So what is it that decides if a language is to endure or to be threatened with extinction? The number of languages spoken in the world is expected to continue to decrease dramatically but what decides the winners and the losers? Surprisingly some commentators argue that along with languages spoken by very small communities the really big languages like English also face extinction. The case against the small linguistic community is obvious; if there is no one left to speak a language then that language dies. The case against a dominant, apparently all-conquering, language like English is less apparent and is therefore so much more interesting. As more and more of the world speaks English it is inevitable, the argument runs, that it will break up first into dialects and then distinct languages linked only by their common linguistic heritage. This is a controversial point because it goes against the view that dialects need isolation before they can form (without isolation, speech is standardized by the dominant language promulgated through international science, engineering, medicine and business and worldwide printed and digital media and this squeezes out dialects).
Question: The passage is ambivalent in respect to whether or not English will become extinct.
Options:
A. true
B. false
C. uncertain
Answer: A