🎧 Lectures 33-34 of The Story of Human Language by John McWhorter

Listened to Lectures 33-34: The Story of Human Language by John McWhorterJohn McWhorter from The Great Courses: Linguistics

Lecture 33: Language Death—The Problem
Just as there is an extinction crisis among many of the world's animals and plants, it is estimated that 5,500 of the world's languages will no longer be spoken in 2100.

Lecture 34: Language Death—Prognosis
There are many movements to revive dying languages. We explore the reasons that success is so elusive. For one, people often see their unwritten native language as less "legitimate" than written ones used in popular media.