The Wall_Spring 2023_Issue 9

Interested in finding out more? Read the editors’ supplementary content by scanning the QR code!

Artwork: Florence Metcalfe, LVI

languages. Esperanto’s main use was in politics and international relations and quickly caught on around Europe and North America for this exact purpose.At the time, many people praised this idea, allowing for its exponential growth in popularity. However, theWorldWars had a detrimental impact on the language’s progression. Deep-rooted antisemitic rhetoric halted support for Esperanto, as Dr Ludwik Zamenhof was of Jewish heritage. However, all was not lost – an estimated 2 million people still speak Esperanto today, with many Esperantists learning it as a second language. Over time, many languages and dialects have formed, with their unique history and etymology.Thanks to this, there are around 7,000 languages spoken today, which is just unfathomable; at least for my mind to grasp. Language is the glue that keeps

people together and learning about it helps us become more conscious of not only the people around us, but also of our own identity. Knowledge of diverse cultures and heritages evokes deeper empathy towards others, something which we always need more of in a world not yet free from prejudice and discrimination. However, this plethora of languages may decline in the future.An insightful article written by linguists Alan Dench and Slamet Setiawan entitled Loss of Languages Speaks Vol umes about Changing Times states that “already many of the world’s languages aren’t spoken by children,” with familial languages being lost or forgotten in as little as two generations. This problem leaves younger genera tions not understanding their relatives and losing connection to their

community, which can feel isolating.

Nonetheless, languages do change and have survived many obstacles, so this isn’t the only time language has been threatened. One look at my native language of Polish – a language which still exists even though its speakers didn’t have a country to reside in for 123 long years – emphasises the incredible feats nurturing and cultivating language, paired with that unshakeable feeling of identity, can achieve. So, all these events in the great history of languages have led to this very article, whereby a specific string of letters in a certain pattern has been deciphered by your brain with ease.And we only have thousands of years of evolution to thank for that.

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