Texes Social Studies Content Practice Exam

Which of the following forces has contributed most directly to the recent widespread extinction of languages around the world?

1. Democracy and capitalism

2. Evangelism and industrialization

3. Colonialism and agrarianism

4. Colonialism and globalization

The correct answer is: Colonialism and globalization

The widespread extinction of languages around the world has been most directly influenced by colonialism and globalization. Colonialism often involved the domination of one culture over another, leading to the suppression of indigenous languages and the promotion of the colonizers' languages as the primary mode of communication. This resulted in many indigenous languages being marginalized and, in some cases, becoming extinct as younger generations adopted the language of the colonizers for social and economic advancement. Globalization further compounds this issue by promoting dominant languages, such as English, Spanish, and Mandarin, as the preferred languages for trade, technology, and international communication. As societies increasingly interact on a global scale, there is a strong tendency for local languages to fade in favor of these dominant languages, leading to a reduction in linguistic diversity. In contrast, while democracy and capitalism, evangelism and industrialization, and colonialism and agrarianism may have their own impacts on societies and cultures, they do not directly relate to the patterns of language extinction in the same significant manner as colonialism and globalization do.