ESTABLISHING A HETEROLINGUAL WORLD
ESTABLISHING A HETEROLINGUAL WORLD

Summary/Abstract: Currently, there are approximately 7000 living languages in the world and all are not equally valued and used; only imperial languages enjoy prestige and attention. Some factors like large population, enriched literature, powerful societies, political influence, social status, strong economy, economic investment and well-built cultural background play behind the persuasion of few dominant languages. The ruthless impact of these languages falls on marginalized and endangered one. Perishing of a language does not only take away a language, rather it accompanies the history, culture, identity, thought and biodiversity of a society. A number of recent studies have shown that environmental knowledge embedded in indigenous names, oral traditions and taxonomies is often lost when a community shifts to another language1. On the other hand, in this globalized and digital world, there is no way to keep the distance from the influence of powerful languages. It is important to realize that all languages bear different world outlooks, cultures, social values, and lifestyles whether they have a strong political, economic and social backgrounds or not. Since indigenous and endangered languages provide us hidden knowledge and education about history, culture, food habit and even medicine; language documentation, protection and promotion are mandatory in this trajectory situation of the mankind. Therefore, in this paper, the author discusses the importance of caring all languages in the world.

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