Importance of Language Research

Why is Language Preservation and Culture so Important?

Researching Under-documented Languages

From a linguist's perspective, learning more about all the different languages around the world is so important. It allows us to understand more about what makes us human. For this reason, we should understand the value in studying the properties of all languages, not just what is most widely spoken or similar to what we know.

Medʉmba and Rɨkpa are tonal languages just like ~60% of the world's languages. Oftentimes, tonal languages, especially African, are overlooked. Not to mention, these languages are often subject to impressionistic judgments which aren't very valuable in a language that is quite different from English. There hasn't been much work done on the Rɨkpa language, so we wanted to be a part of spreading more awareness of the importance of learning about these under-documented languages while contributing to a global university community and learning about how to conduct fieldwork.

https://forum.duolingo.com/comment/11862574/Is-Norwegian-a-tonal-language

Broader Connection: The Intersection between Language, Culture, and Healthcare

Language is innately tied to culture. Culture influences the approach one takes to health, and cultural ignorance can compound treatment issues. Research demonstrates that lack of cultural competency can lead to disagreements between patients and clinicians regarding treatment plans. This results in less effective care and increased risk for patient non-compliance, resulting in worse health outcomes and further strains on healthcare systems. Numerous aspects of culture must be taken into consideration. For example, some cultures find direct eye contact rude, some men may refrain from speaking to women, individuals may have different hygiene standards, some may have different ideas of punctuality, and some may withhold sensitive information they find embarrassing. Perhaps largest of all, there can be language barriers.

From a speech-language pathology perspective, familiarity with various languages is especially important. Unfamiliarity with the phonemic inventory of a language can make it difficult to diagnose and treat a patient. Likewise, learning English as a second language can compound an individual's communication difficulties. For example, a bilingual English and Spanish speaking child suffering from hearing loss may be able to distinguish between two similar phonemes (sounds) present in one language, but not the other. This can make detecting hearing loss difficult if the child appears to have deficits in only one language, but not the other.

An Australian study (Howells, 2016) found that while 80% of speech language pathology students from an Australian university were hoping to work with culturally and linguistically diverse populations, only 50% felt confident in their ability to do so. Language is innately tied to culture and in a previous Swedish study (Hultsj, 2019), speech pathology students reported increased cultural competence and confidence after being placed in settings with linguistically and culturally diverse individuals. Based on Hultsj (2019) and Howells (2016), it would seem that there is a need for more material on cultural awareness and competency to be included in curricula for educating upcoming professionals.

References/Further Reading

Howells, S., Barton, G., & Westerveld, M. (2016). Exploring the development of cultural
awareness amongst post-graduate speech-language pathology students. International
Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 18(3), 259–271.
https://doi-org.udel.idm.oclc.org/10.3109/17549507.2016.1154982
Hultsjö S, Bachrach-Lindström M, Safipour, J., & Hadziabdic, E. (2019). "cultural awareness
requires more than theoretical education" - nursing students' experiences. Nurse
Education in Practice, 39, 73–79. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nepr.2019.07.009