Last updated June 5, 2020 at 5:19 pm
Regions of the world hit the hardest by COVID-19, like Italy, are also at risk of having regional dialects die out.
An elderly woman wearing a protective mask in the center of the city of Naples. Credit: Salvatore Laporta/KONTROLAB/LightRocket via Getty Images.
Why This Matters: One language is lost every two weeks.
The world’s languages have been a silent victim in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the damage may be irreparable, warns a language expert from Edith Cowan University.
Dr Annamaria Paolino, a language researcher in ECUâs School of Education says the loss of the worldâs older generations could affect the language and culture of nations.
âUNESCO predicts that half of the worldâs languages would be lost by the end of the 21st Century and scientists estimate that one language is lost every two weeks,â Paolino says.
âIf the scientists are right, the world has already lost seven languages in the three months of the COVID -19 pandemic.â
Languages at risk in regions of the world hit hard by COVID-19.
Many of the worldâs languages are at risk of extinction were found in regions of the world that have been hit hard by COVID-19 such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, France and Italy.
Also: 6 countries, 6 curves: how nations that moved fast against COVID-19 avoided disaster
âThe region of Lombardia (Lombardy) in Italy has lost more than 14,000 people to COVID-19, which has mainly hit the Silent Generation (1928 â 1946) and The Baby Boomers (1946 â 1964),” says Paolino.
âThey are generations who have defined modern Italy, lived through the dictatorship of Benito Mussolini, Gli Azzurri (Italyâs much-loved soccer team) winning two World Cups, Mussolini and Hitler signing the Rome-Berlin Axis, the Liberation of Milan, the capture and execution of Mussolini and the birth of the Italian Republic.
âThese regional dialects are entwined within the historical and cultural fabric of the country and much will be lost with their passing.â
Youth interest in dialect may be too late
Paolino says Italy had seen an increased interest in younger generations wanting to learn their regional dialects over the past few years.
âThey have been learning dialect with a renewed sense of âcampanalismoâ- a connectedness symbolised by local pride and a sense of belonging,â Paolino says.
Also: Dialects and Decisions – You Can’t Have One Without the Other
âThe majority of these young people were learning them through their interactions with their nonni (grandparents) and bisnonni (great-grandparents)â conversations, stories, cooking and songs that have tragically now been laid to rest with their loved ones.â
The forced slow down of society gave people the chance to reflect upon their place in the global community and to play a small part in protecting our rich cultural history.
âI encourage everyone to spend the time to learn a language â whether it be a standard language or dialect as both need protecting,â Paolino says.
âYou donât have to look to other countries to find a language to learn. In Australia, of the 250 traditional indigenous languages once spoken, only 100 are spoken by older generations, with only 13 of these currently being learned by children and only 40 of the 800 indigenous dialects survive.â
