language lost

Submitted by myth (Germany), Mar 9, 2013 at 17:18

Germany has nine borders with neighboring countries. The Rhine marks the southern part of the border with France. To my knowledge all the other borders are far from natural and have been disputed and changed until the recent 20th century. Any telephone book tells me, ethnicity is not the dividing characteristic, nor is religion. Even culture often spreads across borders.

Seven borders present me with a characteristic change the very second I cross them. People speak another language. The development of distinct modern languages in Europe during the Middle Ages laid the foundations for today's countries. Here in Europe, the language one speaks, tells the story to what extent our ancestors resisted the Roman Empire.

From Morocco, to Syria, to Saudi Arabia, people speak Arabic. Where have all the languages of the Middle East gone that existed after the Roman Empire? The survival and dominance of Arabic points to a conquest of Arabic-speakers. It is that conquest, not European colonialism, that created this unorderly situation in the first place. It left the majority of the Middle Eastern countries with only one common language, a common religion, but little else. Most of the individual languages are lost, each one capable of defining a country.

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