...I think there's a very strong likelihood that some "modern" language will still be spoken, 1,000 years from now, in some recognizable form.
One of my favorite CDs is from Mediaeval Babes, and the songs on it are in Olde English, Latin, Middle English, Middle Italian, and Olde French. I can actually understand the Middle English and Liturgical Latin songs, and I could recognize every language on it as being Enlish, Latin, or French on first hearing (the Italian, admittedly, threw me; I couldn't decide if it was supposed to be Latin, Spanish, Portugese, or Italian, at first--but I very definitely recognized it as a latinate language upon hearing it). And I find it's easier to recognize a language upon reading it than upon hearing it.
Now, granted, my tastes in the Arts as well as my education and background may give me a slight advantage at recognizing Classic and Ancient European languages. But I'm not too terribly unique, and I don't have anywhere near the skill a scholar of languages has. |
