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I think we should fight to preserve what cultures, people and languages we have left. The Ainu language is nearly extinct, and it represents an entirely separat

I think we should fight to preserve what cultures, people and languages we have left. The Ainu language is nearly extinct, and it represents an entirely separate language family from Japanese for example. Anthropology (especially linguistics too) is a jigsaw puzzle for which we're losing pieces every day. Plus it feels right to try to save them.

whymauri 6y ago
100% agree - my mom's family is Wayuu and we speak a dying language. I didn't grow up in the same ancestral lands my grandmother did, but I do try to retain my very basic grasp of the language. And I will encourage my kids to learn the basics. It's too sad to think of the finality of culture, but this is the least I can do. I think it's great that some Ainu are relearning the language - it's such a strong cultural bond.
- sterlind 6y ago
  It's really good that you encourage your kids to learn! Languages carry so much culture, so assimilation programs in the US and Canada focused on breaking the teaching cycle of native languages to force cultural assimilation. I'm white but I work with a Coast Salish language that the tribes are trying to bring back from extinction. Indian children were forced into boarding schools and beaten if they didn't speak English, so a generation grew up without learning and the last L1 speaker died a decade ago. So much was lost, but linguists and elders wrote down enough that revival is possible. It will take hard work and determination for entire tribes though, so it may never recover except in ceremonial usage.
deleted 6y ago
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tathougies 6y ago
I don't. As a member of a small ethnic group myself, I really don't understand why. Whatever it was that we had to give to the world has been given. None of us have been treated cruelly for being of a certain race (for the most part). We just chose to move away, marry others (because we're not race purists, like many 'indigineous' activists, I suppose?), raise our children, and be happy. Not every society has produced things of equal value, and it's not particularly offensive to notice that.
diffrinse 6y ago
There are no languages we know of related to Japanese
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  This is not quite true. That some extinct languages of the Korean peninsula were related to Japanese on the basis of toponymy, is now nearly universally agreed on among linguists, whether they accept the Altaic hypothesis (or the recent "Transeurasian" rebranding of it) or reject the Altaic hypothesis.
  - diffrinse 6y ago
    Did I really have to say no living languages?
    - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
      The work on Korean toponymy is recent enough (and still ongoing) that it is missing in many older standard references for the history of Japanese. So, in a discussion like this, if a person mentions that the Japonic family is a language isolate, then it is helpful to add for readers less familiar with this subject that it isn’t completely isolated.

whymauri 6y ago

100% agree - my mom's family is Wayuu and we speak a dying language. I didn't grow up in the same ancestral lands my grandmother did, but I do try to retain my very basic grasp of the language. And I will encourage my kids to learn the basics. It's too sad to think of the finality of culture, but this is the least I can do. I think it's great that some Ainu are relearning the language - it's such a strong cultural bond.

sterlind 6y ago
It's really good that you encourage your kids to learn! Languages carry so much culture, so assimilation programs in the US and Canada focused on breaking the teaching cycle of native languages to force cultural assimilation. I'm white but I work with a Coast Salish language that the tribes are trying to bring back from extinction. Indian children were forced into boarding schools and beaten if they didn't speak English, so a generation grew up without learning and the last L1 speaker died a decade ago. So much was lost, but linguists and elders wrote down enough that revival is possible. It will take hard work and determination for entire tribes though, so it may never recover except in ceremonial usage.

deleted 6y ago

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tathougies 6y ago

I don't. As a member of a small ethnic group myself, I really don't understand why. Whatever it was that we had to give to the world has been given. None of us have been treated cruelly for being of a certain race (for the most part). We just chose to move away, marry others (because we're not race purists, like many 'indigineous' activists, I suppose?), raise our children, and be happy. Not every society has produced things of equal value, and it's not particularly offensive to notice that.

diffrinse 6y ago

There are no languages we know of related to Japanese

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
This is not quite true. That some extinct languages of the Korean peninsula were related to Japanese on the basis of toponymy, is now nearly universally agreed on among linguists, whether they accept the Altaic hypothesis (or the recent "Transeurasian" rebranding of it) or reject the Altaic hypothesis.
- diffrinse 6y ago
  Did I really have to say no living languages?
  - Mediterraneo10 6y ago
    The work on Korean toponymy is recent enough (and still ongoing) that it is missing in many older standard references for the history of Japanese. So, in a discussion like this, if a person mentions that the Japonic family is a language isolate, then it is helpful to add for readers less familiar with this subject that it isn’t completely isolated.