Languages on the brink of dying out should be preserved in the light of evidence that multilingualism is good for the brain, according to an expert.

Prof Antonella Sorace, the founder of the Bilingualism Matters centre at the University of Edinburgh, is investigating the potential benefits of studying less common languages such as Sardinian and Scottish Gaelic.

Previous research has shown that being multilingual can improve thinking and learning ability, and may reduce mental decline with age.

The positive effects of learning another language support the idea that so-called minority languages should be saved from extinction, Sorace said.

“Many of these languages are not valued and so they are not supported,” she told the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) at its annual meeting in Washington DC.

“People think they are useless, so people don’t speak them to their children, for example,” Sorace said.

“So many of these languages will die, sooner rather than later, because if a language is not learnt by children, that language is dead.

“If we can find a way of persuading people that these languages are actually a resource, rather than a problem, or folklore or something that belongs to the past, then we can help these languages to survive a little bit longer and children can have the benefits of bilingualism.”

Research into bilingualism has identified the following benefits:

Bilingual children are better at understanding people generally, not just via the language they speak



Bilingual children and adults are better at focusing their attention and less easily distracted



Healthy people who are bilingual have slower rates of mental decline in old age. It is thought that compartmentalising the languages and switching between them at the right time exercises the brain and has a protective function



Sorace, who speaks Italian, English and French, and has a working understanding of Spanish and Sardinian, conducted a study of retired people undergoing a one-week intensive course in Gaelic on the Isle of Skye.

She found that compared with other older individuals not doing language courses, they showed improvements in attention and thinking tests.

“We think it’s about effort and novelty of the task,” Sorace said. “It’s not proficiency as such, because these people are not fluent in Gaelic, but the task was novel and they applied effort and their brain responded well.”

If policymakers could be encouraged to retain languages such as Gaelic, Cornish or Welsh, it could have a beneficial impact on health, she said.

“That applies to other kinds of bilingualism as well, for example, bilingualism due to immigration,” Sorace said.

“So all these migrants who come and very often think that their language is a problem, so they try to stop speaking their language, we are trying to persuade them to keep their language. Of course, a child who moves to Britain has to learn enough English to function well in school, but not from the parents.”

Prof Judith Kroll from Pennsylvania State University, who also attended the AAAS meeting, said: “Recent studies reveal the remarkable ways in which bilingualism changes the brain networks that enable skilled cognition, support fluent language performance and facilitate new learning.”