There are 7,000 documented languages currently spoken across the world, but half of them could be endangered. It is predicted that 1,500 known languages may no longer be spoken by the end of this century.

Researchers analyzed thousands of languages to identify factors that put endangered ones at risk. The findings highlight a link between higher levels of schooling and language loss, as regionally dominant (首要的) languages taught in class often throw a shadow on indigenous (土著的) tongues. Additionally, the density of roads in an area is also a contributor. “We found that the more roads there are, connecting countries to cities, and villages to towns, the higher the risk of languages being endangered. It’s as if roads are helping dominant languages ‘steam roll’ over other smaller languages,” said Professor Lindell Bromham, co–author of the study.

The study, published in Nature, Ecology and Evolution, estimates one language is currently lost within every three–month period. But levels of language loss could actually triple in the next 40 years, with at least one language per month disappearing unless measures are taken.

“When a language is lost, we lose so much of our human cultural diversity,” said Professor Bromham. “Fortunately, many of the languages predicted to be lost this century still have fluent speakers, so there is still the chance to invest in supporting communities to restore (恢复)indigenous languages.”

There are many Internet sites and apps to help new speakers learn languages like Spanish, English and Chinese, but these now extend to specialist apps designed to teach endangered languages or help preserve them. Ma! Iwaidja, for instance, is an app that enables those working with speakers of the Iwaidja indigenous Australian language to record words, phrases and translations. Another initiative is the Rosetta Project, a global cooperation of language specialists and native speakers working to build an open–access digital library of human languages.

The UNESCO International Decade of Indigenous Languages (IDIL 2022–2032), which begins this year, also aims to engage the global community with the critical issue of language loss.

The United States is a large country, and there are areas where people use different words for the same thing or say the same words differently.

Although school systems across the country teach standard American English, many Americans grow up speaking non-standard American English. These varieties(变体)are also called dialects (方言). People may not even realize they are speaking a non-standard form of the language.

Let us look at some vocabulary differences from different areas of the United States.

One of the main varieties of American English is vocabulary. Different words can be used for the same idea or thing, depending on the area of the U.S., such as the Northeast, the South, and the Midwest or the West.

Take for example a kind of cloth shoe that is worn for informal times or for sports. What would you call this? Many Americans in the South, the Midwest, and the West Coast call sports shoes “tennis shoes”. It does not matter if they play the sport of tennis.The shoes just might be their everyday shoes. They call them “tennis shoes” anyway. In the Northeast, they use the word “sneakers”.

Some sugary drinks have different names depending on where you are from. In the Midwest, the western part of the state of Pennsylvania, and parts of the Appalachian Mountains, especially in the state of West Virginia, people call them “pop”. In parts of the Northeast and the West Coast, they are called “soda”. And people in some southern states use one name for all those kinds of sugary drinks. They call them “Coke”, which is short for Coca Cola.

For our final vocabulary word,we have the insect(昆虫)that flies at night in the summertime and lights up. In parts of the Northeast and West coast, the word “firefly” is commonly used. In parts of Appalachia, the Midwest, and the South, “lightning bug” is probably most common. Sometimes people in the U.S. use both words.

While many of us may have been away somewhere nice last summer, few would say that we’ve “summered.” “Summer” is clearly a noun, more precisely, a noun that can be used as a verb.

Way back in our childhood, we all learned the difference between a noun and a verb. With such a tidy definition, it was easy to spot the difference. Not so in adulthood, where we are expected to “foot” bills, “chair” committees. Chances are you didn’t feel uncomfortable about the sight of those verbed nouns.

“The verbing of nouns is as old as the English language,” says Patricia O’Conner, a former editor at The New York Times Book Review. Experts estimate that 20 percent of all English verbs were originally (最初的) nouns. And the phenomenon seems to be snowballing. Since 1900, about 40 percent of all new verbs have come from nouns.

Even though conversion(转化) is quite universal (普遍的), plenty of grammarians are opposed to the practice. The grammar experts William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White say: “Many nouns lately have been pressed into service as verbs. Not all are bad, but all are questionable.” The Chicago Manual of Style takes a similar view, advising writers to use verbs with great care.

“Sometimes people oppose a new verb because they would not like to accept what is unfamiliar to them,” says O’Conner. That’s why we’re comfortable “hosting” a party, but we might feel upset by the thought of “medaling” in sports. So are there any rules verbing? Benjamin Dreyer, copy chief at Random House, doesn’t offer a rule, but suggests that people think twice about verbing a noun if it’s easily replaceable by an already existing popular verb. Make sure it’s descriptive but not silly-sounding, he says.

In the end, however, style is subjective (主观的). Easy conversion of nouns to verbs has been part of English grammar for centuries; it is one of the processes that make English “English.” Not every newly created word passes into general use, but as for trying to end the verbing of nouns altogether, forget it.