Linguistic Diversity and Cultural Identity

The world is becoming more and more intricately multidimensional, both culturally and linguistically. Language is so deeply embedded in culture that cultural identity is defined to a great extent in terms of language. Based on this premise, the loss of one's language contributes to the loss of one's culture. This is the reason it is essential to maintain one's linguistic integrity in order to protect one's cultural identity. Though, advancements in technology have made the world seem smaller and increased the interaction between people from different cultures. The world's economy has become increasingly globalized, fueling the rapid expansion of immigration to industrialized countries over the last 60 years. The author explores different contexts, forms, processes and effects of linguistic and cultural diversity. This paper will review the concepts of cultural bereavement and cultural identity, and how language diversity and multilingualism are manifested in both the global patterns and processes of language diversity and change, and the local aspects of language choice and language alternation.