2,500 languages on brink of extinction
- From: vimhlub <vimhlub@xxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:13:08 -0800 (PST)
It is said that there are fewer Hmong speakers today than there were
10 years ago, eventhough the Hmong population has increased. When the
language is gone, so goes the people. Will there be any Hmong left in
50 years?
Enjoy story below from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090219/ap_on_re_eu/eu_dying_languages
New atlas shows dying languages around the world
PARIS – Only one native speaker of Livonian remains on Earth, in
Latvia. The Alaskan language Eyak went extinct last year when its last
surviving speaker passed away. Those are just two of the nearly 2,500
languages that UNESCO says are in danger of becoming extinct or have
recently disappeared. That's out of a total of 6,000 world languages.
In a presentation Thursday of a new world atlas of endangered
languages, linguists stressed the list is not restricted to small or
far-flung countries. They also sought to encourage immigrants to
treasure their native languages.
"Language endangerment is a universal phenomenon," said Christopher
Moseley, an Australian linguist who edited the atlas' third edition,
which is to appear in digital and paper versions.
The atlas says 200 languages have become extinct in the last three
generations, and another 199 languages have fewer than 10 speakers
left.
More than a fourth of the 192 languages once spoken in the United
States have disappeared. Another 71 are severely endangered, according
to the atlas.
There is Gros Ventre, spoken by fewer than 10 people in north-central
Montana. All are elderly, and none is fully fluent. The last fully
fluent speaker died in 1981.
Or Menomonee, spoken in northeast Wisconsin, with just 35 speakers
left.
The digital version of the atlas invites users to contribute with
updates and allows them to search according to country, degree of
endangerment, name of languages or by number of speakers.
Type in Russia, and color-coded flags appear ranging from white
(unsafe) — denoting languages such as Lezgian, spoken in the Caucasus
Mountains — to red (critically endangered), marking those such as the
Tundra Enets, spoken in Arctic islands.
Not all is bleak, however. Some endangered languages, like Latvia's
Livonian, are being revived by young people and through poetry.
Marleen Habard, editor of the atlas' Andean regions, said indigenous
groups in South America have been at the forefront of preserving their
regional tongues by pressuring governments to recognize indigenous
rights.
Some languages have only recently been discovered. Andoan was not
known until a journalist discovered a small group of its speakers on
the border between Peru and Ecuador in 2000, Harbard said.
Francoise Riviere, deputy director of culture at UNESCO, said raising
awareness of the importance of mother tongues is a crucial goal of the
project.
"We are trying to teach people that the language of the country from
where we come is important, and what counts is being proud of one's
own language," she said.
A paper version of the 2009 atlas — which was funded by Norway and
involved a team of over 30 linguists — will be launched in May.
.
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