Annotated Bibliography

1.

Anderson, R. S. (2012). How many languages are in the world? Oxford University Press.

Stephen Anderson is a professor at Yale University who wrote his own book titled Languages A Very Short
Introduction which was published by Oxford University Press in 2012. Chapter two of his book How many
languages are there in the world? discusses how linguists have discovered new languages over the course of several
years as well as learn that many languages have died or will soon die out. In Andersons paper he discusses how
language continues to surprise us with new information about different regions in the world.
Anderson describes in this chapter how every region in the world and every language is different in its own
way. Anderson uses numerous statistics to prove his point that different regions across the world could speak
different languages. For example Anderson mentions how in Papua New Guinea there are approximately 832
languages that are spoken meanwhile there is only a population of about 3.9 million. Anderson also describes how
many languages are spoken in different regions of the world such as Europe, Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. Anderson
also highlights how by studying language there is a great chance to encounter a new language as well as encounter a
dying language. Using evidence, relative to when Andersons book was published, there are about 6,909 languages
spoken throughout the world. Anderson also mentions over time a large amount of languages have died out do to a
lack of people speaking them. This chapter in Andersons book is interesting because not only does it make the
reader aware of how diverse the world is but it also brings awareness to the reader about how certain languages are
dying out.
In my opinion this chapter in Andersons book is interesting because it allows the reader to have a visual
understanding of how many languages there are in the world. Although the number of languages could constantly
change with the discovery of new languages or the death of old ones. Anderson has opened up the minds of his
readers to realize the different life styles in the world. This chapter contained many statistics that Anderson found,
which are relevant to the time of the publication of his book, which helped strengthen his points about language. For
example in his article Anderson brought up an interesting topic about the Summer Institute of Linguistics translating
the Bible in 2,508 languages. After reading this I found it interesting how even though people from across the world
may speak different languages it is possible for them to share similar ideas and beliefs. I was also interested in
Andersons comments about how rapidly languages could become extinct. For example, Anderson mentioned how
in North America there used to be approximately 300 languages post-contact and as of 2012 there are a total of 175

languages in North America. This article is very interesting because it teaches the reader about how language has
spread through different regions of the world and how important it is to understand the language of the region.

2.

Crawford, J. (1989, June). Language Freedom and Restriction: A Historical Approach to the
Official Language Controversy [PDF]. Montana: Speeches/Conference Papers Historical
Materials.

In this article written by James Crawford, Crawford explains whether or not English should be the official
language of the United States. Crawford is the founder and president of the Institute for Language and Education
Policy and use to be an executive director of the National Association for Bilingual Education. Crawford theses
states that America has never been monolingual. He states that there are numerous citizens that are bilingual.
Although America is full of different languages there have been several pushes to make it monolingual. Crawford
explains how there have been numerous attempts by several states to make laws that wouldve made English the
national language in America. Although these states favored this idea, in the past, this countrys early fathers and
other government officials felt that making an official language in a democratic nation would be violating the rights
the citizens who speak other languages. Crawford then gave an example of when America tried pushing to make
English the only spoken language. Crawford stated that Native American languages were restricted from being
taught in schools, such as the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs School. By restricting the students to learn their
native language it was ruining their heritage and culture. After realizing the cultural damages this was doing
America decided the students speak their language. In conclusion, Crawford states that it would be wrong to make
America monolingual because it has always been home to bilinguals and is home to more bilinguals than any other
country in the world.
In my opinion, trying to make America only speak one language is discriminating to the countless number
of multilingual speakers that live in America. I myself am multilingual and I would be devastated to find out that I
couldnt speak the languages spoken by my parents. From personal experience, being able to speak different
languages has allowed me to describe certain things in a way that sometimes cannot be translated easily in
American. Before reading this paper I thought Americas official language was English. However, after reading this
paper Ive learned that America is better off without an official language. This paper has showed the effects of what
has happened when there has been a push to try and make English the official language of the United States.
Whenever this push for one language was applied, there would always be a conflict with another group of citizens.

For example, the German Americans during WWI werent allowed to speak their native language because
Americans feared they were plotting against them during war. Another example, has to deal with the Native
Americans and how their languages were weakened because of Western Expansion and the Indian Removal Act, as
well as the Trail of Tears. After reading this paper I now appreciate that America is the land of the immigrants and
that it doesnt have any official language, allowing its citizens to freely speak whatever language they want. As the
founders of this nation stated, it would be wrong to consider this nation a democracy and force a language on the
people. The people should have the choice of what they want to speak.

3.

Horobin, S. (2015, Nov. 10). What will the English language be like in 100 years? The
Conversation US.

In an article written by Simon Horobin describes how English has changed from the past and will change in
the future. Horobin is a professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Oxford. Horobin describes
how it is common for the lingua franca to adapt to the native language spoken in a certain region. He gives examples
of how English is being adapted into different cultures such as in Singapore where a language known as Singlish, a
combination of Singapores native language and English, has been adapted. Horobin also mentions how several
Spanish speaking countries and speakers have adapted to Spanglish, a combination of Spanish and English. These
languages adapted English into their native language so that they may continue to respect their culture as well as
find a way to communicate to others who cant speak their language. Horobin also gives the example of the old
lingua franca, Latin, which adapted into what is now known as the Romance Languages, which are French, Spanish,
Portuguese, Romanian, and Italian. Despite the fact that English is the new lingua franca, Horobin brings up an
interesting concern about the rise in technology. Horobin mentions how as technology advances we are now able to
use devices such as Google Translate to help us communicate with one another if there is a language barrier. Also,
Horobin mentions how as technology continues to grow the English language is beginning to use more and more
slang terms; which will eventually make the lingua franca contain these English slang terms of speaking. Finally,
Horobin mentions how new ways of communication such as the use of emojis are making ways of communication
around the world shorter. Instead of writing out how exactly one feels about a certain issue they will use an emoji to
portray that emotion. By having the option of replacing words with emojis is hurting society as it is allowing us to
express our emotions less.
I believe that Simon Horobin is right by saying that English will change over the next couple of years and
that people from other languages will start adapting English into their own language. I believe that communicating

in a common language, such as a lingua franca, makes it easier for other people to communicate their ideas to one
another. Other languages will adapt to the lingua franca and over time it will become part of their culture. Through
personal experience I see how my family and I speak Spanglish once in a while to communicate ideas with one
another. Knowing that the Spanish population in America is so large it is easy to see how both languages have
merged together. One thing that concerns me about Horobins paper is the statement he made on emojis changing the
way we communicate. Being in a generation that uses social media constantly I understand how emojis are
substituting how we express our emotions, however I dont think that they will deprive us from expressing
ourselves. In my opinion Horobins article brought up a lot of concerns of how language will change in the future
such as how we will communicate to each other.

4.

McWhorter, J. (2014, Dec. 5). Why save a language? The New York Times.

John McWhorter, a professor at Colombia University, discusses in his article Why Save Language how
during his lecture he always gets asked the question TELL me, why should we care? about saving languages that
are about to become extinct. McWhorter describes how as a professor he is obliged to say a certain response to his
most frequently asked question, however, he would prefer to further explain why he believes language should be
saved. McWhorter mentions how originally he appreciated each languages unique window on the world. however,
he later goes on to mention how these different viewpoints on the world arent that important. McWhorter then goes
on to say that trying to keep a language alive for cultural reasons and ways of communicating ideas is the reason
why a language should be saved. He mentions how using language with certain other people is a powerful tool for
connection and a sense of community. This point goes to show how strongly McWhorter cares about preserving
different languages around the world, so that the culture of a region doesnt die out. Being a professor who teaches
about the importance of language McWhorter does have a strong opinion on why language is so important. Although
being biased McWhorter brings up strong points of why language is so important to keep and does a great job
explaining why we should try to preserve language.
McWhorter did a great job in his article explaining why it is important to save languages that are close to
becoming extinct. After reading this article the idea that every language has its own unique way of communicating
ideas stayed in my thoughts. Knowing that every language is important for maintaining culture, my stance is similar
to McWhorters; I believe that we should save languages that are on the verge of dying in order to preserve the
cultures of these languages. However, reading McWhorters article made me realize how language is not only

important for just a specific culture of people, it is important for everyone in the world. Each language provides a
unique way of describing things in the world. Dead languages such as ancient Greek or Latin have helped create
different ideas of the world for people, and through these ideas we have been able to advance. These dying
languages are important for us because they too have their own interpretation of the world. As McWhorter stated
languages are variations on a worldwide, cross-cultural perception of this thing called life. Learning new ways
of interpreting life from different languages will help us continue to grow as a species to become smarter and
stronger, which is why I believe language should be saved.

5.

Nouri, N. (2015). Is Azerbaijani Turkish an endangered language? Language attitudes among

Azerbaijani youth in Tabriz. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(7), 1476+. Retrieved
from http://go.galegroup.com.ccny-proxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ps/retrieve.do?
tabID=T003&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchResultsType=MultiTab&searchType=Basi
cSearchForm&currentPosition=3&docId=GALE
%7CA446734629&docType=Report&sort=RELEVANCE&contentSegment=&prodId=LitRC&c
ontentSet=GALE
%7CA446734629&searchId=R3&userGroupName=cuny_ccny&inPS=true&authCount=1&u=c
uny_ccny#

In this article Naser Nouri focuses on describing the process of how a language begins to die as well on
whether or not Azerbaijani Turkish is believed to be dying. Naser Nouri has a B.A. in English Translation and also
received his Masters in English Language Teaching in a University in Tabriz. Nouris main focus of study is
sociolinguists, which is the study of endangered languages; he also studies in other areas such as multilingualism. In
his paper Nouri states four ways of how a language may potentially become extinct and gives a brief explanation of
they all mean. These four ways are a sudden death; radical language death, bottom-to-top death and gradual death.
Sudden death means every speaker of that language suddenly dies. Radical language death refers to speakers of the
language refusing or not being able to speak their language because of domestic issues. Bottom-to-top language
death begins when the lower class starts to lose touch with the language and slowly works its way to the upper
class. Finally, gradual language death, which is also the most common form of language death, is where the
mother language is taken over by another spoken language. Nouri then discuss how several languages in Iran may
gradually die out due to the dominant power of the Persian language. Languages such as Azerbaijani Turkish, in
Iran, are beginning to perish, as they are no longer being taught in schools as well being overtaken by the Persian
language. Nouri also states that because of urbanization and an increase in the push for the Persian language
Azerbaijani Turkish speakers are beginning to forget their language. Despite all the reasons to believe that
Azerbaijani Turkish is an endangered language at the end of his paper Nouri stated that it wasnt. However, Nouri

states that to be completely certain that it isnt a dying language it will continued to be studied and compared with
the factors of a dying language. Learning about the possible ways a language may become endangered or extinct
was a key resource to starting my exploratory essay on how could society save endangered languages.
When I first encountered this article I thought Id use it in my exploratory essay as an example of a dying
language. However, after reading this article I realized that Azerbaijani Turkish is not a dying language. Although,
Azerbaijani Turkish is not a dying language I realized I could use other important information from the article in my
paper. Learning about four different ways of how a language may possibly become extinct is a great beginning to
finding a way to preserve these languages. I also became more aware of what gradual death is, seeing how countries
around the world are pushing for other languages rather than their own native language. This article will appeal to
those who are studying endangered languages and want to know what causes a language to become endangered.
This article provided me with a lot of new information that I will use in my paper. This information will be put in
my exploratory essay since it is important to know what factors make a language extinct.

6.

Thurman, J. A loss for words. (2015) New Yorker, 91(6), 32-1

http://web.a.ebscohost.com.ccnyproxy1.libr.ccny.cuny.edu/ehost/detail/detail?sid=f9f1cb7a-e0534356-b4477f4adbcf0ae2%40sessionmgr4007&vid=0&hid=4209&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d#AN=101859290&db=a9h

In her article Judith Thurman focuses on the stories of people who have tried to save languages. Judith
Thurman works for The New Yorker and has received several rewards for her work. In her paper Thurman describes
situations in which people have learned an endangered language in hopes to make it stronger. She also describes the
stories of several people who have revived extinct languages that havent been spoken for several years. Thurman
begins her article by describing the story of Joubert Yanten Gomez, whose tribal name is Keyuk. Keyuk is the last
known speaker of the language Selknam. Interested in his familys heritage, while he was a kid, Keyuk decided to
study the Selknam language. Soon Keyuk became fluent in Selknam and was able to have a new perspective of the
world he lived in. In Thurmans article she also describes how camps in Ontario, Canada, were formed to try and
teach the Mohawk language so that it can continue to be passed down through generations. These camps eventually
grew and expanded to other areas in the country, to make it more convenient for people to visit them. Thurman also
discusses how several people have studied extinct languages, through writings, and revived them by teaching them
to others and starting small organizations, such as a club. This article by Judith Thurman has provided me with great
information for my exploratory essay on how we could save endangered languages.

This article has shown several ways of how society could potentially save endangered languages. It will
appeal to people who want to save endangered languages and people who are interested in learning a new language.
By studying and teaching an endangered language, in school or in camps, that language would potentially grow and
strengthen. For example, Keyuk studied Selknam and became fluent in it, however he didnt make the language
grow. If he was to teach others the language, such as the camps in Canada that taught a Mohawk language, he
couldve made the language stronger so that it could be passed down to other generations. The most effective way of
saving an endangered language that was mentioned throughout Thurmans paper was studying them and teaching it
to others. After reading this paper and seeing how effective it is to study a language I believe it is important for
schools to push for native languages. For example, if a school has a large population of speakers in a particular
language, whether its an endangered language or not, that community of speakers should be allowed to study their
language. It is important that we continue to support the languages spoken in the world to preserve the history of
ancient cultures.