- What, in your opinion, would explain the areas and countries on each map with the greatest concentration of living languages?
- Identify those areas and countries which you think are at greatest risk of the 'death or disappearance of languages'.
- Link your answer from question 2 to the reasons listed above for the decline in human languages: which of these factors would best explain the endangering of languages in different regions of the world and why?
- It can be noticed that the majority of languages are condensed within the equatorial region. Factors that should be considered are the flow of migrants in and out of the countries that may have influenced languages over time, historical backgrounds (e.g. colonies) and the development of the countries. For example, a city which had very little connectivity and communication with other cities would have developed its own dialect(s). Likewise, a country that engaged in global trade and colonisation would have influenced the languages of other cities or countries. Globalisation could be a major factor which would have played a large role in the 20th and 21st centuries, over the period of techonological development and the industrial revolution.
