Language: A Resource for Nature 149from what humans throughout history have done in situations of contact: mixing
and matching, which has contributed to so much of the cultural and linguistic
diversity that we know today.
Language as a Resource
Linguistic diversity and the human potential
So far, questions about the consequences of loss of linguistic and cultural diversity
have been raised mostly in terms of ethics and social justice, and of maintaining
the human heritage from the past – and rightly so. However, when we consider the
interrelationships between linguistic, cultural and biological diversity, we may
begin to ask these questions also as questions about the future – as related to the
continued viability of humanity on Earth. We may ask whether linguistic and
cultural diversity and diversification may not share substantive characteristics with
biological diversity and diversification, characteristics that are ultimately those of
all life on Earth.
The relevant issues relate to the adaptive nature of variation in humans (as well
as other species), and to the role of language and culture as providers of diversity
in humans. Human culture is a powerful adaptation tool, and language at one and
the same time enables and conveys much cultural behaviour. While not all knowl-
edge, beliefs and values may be linguistically encoded, language represents the
main instrument for humans to elaborate, maintain, develop and transmit such
ideas. ‘Linguistic diversity ... is at least the correlate of (though not the cause of )
diversity of adaptational ideas.’ Therefore, it is possible to suggest that ‘any reduc-
tion of language diversity diminishes the adaptational strength of our species
because it lowers the pool of knowledge from which we can draw’.^15
It is true that diversity characterizes languages (and cultures) not just with
respect to one another, but also internally, with patterns of variation by geograph-
ical location, age grade, gender, social status and a host of other variables. This
internal variation combines with the variation ensuing from historical contact
among human populations propelling language and culture change and all man-
ner of innovation. However, as more and more languages and cultural traditions
are overwhelmed by more dominant ones and increasing homogenization ensues,
one of the two main motors of change and innovation – the observation of linguis-
tic and cultural difference – breaks down, or is seriously damaged. The end result
is a global loss of diversity.
Avoiding ‘cultural blind spots’
From this perspective, issues of linguistic and cultural diversity preservation may
then be formulated in the same terms that have been proposed for biodiversity