Linguist Imperialism

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Choose one of the following prompts and write a personal response that explores this idea on your blog. 
Your response should indicate your personal impression in conjunction with specific references to the reading.

2-What did medieval linguist Antonio de Nebrija mean when he told Queen Isabella that: “language is the perfect instrument of empire?” How has language contributed to colonial power? Focus on a specific example

In the article "Speaking In Tongues" the main topic is how languages have evolved over time. The author, James Geary, makes it clear as to how language help can build an empire. He mentions the medieval linguist Antonio de Nebrija and how he took the first book of grammar, which was published in Spanish, to Queen Isabella of Spain. Antonio de Nebrija told the Queen that "language is the perfect instrument of empire". By this, he meant that when everyone has something particular in common, such as language, they tend to come together. By having everyone speak Spanish or Portuguese, they stand together as a nation, or even bigger, an empire.  A more specific example from the article is when the Geary mentions how in Brazil 75% of the languages that use to be spoken have vanished since the arrival of the Portuguese in 1500. This demonstrates how language can help an empire grow rapidly. Language has assisted colonialism throughout the world. In the Soviet Union, the Russians used russification to grow their empire, this also included teaching people the Russian language. 

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