Conversely, not speaking its own language can hurt a group's claim to special ethnic status. A group of Mexican Indians recently sued a power company that had received funding to build a hydroelectric generator and dam. The lake resulting from the dam would flood thousands of acres of ancestral Indian land. The Indians argued that not only was the company offer to pay for the land inadequate, but also that the land was important to their identity. Company lawyers noted that only a few elders spoke the Indian language, and none of the younger generation were learning it.
Computers can help preserve both vanishing native languages and language diversity.
First, native peoples can use computers to write in previously nonwritten languages. Authors seeking readers can help teach their people to read. Second, computers can reduce the cost of publishing in native languages. Books, pamphlets, articles, letters, and so forth can help spread literacy. Third, computers can be a tool for creating dictionaries that may be more extensive than those produced by linguists.