Lovely series, David! As someone who cares deeply about language and their roles in cultural connectivity, I really appreciate the insights you put together.
I recently read something about how the US Census Bureau is looking to minimize the number of races we identify as, although it's already quite concise.. maybe East Asians and South Asians will eventually become just 'Asians' as a result of their efforts. But I predict that the same thing will happen to languages, as you mentioned. The assimilation generations will lead to the dominant languages absorbing all the smaller dialects. Would be interesting to revisit in 100 years.
Lovely series, David! As someone who cares deeply about language and their roles in cultural connectivity, I really appreciate the insights you put together.
I recently read something about how the US Census Bureau is looking to minimize the number of races we identify as, although it's already quite concise.. maybe East Asians and South Asians will eventually become just 'Asians' as a result of their efforts. But I predict that the same thing will happen to languages, as you mentioned. The assimilation generations will lead to the dominant languages absorbing all the smaller dialects. Would be interesting to revisit in 100 years.