A brief sociological study on languages and immigration
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Have you ever acknowledged the existence of languages like Occitan, Ladino, Friulian, Aragonese, Alsatian, Ligurian, Flemish, Bundeli, Brahui, Urdu, Koraga, Tregami or Vasi-vari? I bet you haven’t been introduced to none of them. Well, nobody knows for certain, but it is estimated that between 6.000 to 7.000 languages are spoken in the world today. To further complicate the matter, there is not a correct, academic or fully defined boundary between language and dialect. For example, the Galician language, widely spoken in Galicia, a region of Spain, is considered by many to be a language, while others point it out Galician as a dialect of the Portuguese language, and there is no firm consensus. To be precise, these two languages were born from the medieval Galician-Portuguese, and, subsequently, this language divided into two branches, each one following its own natural course to become a language by its own right. We know that all Romance languages developed directly from the Latin language, the official language of the Roman Empire. So, the Portuguese, Spanish, Galician, and Catalan languages – as well as many others in fact – developed naturally as vernacular forms of the Latin spoke in the Iberian Peninsula, a former province of the roman civilization. Nevertheless, all of these languages that were born from Latin never went static; they continued to develop, and many other languages and dialects were born from this never ending process of linguistic mutations. The ramifications went further, with even Rhaeto-Romance languages coming into existence.
Since language is a correlated study to sociology, that is linked to society, population and immigration, we can go even further on the explanation. Since I live in Brazil, I will make my own country the starting point. A vast and diverse country, it is one of the most multiethnic countries on earth, home to immigrants, and their descendants, from 60 different countries. In Brazil, you will find Arab, Lebanese, Japanese, Korean, Austrian and Chinese people, just to name a few. In the southern states – although not exclusively – German and Italian immigrants really left a remarkable presence in the country, to the extent of certain cities, like Gramado and Nova Petrópolis having a distinctly Germanized culture, obvious in the architecture, the food and in the local cultural traits of its citizens, to the extent of having the Hunsrückisch, a dialect of the German language, being widely spoken by its inhabitants today. It’s like having a small part of classical 19th century Germany located in the vast scenario of southern Brazil.
Being myself a product of this environment, I’m proud of my multiethnic background, since I am a direct descendant of Portuguese, Italian and German peoples. But the country had in the past dictatorial governments that tried to suppress all other languages spoken in Brazil, other than the Portuguese language, trying to convey Brazil as a national homogeneous country – something which Brazil never was and will never be – with the condition of speaking Portuguese seen as a requirement for a citizen to be considered a Brazilian national. This was done during a period of hard nationalistic feelings imposed by the government.
Being myself a product of this environment, I’m proud of my multiethnic background, since I am a direct descendant of Portuguese, Italian and German peoples. But the country had in the past dictatorial governments that tried to suppress all other languages spoken in Brazil, other than the Portuguese language, trying to convey Brazil as a national homogeneous country – something which Brazil never was and will never be – with the condition of speaking Portuguese seen as a requirement for a citizen to be considered a Brazilian national. This was done during a period of hard nationalistic feelings imposed by the government.
The punishments were hard for people caught speaking other languages. Some languages were able to survive this horrible ordeal, while others haven’t. By this reason, the family of my maternal grandfather was forced to abandon for good their ties to German culture. On the other hand, the Italian side of the family never did this. My maternal grandmother, in her childhood, only spoke Talian – a regional dialect of the Italian language – learning the Portuguese several years later. To this day, she speaks Talian proficiently, having done that for her entire life, especially with her sisters, and other family members. Nevertheless, she didn’t passed the traditions, nor the language, to the younger generations. For this reason, her daughters, and grandchildren – myself included – do not speak Talian. And this is the reason why regional dialects and languages die altogether. The older generations don’t pass to the younger ones. This is the main motive why, although being a country with a multiethnic background, most people in Brazil doesn’t speak any language other than Portuguese. A very similar trait is found in the USA. While it is also a country of immigrants, most people can’t speak another language, other than English. While in Brazil most languages are suppressed by the Portuguese, in the USA most languages are suppressed by English. Either way, it is a curious, but almost irreversible phenomenon of cultural assimilation. Nevertheless, what we have here is a complex layered multifaceted cultural outlook. In Brazil today, more than 300 languages are spoken, but most of these are endangered languages spoken by the indigenous peoples of Brazil. As a parallel, the very same scenario exists in the United States. More than 300 languages are spoken today in the country, but most of them are indigenous languages, some of which are in great danger of extinction. Nonetheless, some really cool efforts are being made in the US – some of them very successful – to resurrect languages that were formerly dead. One such example is the Massachusett language; being extinct for almost a century, it experienced a revivalist movement that revitalized the language. Now, some children are native to the language, and hundreds of adults are learning it, as a secondary language. The language received its name after the Massachusett people, the tribe who originally spoke the language (although the language was not exclusive to them) and as you probably have guessed, the US state of Massachusetts was named after the tribe. The United States has a tradition in naming some states after its respective local indigenous populations, being North Dakota, South Dakota, Massachusetts and Missouri some examples. The first translation of the Bible to an indigenous language in the United States was done in the Massachusett language.
Today, in the American continent, the four main languages – French, English, Spanish and Portuguese – are widely spoken because, in the past, the four European global empires – the Spanish, the Portuguese, the British and the French – competed with each other vehemently, looking for territorial possessions all over the world. In the 15th century, all four invaded the American continent, exterminating most of its indigenous populations, and imposing dramatic changes for once and for all, in an irreversible way. The British and the French fought against each other in the North, while the Spanish and the Portuguese fought against each other in central and southern America. Several times, the church tried to intervene, and reconcile the parts – the famous Treaty of Tordesillas was an example – between the Portuguese and Spanish, that frequently entered in agreements, that were always disrupted, sooner or later. The final result of this European hunger for conquest was the following: Spanish America broke apart into several small countries, Portuguese America remained intact, being only one giant country, Brazil, as well as British America, being the United States born out of the English dominance. And what about the French? Well, French is a language spoken in Canada today, as well as in some US states bordering Canada, but sincerely, Canada doesn’t count, since it is just a strip of land of people living north of the United States border. 88% of Canada is uninhabited territory. Just an enormous piece of frozen ground and endless snow! In this way, it is very easy to be the second country in the world in terms of size, with only 35 million inhabitants.
Today, in the American continent, the four main languages – French, English, Spanish and Portuguese – are widely spoken because, in the past, the four European global empires – the Spanish, the Portuguese, the British and the French – competed with each other vehemently, looking for territorial possessions all over the world. In the 15th century, all four invaded the American continent, exterminating most of its indigenous populations, and imposing dramatic changes for once and for all, in an irreversible way. The British and the French fought against each other in the North, while the Spanish and the Portuguese fought against each other in central and southern America. Several times, the church tried to intervene, and reconcile the parts – the famous Treaty of Tordesillas was an example – between the Portuguese and Spanish, that frequently entered in agreements, that were always disrupted, sooner or later. The final result of this European hunger for conquest was the following: Spanish America broke apart into several small countries, Portuguese America remained intact, being only one giant country, Brazil, as well as British America, being the United States born out of the English dominance. And what about the French? Well, French is a language spoken in Canada today, as well as in some US states bordering Canada, but sincerely, Canada doesn’t count, since it is just a strip of land of people living north of the United States border. 88% of Canada is uninhabited territory. Just an enormous piece of frozen ground and endless snow! In this way, it is very easy to be the second country in the world in terms of size, with only 35 million inhabitants.
Language studies will always be correlated with sociological ones, since people are in constant motion throughout the world – they born in one place, but live in another –, language changes in human society will always be happening. For this reason, even very small countries are multilingual, like Switzerland, with Italian, German, French and Romansh (a fine example of a Rhaeto-Romance language, derived directly from the Vulgar Latin spoken in the region in roman times) being the four main languages, although there are other minor languages being spoken to some extent, like the Franco-Provençal (also called Arpitan), a Gallo-Romance language, that it is spoken also by small groups of people in France and Italy. Luxembourg has three main languages, German, French and Luxembourgish. Luxembourgish, being the least spoken language amid its population – that uses it as a merely spoken language, rarely using it in the written form –, is a very distinctive one. Being born as a dialect of German, it has incorporated more than 5.000 words of French, turning itself into a very peculiar amalgamation of Germanic-romance language. Nevertheless, it is such a difficult language, that only a small percentage of Luxembourgers uses it as a first language. Unfortunately, culture in Luxembourg paid the price for this ordeal, having no literature of its own. The vast majority of Luxembourgish writers prefer to write their works in French, or in German, giving their own national language a marginalized status in the literary art.
France is another great example of a multilingual country. More than one hundred languages (and dialects) are spoken in France today, and, like Brazil, it endured a period in the past of language suppression, with the French being overwhelmingly highlighted and all other languages being marginalized, forbidden or ostracized. Between all those languages, Breton is probably one of the most widely known, being reminiscent of a language spoken by Celtic tribes that emigrated from Great Britain to France. By virtue of the Roman Empire, France – like Spain, Portugal and Italy – went to be a natural birthplace for Romance languages, that spread throughout the world by the Spanish, French and Portuguese empires, all of them European Superpowers. Spain, Italy and France – as well as parts of Switzerland, and some other neighboring areas – would also be a major place of development for the much more complex and intricate ramifications of Rhaeto-Romance, Gallo-Romance and Occitano-Romance languages. Awkwardly, but comprehensively, because of some similarities, people erroneously think that English is also a Romance language, which is not the case at all. English is a Proto-Germanic language, that, indeed, received influences to some extent from Classical Latin during Anglo-Saxon times.
Well, now that you have learned all this stuff, what about learning another language? But you have to learn Mandarin, Greek, Arab or Japanese. If you learn another language that uses the same alphabet that your natural language, the process will be so easy that you will not improve cognitive skills. Although it is another language, your brain is able to recognize the symbols and signs that you already know as letters. But if you learn an entirely different language – a language that uses a different alphabet – this will create and activate other sections of your brain, your reasoning capabilities will greatly improve, and your cognitive abilities will expand. But remember, it doesn’t matter how good a student you can be, you will never be able to speak, understand or express yourself fluently or as good as someone who is native to the language.
Well, do you think 7.000 languages are that much? Take into consideration that I haven’t entered into the field of extinct languages! This would greatly increase those numbers. The Andaqui, Barawana, Catuquinaru, Charrúa, Cocoliche, Gayon, Hamuoé, Koeruna, Munichi, Natú, Omurano, Payagua, Purí, Puquina, Saraveca, Taparita, Tequiraca, Tupí Austral and Yabaâna are only a few examples of some indigenous languages of South America that become extinct. It is possible to make a list with a thousand names or more! Well, what can I say? Sometimes we do forget the fact that the American continent already had a lot of history, before the arrival of Europeans.
Wagner
France is another great example of a multilingual country. More than one hundred languages (and dialects) are spoken in France today, and, like Brazil, it endured a period in the past of language suppression, with the French being overwhelmingly highlighted and all other languages being marginalized, forbidden or ostracized. Between all those languages, Breton is probably one of the most widely known, being reminiscent of a language spoken by Celtic tribes that emigrated from Great Britain to France. By virtue of the Roman Empire, France – like Spain, Portugal and Italy – went to be a natural birthplace for Romance languages, that spread throughout the world by the Spanish, French and Portuguese empires, all of them European Superpowers. Spain, Italy and France – as well as parts of Switzerland, and some other neighboring areas – would also be a major place of development for the much more complex and intricate ramifications of Rhaeto-Romance, Gallo-Romance and Occitano-Romance languages. Awkwardly, but comprehensively, because of some similarities, people erroneously think that English is also a Romance language, which is not the case at all. English is a Proto-Germanic language, that, indeed, received influences to some extent from Classical Latin during Anglo-Saxon times.
Well, now that you have learned all this stuff, what about learning another language? But you have to learn Mandarin, Greek, Arab or Japanese. If you learn another language that uses the same alphabet that your natural language, the process will be so easy that you will not improve cognitive skills. Although it is another language, your brain is able to recognize the symbols and signs that you already know as letters. But if you learn an entirely different language – a language that uses a different alphabet – this will create and activate other sections of your brain, your reasoning capabilities will greatly improve, and your cognitive abilities will expand. But remember, it doesn’t matter how good a student you can be, you will never be able to speak, understand or express yourself fluently or as good as someone who is native to the language.
Well, do you think 7.000 languages are that much? Take into consideration that I haven’t entered into the field of extinct languages! This would greatly increase those numbers. The Andaqui, Barawana, Catuquinaru, Charrúa, Cocoliche, Gayon, Hamuoé, Koeruna, Munichi, Natú, Omurano, Payagua, Purí, Puquina, Saraveca, Taparita, Tequiraca, Tupí Austral and Yabaâna are only a few examples of some indigenous languages of South America that become extinct. It is possible to make a list with a thousand names or more! Well, what can I say? Sometimes we do forget the fact that the American continent already had a lot of history, before the arrival of Europeans.
Wagner
