An Empirical Note on Endangered Cultures and Dialects

Abstract

The paper deals with such cultures and dialects that are either endangered or have become extinct, or are at the verge of extinction. There is no human group devoid of language and culture. In fact these are the two most distinguishing features of man that are not found in other animals. Other animals can produce sound, but cannot converse in different languages like man, and therefore, cannot transfer their learned behaviour (i.e. culture) from one generatioll to another. However, there is also no authentic account of when and how did language/speech emerge in human his ton;? Morgan (1963:12) suggested that invention of speech took place during the Lower Savagen; Period. The Prague School of Linguistics suggests that language is the product of' unconscious thought process' of man; therefore, it is universal. The author of the present paper has reservations to accept the suggestions of both the schools of thought, referred to above. Besides discussing the above issues, the paper also deals with empirical examples from some of the endangered cultures and languages/dialects from the State of Jharkhand, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The author has also attempted to explore tlze causes of withering of such cultures and dialects.