How Languages Die語言是如何消亡的

Languages change over time in order to meet the informational demands of their speakers and adapt to their zeitgeist， taking in new words or seeing them made up. Much like people， who live in a society and have to interact with others in order to survive， languages come into contact with other languages. This results in not just a sharing of loanwords， but in totally new means of conveying information.

語言隨著時間的推移而變化，吸納新詞或創造新詞，以滿足使用者的表達需求并適應所處時代的思潮。正如人類身處社會必須與他人互動以求生存，語言也會與其他語言發生碰撞。這不僅促成了外來詞的流動，也催生了全新的信息表達方式。

However， nothing lasts forever， and even the most widely spoken languages eventually start losing not just their prominence but even their speakers. Just like people get older and weaker over time， eventually succumbing due to natural causes， so do languages. After declining， they eventually become lost—and sometimes forgotten—relics of the past. There is nothing wrong or unusual with that： death is as natural as life itself.

然而，萬物皆有終點，即使是那些使用最廣泛的語言，最終也會開始失勢，甚至連使用者也會減少。正如人隨著時光流逝會變得衰老虛弱，直至順應自然規律歸于塵土，語言亦是如此。經歷衰退，語言最終消失不見，有時還會被忘記，成為歷史的遺珠。這一切既無過錯，也并不稀奇——死亡與生命本身一樣自然。

Courses of language death

語言消亡的過程

Before we start， let’s make a few things clear. There’s a distinction to be made between “extinct” and “dead” languages. The difference is pretty much visible from the surface.

在開始討論之前，首先明確一些概念。我們要把“滅絕”的語言和“消亡”的語言區分開來，兩者的區別顯而易見。

A language is considered “dead” when it has no living native speakers， but is still being used in some way. This is the case with the Latin and Sanskrit languages， which still see application in religion and science. Some people still speak and learn these languages， but they are not used on a regular basis， and are not passed down from one generation to another.

如果說一種語言已經“消亡”，那就意味著它已經沒有在世母語者，但仍以某種方式被使用著。拉丁語和梵文即是如此，它們仍在宗教和科學領域發揮作用。有些人仍會說、會學這些語言，但這些語言并不經常使用，也不會代代相傳。

“Extinct” languages， on the other hand， are those which no living person can speak or understand. Some may have been extinct for so long that they require decipherment to be understood today. For example， a language called Proto-Elamite， used 5，000 years ago on the territory that is now Iran， is yet to be deciphered. Many ancient languages， like Sumerian1， are also considered extinct， despite having already been deciphered， as they are no longer used in any way by anyone.

再說“滅絕”的語言，它指的是在世之人都不會說也不懂的語言。有些語言已經滅絕太久，以至于需要破譯才能為今日之人所理解。例如，5000年前在如今伊朗境內使用的原始埃蘭語至今仍未被破譯。許多古代語言，如蘇美爾語，雖然已經被破譯，但由于徹底不為人所用，仍被視為滅絕的語言。

The other way around is possible， too. For example， there are numerous revitalization movements in the UK aimed at bringing Celtic languages2， like Cornish， back to life.

反過來的情形也有可能發生。譬如，英國有許多復興運動致力于使康沃爾語等凱爾特語重獲新生。

Now， back to death.

現在，回到“消亡”的話題。

Natural evolutionary course

自然的進化之路

One of the most common ways that languages die is the natural evolutionary course. Languages change and evolve over time. New words appear via borrowing， meaning shift， invention （as is the case with the word “robot”）—grammar also changes to better suit the needs of speakers， and over time， more convenient ways of delivering information appear. As we know， Old English was heavily influenced by the languages of those conquering England at a particular time in history. This resulted in English’s inconsistent vocabulary， which is a mishmash of Germanic and Romance words that have been beaten into3 shape by bizarre spelling rules， and the simple conventions of analytic languages4.

最常見的語言消亡方式之一就是自然進化。語言隨著時間的推移出現變化、進行演化。通過借詞、改變語義和造詞（如“機器人”一詞），新的詞匯涌現——語法也會改變，從而更好地滿足使用者的需求。漸漸地，更便捷的信息傳遞方式也應運而生。眾所周知，在特定的歷史時期中，征服英格蘭之人所用的語言對古英語產生了深遠影響。這導致英語詞匯內部缺乏統一性（摻雜了由奇異拼寫規則塑造的日耳曼語與羅曼語詞匯），又促使英語接受了分析型語言的簡化慣例。

Hundreds of years ago， however， the language looked radically different. Its grammar was extremely complex， with extensive grammatical case and gender systems， verb conjugations， and even a noun class system. These things are all but absent from the modern version of the language.

然而數百年前，英語的面貌截然不同。它的語法極為繁復，擁有復雜的語法格和性別系統、動詞變位規則，甚至還有名詞類別系統。這些特征在現代英語中幾乎不復存在。

Modern languages continue to evolve and develop， eventually becoming newer， more improved， and more convenient. For example， my native Russian is en route to slowly lose its extensive grammatical case system. Many people use simpler constructions which， despite being more wordy or just plain wrong in terms of the standard language rules， nevertheless reveal the direction the language is headed toward.

現代語言仍在不斷演化和發展，最終會變得更加新穎、先進，更便于使用。以我的母語俄語為例，它正慢慢失去其復雜的語法格系統。很多人使用更為簡單的表達結構，盡管從標準語言規則的角度來看，這些結構更啰嗦或者完全錯誤，但它們無疑揭示了俄語這種語言發展的方向。

Gradual language death

漸進式的語言消亡

It’s also fairly common for languages to gradually fall out of use.

語言逐步被淘汰也是相當常見的事。

● Top-to-bottom language death

·自上而下的語言消亡

In this case， language death occurs when speakers of one language come into contact with speakers of another more “prestigious” language and then gradually drop their language in favor of the new one. A community may remain bilingual， which can last throughout dozens of generations， but over time， fewer and fewer young people will use their traditional language. Their level of proficiency will also lower with each successive generation， until the traditional language is no longer spoken at all. This process can be witnessed even now， with many minority languages in Russia being dropped by younger people in favor of Russian， which is thought to be “the language that makes sense.”

在這種情況下，語言的消亡源自一種語言的使用者與另一種更“尊貴”的語言的使用者接觸，前者逐步放棄自己的語言，轉而使用新的語言。這樣的一個群體可能會在數代人的時間里使用雙語，但漸漸地，使用傳統語言的年輕人越來越少。他們使用傳統語言的熟練度也逐代遞減，直到再也沒有人會說這種語言。即使在今天，這一過程仍在持續——俄羅斯的許多少數民族語言被年輕人舍棄，他們選擇了被認為更“能讓人聽懂”的俄語。

● Bottom-to-top language death

·自下而上的語言消亡

In this case， a language is no longer used by its native speakers in most instances， but continues to exist in a formal， religious， literary， or ceremonial context. A perfect example for this is Latin， which is no longer used outside of these traditional areas of application. Its evolution into modern Romance languages made those successor languages become distinct new languages， allowing Latin in turn to go through what can be considered a bottom-to-top death case.

在這種情況下，一種語言在大多數場合中已不再為母語者所用，但仍舊在正式的、宗教的、文學的或儀式的語境中存續。一個典型的例子就是拉丁語，在傳統應用領域之外已無人再用。拉丁語演變成現代羅曼語族，其后繼語言逐漸變成各不相同的新語言，又反過來使拉丁語經歷了所謂的自下而上的消亡。

Sudden language death

突然的語言消亡

This case of language death happens when all or an overwhelming majority of speakers suddenly die as a result of a disaster， such as an epidemic， natural disaster， or violence. One such example took place in the 1830s in Tasmania， when all of the island’s natives were killed by European colonists. Another instance of sudden language death occurred during the colonization of South America by Spanish Conquistadors in the 1500s; many local tribes were wiped out by “new” bacteria that were brought by the Europeans. Their languages perished along with them.

這種語言消亡發生在所有或絕大多數語言使用者因災難而突然喪生的情況下，例如流行病、天災或暴力迫害。一個典型例子出現在19世紀30年代的塔斯馬尼亞島，當時島上的原住民全數遭到歐洲殖民者殺害。另一個例子發生在16世紀西班牙征服者殖民南美洲時期，眾多土著部落因歐洲人帶來的“新”細菌遭到滅頂之災。他們的語言也隨之消亡。

Radical language death

激進的語言消亡

A similar instance in which language death occurs very quickly—literally in the span of one or two generations. However， in this scenario， language death is a result of political repression or （the fear of） violence. In particular， the speakers of a particular language are not killed， but instead are forced to reject their native language for fear of legal prosecution. An example of this occurred in El Salvador in the 1930s， when many indi-genous peoples began refusing to speak their languages to avoid persecution during （and after） a political uprising.

還有一種情況與上一種類似，語言消亡得非常迅速，可能在一兩代人的時間內就消失殆盡。不過在這種情形下，語言的消亡源于政治壓迫或暴力行為（引發的恐懼）。具體來說，就是某種語言的使用者并未遭到殺害，但是因懼怕法律制裁而被迫舍棄自己的母語。20世紀30年代的薩爾瓦多就發生過這樣的事，許多原住民族為了避免在政治動蕩期間（以及之后）遭受迫害，紛紛拒絕使用本族語言。

Looking towards the future

展望未來

Language diversity has been in decline for the last few hundreds of years. Due to colonialism， globalization， and standardization， the world’s top 100 languages are spoken by 85% of the population. This trend continues to develop. Death is just as natural as life itself， and languages， being living organisms， will eventually succumb to it as well.

過去數百年間，語言的多樣性逐步衰減。受殖民主義、全球化和標準化的影響，85%的人類說著世界前100種語言。這一衰減趨勢仍在延續。死亡和生命本身一樣自然，而語言作為一種生命有機體，最終也要接受命運。

（譯者為“《英語世界》杯”翻譯大賽獲獎者；單位：復旦大學）

1世界上有文字記錄的最古老的語言之一，具有世界上已知最古老的拼音文字系統，還擁有公元前3100年的銘文。曾使用于美索不達米亞（今伊拉克一帶）南部，至今系屬不明。

2凱爾特諸語通常分為大陸凱爾特語和海島凱爾特語，后者又分為蓋爾語和不列顛語兩支。不列顛語支包括威爾士語和康沃爾語等。" 3 beat sth into sth（把金屬等）錘煉，敲打（成……），此處用作比喻。" 4分析型語言是主要使用虛詞、語序先后等語法形式來表示語法意義的語言。現代英語表現出分析型語言的特征，具有功能靈活性（如詞性活用）和詞匯開放性（自由吸收其他語言的詞匯和隨時創造合成詞、派生詞）等特點。