"The Last Voice of a Dying Tongue"

The fact that the author is a linguist and has years of experience and knowledge entices the reader, let alone an attention-grabbing title “Where Have All the languages Gone?”As the author mentioned that he himself has worked to “save” extinct languages from vanishing encourages the reader to further find out and research more about the issue tackled. Using metaphors was amongst the many techniques in which the author used to engage a reader. For example: “the last voice of a dying tongue”, language murder...language suicide” and “when languages lose their speakers, they die.” In the previous example depicted from the text, the author clearly compared language to a human and perhaps personified language. Moreover, comparing the end of languages to endangered animals that ought to reach extinction gives the reader a clear idea of how important this issue is.
The author wrote in an objective manner, as he provided facts and statistics. He uses plenty of statistics enough to support his argument. Statistics are facts that provide evidence and support, and are an important aspect that give the reader assurance and the validity of the article. Further, the statistics used grabs the attention of the reader as they aim to fascinate the reader. For example, “of an estimated 300 languages spoken in the area of the present-day US when Columbus arrived in 1492, only 175 are spoken today.” The previous statistic depicted from the text shows the aim of the author which is to influence the reader by providing interesting facts.