[譯] 困蹙中的語言

原文來源：History
作者：Elizabeth Nix
繙譯：煢煢白兔

　　根據近期的報告指出，耶穌所使用的語言──阿拉姆語（Aramaic），不久後恐將絕跡於世。這個古老的語言已存在將近三千年，且曾經一度通行於整個中東地區，如今正在快速消逝中。逐漸消亡的也不僅僅是阿拉姆語。專家預計，現今語言有50%至90%，都將在本世紀結束前消失殆盡。

　　根據《史密森尼》雜誌（Smithsonian）最近的報告指出，曾一度廣泛應用於通商與政府的阿拉姆語（Aramaic），恐將在一至二個世代間消失。現代阿拉姆語的重要學者、劍橋大學的語言學家──喬弗里‧可汗（Geoffrey Khan），正試圖在阿拉姆語各方言最後使用者消逝前，將這些方言記錄下來。其中，可汗訪問了一些芝加哥北郊的居民，當地是標準的亞述人居住地，這些亞述人是說着阿拉姆語的基督教徒，他們由於受到迫害與戰事，被迫離開地處中東的祖國。

　　當亞述民族於西元前八世紀，在中東建立起帝國時，就採用了阿拉姆語為語言（該語言源自於沙漠的游牧民族阿拉姆人）。即使在亞述人被征服之後，阿拉姆語仍在當地盛行了數個世紀（梅爾吉勃遜2004年那部有名的電影《耶穌受難記》（the Passion of the Christ），講述了耶穌死前最後十二個小時的故事，劇中的對白，使用的就是阿拉姆語與拉丁語）。

　　阿拉姆語一直是中東地區的常用語，直到第七世紀，來自阿拉伯的穆斯林侵略軍，以阿拉伯語替換掉阿拉姆語為止。此後，只有伊朗、伊拉克、敘利亞、土耳其等地偏僻山區裏的非穆斯林，還在繼續說着阿拉姆語。在前一個世紀裏，由於使用阿拉姆語的人士離開了他們的村莊，前往都市與其他國家（諸如可汗所訪問的那些芝加哥地區的亞述人），阿拉姆語因此而未能傳承給年輕世代。

　　今日大約有五十萬的阿拉姆語人士散布全球，然而這個數字恐怕並不正確。研究人員認為，新阿拉姆語（Neo-Aramaic）有着一百種以上的方言，其中一些已經消亡。其他方言還有着少量的使用者，而且多數情況下，阿拉姆語僅止於是個口說，而非書寫的語文。

　　阿拉姆語可不是唯一瀕臨危機的語言。語言學家擔心，隨着世界的連結愈趨緊密，現今仍使用中的語言裏，將會有將近50%至90%，共約七千種語言，會在本世紀結束前消失。目前全球94%的人，只使用了6%的語言在溝通。

Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus, soon could be extinct, according to a recent report. In existence for some 3,000 years and once commonly used all across the Middle East, this ancient tongue is now rapidly dying out. And it’s not just Aramaic that’s disappearing. Experts predict that 50 percent to 90 percent of today’s languages will have vanished by the end of this century.

According to a recent report in Smithsonian magazine, Aramaic, once widely used for commerce and government, could likely disappear within a generation or two. A leading scholar of modern Aramaic, University of Cambridge linguist Geoffrey Khan, is trying to document all of Aramaic’s dialects before its final native speakers die out. As part of his work, Khan has interviewed subjects in Chicago’s northern suburbs, home to a significant population of Assyrians, Aramaic-speaking Christians who left their native countries in the Middle East to escape persecution and war.

The Assyrian people adopted Aramaic (which originated with desert nomads known as the Arameans) when they established an empire in the Middle East in the eighth century B.C. Even after the Assyrians were conquered, the language thrived in the region for centuries. (Famously, the dialogue in Mel Gibson’s 2004 movie “The Passion of the Christ,” about the final 12 hours of Jesus’ life, was in Aramaic and Latin.)

Aramaic remained the common language in the Middle East until the seventh century A.D., when it was replaced by Arabic by invading Muslim forces from Arabia. Afterward, Aramaic continued to be spoken only by non-Muslims in remote mountain areas of Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Over the past century, as Aramaic speakers have fled their villages for cities and other countries (such as the Chicago-area Assyrians interviewed by Khan), the language hasn’t been passed on to younger generations.

Today, there could be as many as 500,000 Aramaic speakers dispersed around the planet; however, this figure is deceptive. Researchers believe there are more than 100 different dialects of the mother tongue, known as Neo-Aramaic, some of which have already become extinct. Other dialects have few living speakers, and in most cases Aramaic is only used as an oral—and not a written—language.

Aramaic is far from the only endangered language. Linguists fear that, as the world becomes increasingly connected, 50 percent to 90 percent of the approximately 7,000 languages in use today could be gone by the end of the century. As things stand now, 94 percent of the people on the planet communicate in just 6 percent of its languages.