over thousands of minority languages around the whole main land of China. Set my hometown SHUNDE as an example. It is a district located in the southern China, and there are at least 32 minority languages in only one district. This is because there are 16 towns which are including more than 32 villages, and different villages have their own languages even they are just separated by a road. We have our own languages which we speak in daily communication, but when we go to school, we are taught by Mandarin, which is the main language of China that everyone communicates with. Just as we study in Australia, English is the main language that we daily use, and Mandarin, Vietnamese, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Arabic etc. are the mother languages from where we come. It is just like the multi-cultural environment as the language diversity existing in all around the world. Keeping the diversity of languages is to protect the cultures which our ancestor gave us.

  • Tamanna says:

    Languages of today’s’ world are threatened because of many important aspects. The most powerful aspect that I can mention is influence of technology. Our social behavior is being influenced by technology and internet to a large extent. As a result, culture changes which affect the language also. Globalization is another factor that influences language change. Because of globalization people tend to communicate with each other and they prefer one common language. And other local languages in a country are ignored and new generation are not learning those local languages. I think one common language should be preserved in order to retain the harmony and good communication among the people of a country.

  • Tomoya says:

    From this article and the recent trend for globalization, linguistic policies have been at the mercy of the authority, and residents cannot help getting influence by their whim. While Turkey in the former 20th Century got rid of the Arabian script and united with the only one language, Turkish, other languages are also seen in signposts nowadays because of the government’s promotion on tourism. In my country, multilingual signposts have been seen in major sightseeing spots, but English is still dominant in school education, and we have no choice but English as a core subject as a foreign language. Whether you like it or not, linguistic policies are what suits the authority, not suits minority cultures or residents.

  • Van Le says:

    In Vietnam, there are 54 ethnic groups living harmoniously across the nation and speak different languages. However, the dominant language is Vietnamese and everyone attends schools are taught the same standard language. Some minority languages are dying but it costs too much to preserve them. However, I think it is essential to have a common language, not to erase the diversity but to promote cooperation and communication of everyone in a country.

  • Ann says:

    Erasing diversity is an interesting as well as curious article written by Prof. Piller. This made me to read twice and gained new knowledge about history. There was “Super diversity” in 9th century. Constantinople was a multicultural city. It is understood that there was globalisation long time ago. However, Piller says that we are unable to capture any historical records in regards to linguistic diversity. It is the nature of a language – doesn’t last for ever. Even nowadays we can experience the changes happening to the modern English. Sometimes we have to struggle to read and understand the short and sweet texting although younger generation does.
    Due to globalisation and migration there is a probability of disappearing some minor languages from the world. Still there is a lot that we do not know some languages and its history.

  • abc says:

    Piller discussed the forced monolingualism of modern Turkey in the 1920s. A not wholly dissimilar process occurred under the Spanish dictatorship of Franco from 1939-1975. Whilst Castellano, the dominant ‘Spanish’ lingua franca, was not altered in the same way as Turkish, minority languages such as Euskara (Basque), Gallego (Galician) and Catalan were banned in an effort to ‘erase diversity’. Franco’s policies focussed on Spanish nationalism and solidarity, and linguistic diversity represented ethnic disunity and division. After the fall of the regime, minority ethnic groups were given increasing autonomy in Spain, and minority languages have enjoyed a revival.

  • Gab88 says:

    This blog about Erasing Diversity is very interesting in the fact that it sheds light ( for me) on the extents to which people will go to assume total power and/or control over a group of people which enables them to push their agenda.
    It’s a good point that Ingrid has made in the past that globalisation happened long ago and is a part of our rich history of language . Languages are essentially arbitrary signs contextualised by a community / culture, so more often, it is important to know the history of where it has come from for meaning and understanding. So by erasing it, it creates a false definition or a new depending on your perspective (hope that makes sense )

  • JUN says:

    Although multilingual environment has recently increased and more people prefer to speak and communicate lingua franca, the diversity of languages should be protected. It is true that individuals prefer to use some standardized languages for communication in order to blend in the local community and understand the native culture. However, languages do not only represent someone’s statements, counties’ culture, values, and beliefs can also be reflected and spread by languages. Therefore, people should protect linguistic diversity.

  • Pegah Marandi says:

    Dear all,

    Based on the blog, my experiences as living in a post-post-modern era, and my major, English Literature, I assume many facets have been influential in vanishing/ blurring the classical language, culture, and its richness/ purity. One of them is technology, this matter has influenced many parts of the human’s life and has changed everything even the attitudes and behaviour of a society. Clearly, when people change, language changes, and so does culture. It seems in old times and even Renaissance for instance, though not all were literate, but language was considered a precious element so was education. For instance, reading Shakespeare’s plays or even poems of Persian poets such as Saadi or Hafez, if a reader digs into their language, the richness of their language and culture is observable; whereas nowadays as discussed in the class today, technology (internet) is killing the proper language. Moreover Homi Bhabha, a famous Indian-English scholar and critical theorist, mentions “Hybridity” in relation to children who migrate to another county aside from their own and forget their mother language and their culture. This indicates how one can easily forget his culture and language for the sake of migration. On the whole, everything is transient in this world such as language, culture, politics, and so on and so forth.

    With regards,
    Pegah

  • Wendie LIU says:

    In terms of multi-linguistic diversity, every one in the world is supposed to protect and defend those various categories of linguistic diversity. Just as the statement pointed in the text, an ad for the renting of the room in Antwerp, Belgium could be regarded as a sign of the global mobility of the linguistic diversity on account of the increasing worldwide migration and tourists flows. Nevertheless, instead of categorizing it as way of erasing diversity, I prefer to assert that it could be regarded as an active notion of the progress of the civilization, modernization and globalization, which is inevitable and irresistible. Besides, the global mobility does not necessarily indicates the gradual disappearance of multi-linguistic diversity, but people over the world tend to live in a more harmonious and common community, differences still exists so far since virtually all people are strongly and intensely linked with their unique nationality and linguistic background.

  • Thet says:

    This article inspires me to think in-depth from the title till the end. In my opinion, modernity and globalization have been creating the world as a global village. This changing trend is leading to multiculturalism and multilingualism since people usually attempt to be successful members of their respective communities. Consequently, adaptation to and imitation of cultural practices and effort to become competent language users is making the diversity less or harmonious. It might have both positive and negative effects on individuals’ cultural identity and languages in that there can be more harmony among divers communities but difficult in keeping them alive. It is hoped that research on this issue may contribute to have more benefits of “erasing diversity”.

  • AzPc says:

    There is no doubt that there are more and more people in Cantonese area can speak Mandarin to someone who is not from Cantonese area. A few decades ago, people in Cantonese didn’t want to learn Mandarin, this is because they need to use it in their daily life. While getting through the decades, there are more people from different cities of China come to Cantonese area. So the Mandarin become one of the daily life using languages in the area, and the city in Cantonese area become kind of multilingual city. In the history, Cantonese area is not controlled by the Han people but other minority groups in the local area, so people from this area get to different periods from the minority languages community to Cantonese community and to kind of multilingual community.

  • Ss says:

    What makes me imprised is the argument of contemporary ‘super-diversity’ in this article.
    Recent years, many people argued that the globalisation can be considered as the main culprit of the loss of cultural diversity. For example, the prevalence of English worldwide can be viewed in a negative light. The idea lies in the fact that young people in many parts of the world make an effort to study English, instead of their mother tongue. Some less spoken langauges many eventually die out. Because of these, those traditional therapies, recipes, religious practices and ceremonies may also venish, since they are preserved by people who speak these languages.
    However, although some people suspect that some minority cultures may disappear, the communication and cooperation among people from different countries has made our life more colourful as well as harmony.

  • Li Jia says:

    I like the statement quoted “diversity is, in fact, the normal human experience”. None of the “pure” language reform would stop the fact of multilingual thriving, be it in the remote borderlands, or on the Internet.

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