Language is the muse of human connection. It carries historical past, id, and tradition. However what occurs when a language disappears? Who works to put it aside earlier than it’s gone?
Dr. Esther Mi-Jung Park has spent greater than 20 years answering these questions. She is a linguistic anthropologist and cultural historian primarily based in Toronto, Canada. Her work focuses on historic linguistics, historical scripts, and cross-cultural communication. She has studied misplaced languages, labored with indigenous communities, and contributed to world language preservation efforts.
Her ardour for languages began early. “I grew up fascinated by the way words change over time,” she says. “Each language tells a story, and I wanted to understand those stories.”
A Journey By means of Language
Dr. Park was born in South Korea and later moved to the US for her training. She earned her Ph.D. in Linguistic Anthropology from the College of California, Berkeley. There, she targeted on the phonetic constructions of early East Asian dialects.
Her analysis led her to Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, the place she documented endangered languages. “Some of these languages had never been written down,” she explains. “People spoke to them daily, but there were no records. If a language disappears, a whole way of thinking disappears with it.”
She labored carefully with native communities to file oral traditions and linguistic patterns. “The most important thing is respect,” she says. “You can’t just collect data. You have to listen, learn, and give back.”
Deciphering the Previous
Dr. Park’s analysis extends past spoken language. She can also be an skilled in historical scripts. “Written language is like a time capsule,” she says. “It shows us how people thought, how they communicated, and what mattered to them.”
One in all her most vital contributions is her research on the connections between historical Korean, Mongolic, and Turkic languages. She co-authored a e book on the topic, exploring how these languages share deep historic roots. “Linguistic ties can reveal forgotten histories,” she explains. “They show us how cultures influenced each other long before modern borders existed.”
Her work has been featured in educational journals and worldwide conferences. She has additionally collaborated with UNESCO and the Smithsonian on language preservation initiatives. “It’s not just about saving old words,” she says. “It’s about preserving identities.”
The Way forward for Language Research
Dr. Park is presently an impartial researcher and advisor. She advises tasks associated to AI-driven linguistic evaluation and cultural id in a globalized world. Expertise, she believes, can play a job in saving languages.
“AI can help us analyze ancient texts faster,” she says. “It can also assist in translating endangered languages. But it will never replace human understanding.”
She sees a rising problem in language loss because of globalization. “More people are speaking dominant languages like English or Mandarin,” she says. “That’s not a bad thing, but we have to make sure smaller languages don’t disappear.”
A Lifelong Ardour
Past her work, Dr. Park enjoys finding out historical scripts, touring to historic websites, and mentoring younger researchers. “I love sharing knowledge,” she says. “The next generation will have tools we never dreamed of. But they’ll also have the same responsibility—to listen, learn, and preserve.”
For Dr. Park, language is extra than simply phrases. It’s historical past, id, and a connection to those that got here earlier than. “When we lose a language, we lose a piece of ourselves,” she says. “That’s why this work matters.”
