Summary & Prospects

Language Endangerment

This case study taught me a lot about language endangerment and how severe it can be. We have talked about many different languages that fall on the spectrum of endangerment. Chulym falls on that far end of the spectrum; moribund. With Chulym possibly not surviving till the end of the next decade, it is saddening to see all that is lost. Chulym has a rich hunting culture. A lot of their lexicon involves words that are hunting or nature related. This will be lost. They have a unique present tense system that is unlike any other language we have studied. This will be lost. They have a unique knowledge of the region, its animals, plants, and landscape. This will all be lost.

Culture Lost

Another thing that we have talked about in this class is that when a language dies, so does the culture. Chulym has a rich history and culture. They have folk tales and songs that describe their hunting practices, hunting practices that are unique to their culture.

Humanity Lost

One of the questions that we were asked at beginning of the semester was, "Is language death bad?". I want to answer that question: Yes, yes it is bad. When a language dies, like Chulym, a piece of humanity dies. We are losing not only the linguistic value of the language itself but the cultural knowledge these people have. While we preserved this language in archives, it does not do it justice. The knowledge these people carry will forever be lost to history. These are the consequences of sociopolitical conditions that these people were put under. 

Global Endangerment

I think the case study of Chulym shows how important it is that we continue studying endangered languages. It shows that we must do everything that we can to document and preserve these languages. We need to get to these communities and hear their stories and find a way to support them. But I also believe that linguists can only do so much. There needs to be work done in the government and schools of the region as well. Schools need to be in support of bilingual classrooms as well as classes taught in minority languages. While this all may seem that I am looking through a rose-colored glass, these are things that could've helped Chulym. With these things in place, Chulym might have had a chance at survival.

While I feel like the death of Chulym is sad, there is also a bit of hope. People like Vasilij exist in the world. People who genuinely care about the language and its survival. If anything, he gives me hope. 

Archiving

A potential hope for the language is the mass amount of information that lives in the ELAR. There could be potential for a revitalization of the language, but at the moment most of the information in the archive seems to serve linguistic purposes. The information that I have sifted through seems to be primarily for linguists and not for the community. There is also the issue that the archive is online, and the community does not have access to the archive. But the archive does allow for the preservation of the language.