: interesting post, Floyd, and undeniably true. However, I've read that the Pygmies, unlike the San, have no remaining language of their own; they have adopted the language of whatever "Bantu" tribe lives in the region where they live. (Lingala, Lese, Bassa, Sango, etc.)That's true of many bands, and quite tragic, IMHO, since many of the languages that have "disappeared" were very beautiful. This applies outside of Africa as well, of course (for those who think I'm being unfairly biased). If you've ever heard spoken Kuag'iyulth, Manx Gaelic, Nahuatl, or any number of "dead or dying" languages, you know what I mean. Every year, fewer and fewer of the indigenous languages, particularly of the Americas, are spoken. In your area, this is even more apparent than it is out here, Nikhil. (Though that's probably due to the longer history of occupation than anything else.) It's sorrowful that such beautiful forms of expression are becoming homogenized by the spread of monokultur. But then, aesthetics, alone, shouldn't justify "saving" a language either, since beauty is a transitory and personal phenomenon. Even languages that I considered "ugly" (if I ever found such a thing...well, besides my mother's midwestern nasal twang...'ever see Fargo? heh heh...kidding mom) would still be worth saving.
:Of course, many of THESE languages have no written forms. Let's also agree that not having a written language does NOT mean that these tribes do not have religions, traditions, mythologies, ethical systems, philosophies, or systematized knowledge of the natural world.
Of course! And very complex and well-developed religious, philosophical, ethical, and scientific traditions they are, and well worth trying to preserve in their own rights. My point was one about Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions. These are very "book-oriented" philosophical systems, and as a result, only the literate are eligible for salvation in these traditions. I'd like to spend more time researching it, but it wouldn't surprise me to find the roots of this bias in the Egyptian tradition of the scribe's power over the population. Hmmm....speculation...
:Most religions, empirical herbal pharmacology, epic poetry, etc. existed in oral form long before it was written down.
As did most of the bible, but unlike herbal pharmacology, no "performance criteria" (to use Lewontin's term) existed to keep literature from varying with the telling. (That is, if I mistakenly fed a person deadly nightshade instead of willow bark tea, people would notice that the person's cold didn't get better, whereas if I said "six days and on the seventh he rested..." instead of "seven days, and on the eigth he rested," people would be less likely to complain much, or even notice.)
: On a related note, a friend of a friend of mine has a degree in Linguistics, and plans to become a missionary; his first project is to go to a tribe in the remote deserts of Chad and translate the Bible for them.
Oh well, missionary zeal is unstoppable, I suppose. Did they ask for him, or is he just going to go save people against their will?
-Floyd
None.
