READING 3. Silent Witnesses

1. Look at the photographs below. What are the nationalities of these people? What counties are they from? What languages do they speak? Is there any correspondence between the country you live in, your nationality and the language you speak? Discuss in small groups.

(From www.fotosearch.com)

2. Would you agree or disagree with the following quotations? Why? Why not?

One does not inhabit a country; one inhabits a language. That is our country, our fatherland - and no other. (E.M. Cioran)

There is no such thing as an ugly language. Today I hear every language as if it were the only one, and when I hear of one that is dying, it overwhelms me as though it were the death of the earth. (Elias Canetti)

3. Skim the text and decide whether its author would agree or disagree with the quotations above.

4. Now read the article more carefully and choose from the list A-I the sentence which best fits each gap (1-7). There is one extra sentence which you do not need to use. There is an example at the beginning (0). Which words helped you with your answers?

A. The resurgence of tribal voice has to do with both land and language.

B. All this means that within many nation states there are people whose way of life and culture is shaped by a bitter paradox.

C. But modern tribes are not arguing for a reinstatement of the past.

D. Throughout the world, there has been a drastic loss of tribal languages.

E. Yet the silence, in many parts of the world, is being broken.

F. Ethnic cleansing and genocide are often said to have been the curse of the 20th century.

G. Human beings make about 160 different sounds.

H. All language communities have the right to organize and manage their own resources so as to ensure the use of their language in all functions within society.

I. There are many kinds of tribal peoples.

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