Thedeathoflanguagesisnotanewphenomenon．Languagesusuallyhavearelativelyshortlifespanaswellasaveryhighdeathrate．Onlyafew，includingEgyptian，Chinese，Greek，Latin，havelastedmorethan2，000years．Whatisnew，h
Thedeathoflanguagesisnotanewphenomenon．Languagesusuallyhavearelativelyshortlifespanaswellasaveryhighdeathrate．Onlyafew，includingEgyptian，Chinese，Greek，Latin，havelastedmorethan2，000years．
Whatisnew，however，isthespeedatwhichtheyaredyingout．Europe'scolonialconquestscausedasharpdeclineinlinguisticdiversity，eliminatingatleast15percentofalllanguagesspokenatthetime．Overthelast300years，Europehaslostadozen，andAustraliahasonly20leftofthe250spokenattheendofthe18thcentury．
Theriseofnation-stateshasalsobeendecisiveinselectingandconsolidatingnationallanguagesandsideliningothers．Bymakinggreateffortstoestablishanofficiallanguageineducation，themediaandthecivilservice，nationalgovernmentshavedeliberatelytriedtoeliminateminoritylanguages．
Thisprocessoflinguisticstandardizationhasbeenboostedbyindustrializationandscientificprogress，whichhaveimposednewmethodsofcommunicationthatareswift，straightforwardandpractical．Languagediversitycametobeseenasanobstacletotradeandthespreadofknowledge．Monolingualismbecameanideal．
Morerecently，theinternationalizationoffinancialmarkets，thespreadofinformationbyelectronicmediaandotheraspectsofglobalizationhaveintensifiedthethreatto"small"languages．AlanguagenotontheInternetisalanguagethat"nolongerexists"inthemodernworld．Itisoutofthegame．
Theseriouseffectsofthedeathoflanguagesareevident．Firstofall，itispossiblethatifweallendedupspeakingthesamelanguage，ourbrainswouldlosesomeoftheirnaturalcapacityforlinguisticinventiveness．Wewouldneverbeabletofigureouttheoriginsofhumanlanguageorresolvethemysteryof"thefirstlanguage"．Aseachlanguagedies，achapterofhumanhistorycloses．
Multilingualismisthemostaccuratereflectionofmulticulturalism．Thedestructionofthefirstwillinevitablyleadtothelossofthesecond．Imposingalanguagewithoutanylinkstoapeople'scultureandwayoflifestiflestheexpressionoftheircollectivegenius．Alanguageisnotonlyusedforthemaininstrumentofhumancommunication．Italsoexpressestheworldvisi