Topic: Preservation of Endangered Languages
Country: Ireland
Delegate Name: Maddie Petersen
School: Vicksburg High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Ireland position papers GLIMUN 2013 committees
In Ireland there is not an issue with endangered languages. The two official languages of Ireland are Irish Gaelic and English. These languages are spoken from over 6,300,000 people in our country. Although, we do not have a problem with endangered languages in Ireland, the Irish government still wants to help preserve other world languages that have become endangered. Studies show that 20% of the world’s languages are endangered; we feel that we must help to stop and reverse this problem.
The extinction of languages is accelerating today because of population pressures and the spread of industrialization. The global economy forces small, unindustrialized communities to make a choice to keep their traditional language or participate in the larger world. East Africans speak Swahili, Central Europeans need to speak Russian, and almost everyone needs to speak English to participate in business, trade, and a global economy based on their region. As the older speakers of traditional languages die, the younger ones adopt the more-useful tongue that will help them succeed in today’s world.
The languages we have mentioned are only a very small fraction of the 500-1,000 endangered languages that exist today. The Irish government feels a strong need to fix this. The future can be one that has eliminated minority cultures and their languages in a “tide of standardization”, or the future can be a place of rich cultural integrity and many minor languages that will help keep cultures strong. The actions that we take now will help us decide which future we experience later. Let us have one that shows the importance of culture and language.
