If everyone talked like me, we wouldn't have beautiful signs like this

I am continuing to mull the McWhorter article mentioned in yesterday’s post over in my head.  Another interesting quote from the linguist’s research:

According to one estimate, a hundred years from now the 6,000 languages in use today will likely dwindle to 600. The question, though, is whether this is a problem.

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If they die, they die...

Continuing in my newfound infatuation with something called the New York Times (obsessed with punctuality, pretpostavljam), I happened recently upon a section called Idea of the Day, a blog which, not surprisingly, daily muses briefly on new ideas.  An article from late 2009 entitled Why Save Dying Languages? caught my attention because of its colorful title.  Yes, the theme is related to language acquisition — which is why I felt freedom to blog about it — but the implies a conclusion that probably draws the ire of enthusiastic language learners out there: it is good that, as cultures come together, secondary languages be gradually relegated to society’s dust heap.

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