In the articles quoted below, the various writers are concerned about the decline of languages, and, concommitantly, cultures, from our world, and the impact that globalization and the internet may have on them. This has been occurring over the centuries, but has intensified in the past 100 years with the impact of the vast acceleration of the globalization process. If, indeed, many of these disappearing languages are unique to very small populations located in once isolated geographic areas, what possible effect does that have upon the larger world, or the vast majority of peoples in it? Is this a threat to cultural diversity, to the enriching process of language/cultural cross-fertilization? If, as some writers assert, language is culture, then we lose the treasures of the unique minds which have produced varied intellectual and aesthetic product. Are we also involved with the issue of the greater good of planet survival.....perhaps the inevitable result of the process of civilization (is it a Darwinian evolution?) as we know it: the expansion of the economic activity in the Brazilian rainforest has driven out many small groups of indigenous peoples- each with their unique language (or dialect) and culture. Is the disappear ance of these people into the larger scheme of a global cul- ture a part of the inevitability of "progress." Or, are we dealing with "cultural murder/suicide?" Can this presumably very astute world of ours find ways of integrating such peoples into our "brave new world" without destroying their way of life, their culture, their language, their being? Does the new and vast speeding up of our lives through cyber connections pose an ethical dilemma? Is the new millenium to be marked by a "global language" as yet to be revealed- -now taking form in English? a new Global culture that goes beyond Coca Cola and McDonald's? Where does English, or any other present major language fit into this situation?

The readings below can help students to identify some of these issues, suggest possible global implications, and stimulate their thinking about possible ways in which to deal with the matters of language development and/or extinction..

It is essential that one keep in mind that these articles are representative of a wider selection of articles on the specific topics.