Re:At the risk of a flame war... (Score 4, Insightful)

Culture and language are closely tied. Words used to translate between languages are not fully equivalent. When a language is lost, the culture, literature (written or oral), and worldview of that tribe is also lost. The unique qualities of each language teach us about humanity as a whole as we discover the relative weighting of their values. From a social standpoint, people eventually want to know about their ancestral tongue in the same way that adopted kids want to know who their parents were. Having a sense of place is key to being successful as a tribe, and is often a rallying cry. The things that support tribalism also support community -- propinquity is a basis for successful society, because it provides certain checks and balances, even though it keeps out some new ideas that would help. When people share a language they have a powerful tool to maintain shared values.