Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center
One Woodrow Wilson Plaza, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20004-3027
T 202/691-4000
Don't Cry for Eyak
THE SOURCE: “The Cosmopolitan Tongue: The Universality of English” by John McWhorter, in World Affairs Journal, Fall 2009.
In 2008, the last native speaker of Eyak died in southern Alaska. Her death, and that of her mother tongue, was the subject of international news media attention. Observers mourned the loss of another indigenous language, one of thousands that are expected to meet the same fate in the next 100years.
Get over it, says Columbia University linguist John McWhorter. The passing of these languages is not as meaningful as some think, and strenuous efforts to keep them alive are unlikely tosucceed.
To read the rest of this article, please consider becoming a WQ subscriber, which allows online access to the current WQ issue as well as archive content. Other access options are below.
Research, browse, and discover more than 35 years of articles, essays, and reviews by preeminent scholars and writers. Our searchable archive of back issues is free for WQ subscribers.
 |
 |
 |
Subscribe today
to the WQ Online
and receive immediate access
to the WQ archive for a full year.
Subscribe Now
Good Vibrations
THE SOURCE: “Effects of Internet Commerce on Social Trust” by Diana C. Mutz, in Public Opinion Quarterly, Fall 2009.Crime's Great Convergence
THE SOURCE: “Crime and U.S. Cities: Recent Patterns and Implications” by Ingrid Gould Ellen and Katherine O’Regan, in The Annals of the AmericanThe Annals of the Academy of Political and Social Science, Nov. 2009.