The Language of Space
Abstract “The Language of Space” predicts that without deliberate effort, many languages from Earth will be lost as space travel expands to other planets. Languages are culture, and losing languages means losing cultures. The chapter’s author considers her own experience living in Iceland and relyin...
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| Format: | Book Part |
| Language: | English |
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Oxford University Press
2023
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780197604793.003.0007 https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/58041082/oso-9780197604793-chapter-7.pdf |
| Summary: | Abstract “The Language of Space” predicts that without deliberate effort, many languages from Earth will be lost as space travel expands to other planets. Languages are culture, and losing languages means losing cultures. The chapter’s author considers her own experience living in Iceland and relying on English as a shared language with others there. In space, English, Russian, and Chinese are the three primary common languages, even though speakers of many languages are trained as astronauts. But because the people that control access to space are English, Russian, and Chinese, those are the languages that manuals are written in. For thousands of languages to survive, space travel must be accessible to people from the most marginalized communities and nations. |
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