Islamization of Knowledge #3: Dead Languages

Languages evolve. Some languages just die like humans would when shot by guns straight to the brains. "Phomm!" A language can be considered dead when it is not in current use and nobody speaks it anymore. However, they remain in use for legal, scientific, and religious functions. Examples of some extinct languages are:

This list was only originated from Italy. There are hundreds more claimed to be dead. According to Phillipa Law in her article , languages can become extinct because of 2 main reasons.

First, we can blame biligual speakers for speaking a more dominant language and abandon the other. Dominance bounds to happen when the ecomomy forces speakers to use the language that is in demand to fit their consumerism hunger. Billy noticed that without English, it would be extremely hard for a slacker to get a decent job nowadays. Everywhere in Malaysia the society is talking about the importance of English. Question: Is Bahasa going to be gunned eventually?

Another way for languages to die is when language borrowing gets out of hand. Law quoted, "A minority language can take so much material - first words, and then grammar (from a dominant language) that in a long run you can no longer call them separate." For instance, Creoles got swallowed back into its parent language.

Well, another logical reason Billy can think of is that when all speakers of a language are destroyed due to a natural disaster, the language says bye bye too.

LOL.

Hebrew as a Revived Language

Is Hebrew a cat?

No. It is a language spoken by the Jews.

Hard to believe, it is the ONLY sucessful DEAD language that has been revived after two millenia of its non-existance. According to Jack Fellman in Jewish Virtual Library , Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (the revivor) was inspired by the re-installment of the Bulgarian nation that he felt "the Jews must return to their land and begin anew to speak their own language." Now, his single-handed effort has been the forerunners of modern political Zionism, for in them are included the basic elements pertinent to Jewish nationalism: settlement policy, the revival of the Hebrew language, literature, and culture in the national homeland.

It must be stated explicitly that not all Jews are Zionists, and not all Zionists are Jews. According to G.Neuburger, an author of Jews not Zionists, the motives of some of these non-Jewish Zionists, such as Lord Balfour and General Smuts, are at least open to question. From the beginning of the Zionist movement, some of the most vocal and fervent Zionists have been Christian clergymen and served the cause of Zionism. He continues that the Zionists are hypocrites, that they misuse the sacred symbols in Judaism and represent Israel as their Zionist state.

According to the World Jewish Population Survery of 2002, the size of world Jewry is assessed at 13.2 million. On the other hand, the Muslim population is estimated around 6.8 billion worldwide. Has any of you pondered upon the significance behind this vast difference in the number of populations?

The Jew community is small yet their sense of unity is so strong that Hebrew could come back to life.

However, the worrying part of all is that it was revived by the supporter of Zionism and this could lead into the questions to their mysterious agenda. Let us stop here.

Well, regardless of those hidden political motives, it is safe to suggest that Muslims should reflect upon the spirit of the Jews to resurrect their language that was long dead.

Prepared by: Illya Shahirah

References:

Fromkin, V. A., Rodman, R., & Hyams, N. (2007). Brain and Language. An Introduction to Language (8th Edition ed., pp. 35 - 61). Boston: Thomson Wadsworth.