'How (not) to Kill a Language: The Many Lives of Sumerian'

The Sumerian language has lived many lives. It first lived more than 5,000 years ago on the streets and in the homes of the people of modern day Iraq. Sumerian experienced a new way of living when it became the subject of writing, when the language was used to record not only how much beer moved from one place to another, but eventually the legends of kings, the praise of goddesses, the recipes to recovering health, and the lullabies of a mother. But eventually, Sumerian suffered from time and political shifts; its speakers ceased teaching their children. But in its dying breath, Sumerian was given a new life, a new purpose: the language was resuscitated as the language of an ancient past, the language taught to the schoolchildren who might one day wield power, the language used to create histories and shape ideas. It became a language of access: to culture, to power, to the gods. And even long after it finally breathed its last 2,000 years ago as its life support — writing — finally gave out, it was once again reincarnated through Victorian decipherment and modern academics and fantasy storytellers. In her recent book How to Kill a Language, the journalist Sophia Smith Galer tells the stories of languages killed through neglect, premeditation, and abuse. The story of Sumerian is a different story; a story of how a language breathes when afforded new lives.