Language death // was Gaelic things

andrew wrote:

> I read a book by David Crystal recently that deduced statistically
> speaking a language dies every couple of months. He concluded the book
> with the observation that during its writing three languages should have
> died.
What I find most concerning is where death of language is intimitely
tied to the wellbeing of a people. The examples in /Why Warriors Lie
Down And Die/ by Richard Trudgen show how Aboriginal people in
northernmost Australia (among other places) don't have the knowledge
they need to survive because on one hand English intellectual
vocabulary and understanding (about health, disease, economics, law,
etc) has not been translated to them in a culturally acceptable way
(the book spends considerable time discussing what "culturally
acceptable way" means) but on the other hand native intellectual
vocabulary and understanding on the same topics, which is perfectly
sophisticated, is being lost.

To quote from the Executive Summary <http://www.ards.com.au/execsum.htm>

 "  Most Australians do not even understand that this communication
    crisis exists. In fact, many times it is dismissed as ‘humbug’
    with statements like ‘The people should just learn English’ or ‘I
    can make them understand using English’. Unfortunately Yolngu do
    not think in English so they have difficulty communicating and
    constructing knowledge in English. In reality it is yet another
    war that Yol`u are being forced to fight— a war of words and
    misunderstandings.

    Poor communication leads to dangerous, life-threatening
    misunderstandings between medical professionals and the people. It
    turns education into a farce and makes economic development almost
    impossible.

    Everyday diseases and sickness are not understood by the Yolngu
    patients and sometimes even Yolngu health workers. This results in
    the Yolngu communities become more and more dependent on outside
    medical services as the confusion about new diseases and medical
    condition increase. Yolngu also find it impossible to comply with
    instructions that make little or almost no sense to them. This war
    of words leaves Yolngu casualties suffering from poor health and
    premature deaths.
 "

Adrian.