When the System Fails Kids, Preserving Languages

When the System Fails Kids, Preserving Languages

Top of Mind with Julie Rose

  • Nov 4, 2016 11:00 pm
  • 1:43:20 mins

When the System Fails Kids Guest: Rosie Maloney, Author of "Girl Unbroken"; Regina Calcaterra, Author of "Etched in Sand" Most people who read the memoirs of Regina Calcaterra and Rosie Maloney probably have a moment where they just have to stop for a bit because it’s so grim. And they’re thinking - how could this possibly happen to kids in America, when we have a whole child welfare system set up to make sure they’re safe and cared for? Preserving Languages Guest: Chris Rogers, Assistant Professor in Department of Linguistics and English Language, BYU; Dirk Elzinga, Associate Professor of Linguistics of English Language, BYU Over the last century, hundreds of languages have disappeared from the Earth: not a soul remains who can speak them. And the same fate awaits hundreds more languages in the coming decades. Most of us don’t think much about this notion that a language could become extinct, because nearly 80 percent of the world’s population shares just a handful of native tongues – Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, English, Hindi and Arabic are the top five. What does it take to save a language, and why is it worth the effort?