International Mother Language Day
Posted by Jaiken Struck on February 20th, 2009In order to preserve the cultural heritage of humanity, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization proclaimed the 21st of February each year as International Mother Language Day.
As a tool of communications, the mother language has a great role in the formation of the individual and is the most powerful instrument in preserving and developing our tangible and intangible heritage. Languages are the most powerful instruments of diversity and multilingual education and also to develop fuller awareness of linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world.
Today’s languages are believed to be rooted in a sole mother language as humans are believed to have formed just a small population of about a thousand individuals 50,000 years ago. Human speech is one of man’s traits that separates him from other animals. It is believed that homo sapiens appeared about 150 million years ago and during his evolution, world languages emerged.
Although there is no consensus about the number of languages spoken in the world because there is no general agreement on what constitutes a language and what constitutes a dialect, man has been successful on the planet because of its ability to adapt to an enormous range of circumstances.
Diversity of language is an important feature of the world’s collective humanity and is more than a communications tool: It is basic to man’s cultural heritage and clearly demonstrates man’s diversity. International Mother Language Day celebrates the 60,000 languages that are creations of human genius, each expressing in a distinctive way a vision of the world and a valid system of values and meanings.
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