The Decline Of Native Languages In The US

The Decline Of Native Languages In The US

There was a time when the US had an unbelievably large number of native languages spoken inside its borders. However, over time, and with the concept of globalization, things have changed, and a lot of languages that were previously spoken are now extinct, with many other dying a slow death. The reason for this is the colonization era, when white settlers from the European continent murdered a large number of natives in the US, sometimes wiping out even 90 percent of an entire native population, often through unfair means. All this lead to the large-scale death of the native population through disease, sicknesses such as smallpox (brought by the Europeans to kill the natives).

As of now, there are a minority of native languages still spoken by native communities in the US. Before the arrival of Columbus, there were about 300 native languages, but many are extinct now. Some of these native languages that continue to be spoken among Native Americans are Navajo, Yupik, Dakota, Apache, Keres, Cherokee, Ojibwa, Choctaw, Zuni, and Pima. Of these, Navajo is the highest spoken among native languages and Pima is the least spoken. English is the official language, most of these languages are spoken only by a minority.