Pathology of Linguistic Heritage through Reunderstanding of its Status and Function in the Cultural Heritage

In international contexts, Intangible heritage is divided into five groups. First one is the oral traditions and expressions, including language. And also the important function of language is known as a vehicle for intangible heritage. Recognizing language in the field of intangible heritage, some languages and linguistic patterns such as the skill of storytelling, minstrelsy and songs are listed in the world intangible cultural heritage list, and on the other hand, many endangered linguistic heritages are under consideration to be preserved. Though there are sporadic references for damages to the language, the vacancy of a comprehensive pathology for the threats to linguistic heritage is felt. For scientific pathology of linguistic heritage, it is required to 1-compute its representations, 2- analyze its function, and 3-extract its influencing components in cultural heritage. In this paper, living languages, accents, dialects, proverbs, narratives, idioms and names are classified as different representations of linguistic heritage. Then, two general functions of linguistic heritage namely cultural transmission and human communication are discussed. According to this classification and analyses, the damages to linguistic heritage are extracted through descriptive- survey analysis, and finally, some suggestions are delivered for continuation of linguistic heritage as one of the important sections of intangible cultural heritage.