20.0

DEAD MEDIUM: DEAD HUMAN LANGUAGES
//Source: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill press release, April 18, 1997//

(((Bruces remarks: On the grand occasion of our two hundredth Working Note, I offer the suitably large, round, and grave topic of dead human languages. The obsolescence and extinction of human language is obviously a very large and challenging field of study. But is dead language "dead media"?

(((Until this, our 200th Working Note, I have simply ducked this issue. However, the following press release describes this phenomenon so clearly that I have decided to offer it to the list.

(((The cultural, social and intellectual loss contingent on the extinction of a human language staggers the mind. If dead languages were in fact "dead media," they would obviously be enormously important phenomena, far overshadowing high Cahill-Rating curios such as optical telegraphy or mechanical television. The modern causes of language loss == travel, tourist culture, radio and television == have clear technological bases. Modern language loss is not a competition of tongues on a level demographic playing field == modern language is clearly shaped and sometimes driven into extinction by mass media. So are dead languages a proper field of study for the "dead media" scholar? Or should dead languages be classed as anthropology, archaeology, or linguistics, rather than media studies?

(((As list editor, I have made no final decision on this matter, and I would appreciate advice and counselfrom list subscribers.

(((Some pro arguments (as I see them): the "death" of, say, Hittite or Sumerian is certainly not in question. It seems perverse to suggest that a human language isn't a "medium," since the spoken word is a complex, dynamic, sophisticated and powerful method of communication. A dead and indecipherable *written* language, within the context of its recording technology == papyrus, clay, bark == would almost certainly qualify as "dead media." A dead computer language also makes good sense as "dead media." So why draw the line at human language?

(((The con arguments are also multiform: First and foremost, this may be simply too large a subject for the Dead Media Project. Dead languages number in the thousands, and the subject opens entire new sets of classification and definitional problems. What is a "language," and what differentiates a dead language from dead dialect, dead argot, dead slang, dead grammar,or even single dead words? Is Latin really and truly "dead," or was Latin merely subsumed by Romance languages? If a spoken language with no technological basis is to be considered a "medium," shouldn't we have to worry also about, say, lost forms of dance? Lost music? Performance art? Religious ritual? Divination? Games? *Mimes,* even? I am fiercely determined to draw the line at mimes. Bruce Sterling)))

NEWS

For immediate use

April 18, 1997 -- No. 270

Contact: David Williamson 919-962-2091 rdtokids@emial.unc.edu University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

"Unusual Brogue Of Ocracoke, N.C. Islanders Threatened With Extinction"

By DAVID WILLIAMSON UNC-CH News Services

"CHAPEL HILL == The unique dialect of 'O'cockers' == what people native to the North Carolina barrier island Ocracoke call themselves == may disappear within a few decades, thanks to the unholy influence of ferries, roads, 'dingbatters' == people who live elsewhere == and electronic media.

"That's what two North Carolina linguists have discovered after studying the island brogue. In warm weather, dingbatters invade the once-isolated island == near where Lt. Robert Maynard lopped off the pirate Blackbeard's head in 1718 == in large numbers, bringing tourist dollars and more conventional American English. The electronic invasion, which has less impact, is nearly constant.

"Study authors are Drs. Walt Wolfram, William C. Friday, distinguished professor of English, and Natalie Schilling-Estes, coordinator of the N.C. Language and Life Project, both at N.C. State University.

"'Legislative action now protects a wide range of animals and plants on the brink of extinction, thanks to the combined efforts of concerned scientists and citizens,' the researchers say. 'At the same time, the dramatic decline of the world's languages goes largely unnoticed, except by the affected speakers and a small group of linguists and anthropologists.'

"Worldwide, people speak an estimated 6,000 tongues, most of which are rapidly headed toward extinction, they say. At the current rate of language loss, between 50 percent and 90 percent of these languages will die out within the next century. In California alone, about 25 distinct languages == not merely dialects of the same one == have lost their last speaker in the past century.

"Wolfram and Schilling-Estes began the most detailed study ever undertaken of Ocracoke speech in 1992, building on the work of retired University of North Carolina linguist Robert Howren, former UNC-CH honors student Wynne C. Dough and others. By comparing elderly, middle-aged and young islanders, they found elements of both Southern English, which N.C. residents speak on the mainland, and Northern speech overwhelming native sounds and replacing words.

"'We have found a drastic decline in some of the traditional features of the dialect,' said Schilling-Estes, who earned her Ph.D. at UNC-CH in 1996 and is a visiting scholar at Duke. 'The 'oy' sound for 'i' is disappearing, along with other distinct vowel sounds and words such as 'pizer,' meaning 'porch' and 'meehonky' for the game hide-and-seek.'

"Words such as 'mommuck' for 'harass' and 'quamished' for 'nauseated' appear to be hanging on, she said. The brogue, which did not originate with pirates or Shakespeare as some claim, has survived chiefly because of the island's former isolation. Most Ocracokers descend from southern English and Irish immigrants.

"Schilling-Estes said she and Wolfram were not surprised to find the dialect disappearing, but they were almost startled at how cooperative Ocracokers were during their many visits, countless questions and audio taping.

"'We weren't expecting the people there to be so remarkably warm and open and so willing to help us learn about their dialect and their island,' she said. 'Because we believe in giving back to the communities we work in, we have helped by teaching eighth graders about the dialect, having T-shirts made that have Ocracoke words on them, and establishing a museum exhibit on language that's very popular down there.' (((bruces remarks: I would suggest that the academic "preservation" of folk culture is an extremely effective way of killing it.)))

"Why should anyone care whether languages and dialects disappear? Wouldn't communication be more efficient if everyone spoke a common language?

"'A window of scientific opportunity closes when a language dies,' the authors write. 'The more languages there are, the more information we have about how language in general works, just as we learn more about the general nature of life from biological diversity.

"'But there's more. When a language dies, an essential and unique part of a human culture dies with it. To imagine the personal impact, consider what it would be like to be the last speaker of a language with no one to talk to in your native tongue == the language of your childhood experience and your most fundamental emotional, artistic and spiritual expression.'

"Likewise, whenever a dialect disappears, not only do linguists lose a unique tool for scientific study of major languages, but also a distinct, colorful and often fascinating portion of a culture disappears, the two say.

"'Saying that dialect loss is not as important as language loss is like saying that we should be vitally concerned with the preservation of dogs, but not worried about particular breeds of dogs.'

"University of North Carolina Press in Chapel Hill has just published their study on island speech == 'Hoi Toide and the Outer Banks.'"

= 30 =

Note: Wolfram and Schilling-Estes can be reached at (919) 515-4151. To order a free copy of the study, fax a request to Lisa M. Dellwo, director of publicity at UNC Press, (919) 966-3829.

Contact: David Williamson (rdtokids@emial.unc.edu)