REDISCOVER AND REVITALIZE LANGUAGE DIVERSITY

Abstract

This paper is an attempt to delineate the needs for the rediscovery and revitalization of language for the purposes of expounding the essence of language, language diversity and the need to maintain ethnic languages that are on the verge of extinction. The extinction of a language through lingua-cide or euthanasia is to be deplored because the death of a language means a loss of human ideas, history, civilization, cultural heritage, work of art, creativity, imagination, and way of talking about life. Some ways to save dying ethnic languages is among others revival of interest in language as human endowment, promotion of multiculturalism and revitalization of local wisdoms in ritual language which is a central part of solidarity making process.