Researchers: World's Languages Dying Out

Associated Press:

When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to. Native Australian Charlie Mungulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction. From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday.

While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.

Read the whole story: Associated Press

Comments

[Horus]

11:02 AM on 09/19/2007

I'm suprised some crazy fucker hasn't linked this with the rise of the antichrist.

[MagisterLudi]

12:43 PM on 09/19/2007

Horus you're "flagged as abusive."
I invite everyone else visiting here to do the same.

[Horus]

05:01 PM on 09/21/2007

What? Why? I was just kidding you humorless ass. Was it because I said FUCKER?! Is that it you lame censor? Your soul is dead my friend, your life is stale and foul.

[kmccaskill]

10:13 AM on 09/19/2007

english should be world language

Hypocrite Hillary(DC Experience Matters?JFK & Bill HAD LIL

This Video Is Showing That Hillary is a hypocrite for saying obama has no experience

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LBy3AKn_2Fk

[denquixote]

10:03 AM on 09/19/2007

This is a bit of a conundrum. The languages are dying out which is a tragedy because we lose entire cultures that we know nothing about. I guess there is a possibility that one of these cultures has the secret that will allow the rest of us to survive a nuclear holocaust, global warming, running out of fossil fuels etc. etc. but if we don't speak the language how will they tell us? I don't see the problem. Isn't our inability to communicate what gets us into messes like Iraq?

[TimN]

10:37 AM on 09/19/2007

A common language will not solve nuclear war, global warming or the energy crisis.

It will however, make it much easier to sell iPods.

[LeaderofMen]

08:51 AM on 09/19/2007

"Harrison said that the 83 most widely spoken languages account for about 80 percent of the world's population while the 3,500 smallest languages account for just 0.2 percent of the world's people. Languages are more endangered than plant and animal species, he said."

This isn't as bad as these linguists would have us believe. The gigantic diversity of the world's languages is a result of our PREVIOUS cultural isolation. As barriers to communication fall so do the tiny pockets of virtually useless languages. Plus, this is a fact: the more complex a language the older it is. The more complex a language, the less likely someone will be able or willing to pick it up, much less create a written form of it. So, the loss of a language isn't necessarily a horrible thing.

As for the loss of myths, native information, etc. because of the loss of a small, complex and old language - well, don't be so sure. Myths are great sitting in a book, but they don't necessarily tell TRUTH.

Another tidbit about language. It takes exactly one generation's lapse of a language for it to disappear. A genocide or forced migration or refugee status of a population can and will shift and alter a culture's ability to retain a language indefinitely.

Another thing. No language is static. All languages change and morph. 'Loss' of a language is occurring every day because it changes and grows. You could consider that the 'language' Shakespeare spoke is 'lost' (eg, not spoken anymore, like Latin - clearly it's been retained in literature), but that's not really so. It's simply changed.

There simply aren't enough linguists in the entire world to document every language. This is grasping at straws.

[MagisterLudi]

12:41 PM on 09/19/2007

Re."Myths are great sitting in a book, but they don't necessarily tell TRUTH. "
---------------------------------------
Perhaps to further your education a tad try Jung's "Symbols of Transformation."

But overall, what a collection of singularly misinformed and staggeringly pompous opinions.

What, second year of community college, friend?

[Horus]

01:18 PM on 09/25/2007

You are such a fucking asshole.

[ceasenake]

07:47 AM on 09/19/2007

Good! The more people can communicate with each other the better.

[iluvsam]

06:53 AM on 09/19/2007

Sad story.

Hopefully these languages can be digitally recorded so that pronunciation and syntax can be studied.

[sparkey]

06:00 AM on 09/19/2007

The president of Mexico will be demanding that Bush change the color of the U.S. from blue to light green. After all, there is at least one illegal alien Mexican here.

[MagisterLudi]

11:28 AM on 09/19/2007

Oh no! a Bush reference...please leave....

[plainsman]

03:17 AM on 09/19/2007

I think it's unfortunate that many of these endangered languages haven't been preserved in written form or oral form. The stories haven't been passed on. Later generations that have moved on to more mainstream languages will later want to investigate their heritage, but will find little to connect with in their past.

[watchingthings]

01:54 AM on 09/19/2007

Oh, boo hoo hoo.
With less languages....maybe the world will learn to communicate better. Maybe the problem was too many languages.

[dindc]

02:59 AM on 09/19/2007

OK... Too many languages are the problem:

Despite the differing accents, it would seem that the North and the South were able to communicate quite well up until the hostilities at Fort Sumter.

The Troubles in Ulster? They all speak English.

Hell, since we were all English-speaking and communicating so well, why the Revolutionary War? We could have just sat down and had a big, friendly Kaffeeklatsch and avoided the whole thing!

Gimme a break.

[NoOtherWay]

01:21 AM on 09/19/2007

Too bad we can't have all languages die out. Life used to be a whole lot better before animals started talking.

Without language and culture, the earth might have actually had a chance to survive.

[CaptainVideo]

02:20 AM on 09/19/2007

"Without language and culture, the earth might have actually had a chance to survive.

So why don't you start the process by not using language?

[Ginzaman]

12:27 AM on 09/19/2007

With Bush Jr. mangling English every day, is there any hope for it? Maybe now's the time to switch to Spanish.

[HumeSkeptic]

11:53 PM on 09/18/2007

But aren't new languages evolving at the same time?

I hear all sorts of languages evolving, for example, as people from different nations modify English and mix it with their own words, and give it a new cultural flavor.

[factanonverba]

12:43 AM on 09/19/2007

Yes languages do evolve over time but since the invention of the printing press they have become standardized. We read Shakespeare easily (1600), have more difficulty with Chaucer (1350) but Beowulf (900) is almost unrecognizable unless you know what to look for. English is the world's largest language in terms of vocabulary since it is Freisian Anglo-Saxon intersped with a heavy dose of Latin and lesser ones of Norman French, Norse and a host of others. To run amok is Balinese. Icelandic is the world's oldest unchanged language (and one of the most difficult). In the Netherlands, there are six different languages. In Spain, there are eight. Two almost dead: Aragonese and Leonese. These are not dialects. They are languages in their own right. Castillians can understand Leonese but not Aragonese so readily. Catalan is closer to Provencal. Breton in France has perhaps a 200,000 native speakers left. Corsican a few more. But the greatest threat is in the Artic, East Africa, Australia, deep Amazonia and the Pacific. And who is responsible for this genocide? Christian missonaries primarily. Natural resources companies secondarily. It is genocide. Pure and simple.
For the record, I have a forthcoming book on the subject in July 2008.

[CaptainVideo]

02:11 AM on 09/19/2007

Genocide, Schmenocide.

People who speak obscure languages that only a small number can understand are much better off if they switch to a language that is widely spoken. This permits them to communicate with a lot more people. For example, the remaining Welsh speakers are better off if they switch to English.

[CaptainVideo]

02:18 AM on 09/19/2007

One of the advantages of English is that with Enlish one is not likely to hear comlaints that the purity of the language is being polluted by the introduction of foreign words. Enlish, from the very beginning, was a mixture of several languages, although its basis is old German. But as a result, English can and does readily adopt foreign words, as well as words from a dead language, Latin, which makes communication richer and more flexible.

[ecotopian]

11:41 PM on 09/18/2007

Wow, I heard about this over four years ago and it's only now getting press in the US? Must be a slow news day.

[Kungfublood]

11:36 PM on 09/18/2007

Soon we will all speak lyk duh ekalectic prsadent from the Connecticut panhandle and with any luck we will all be possessed of the God like countenance and demeanor of the sainted Dick Cheney. may he R.I.P..

[ecotopian]

11:47 PM on 09/18/2007

As a immigrant from CT, I hate to tell you this, but, there is no panhandle. I realize you meant that in jest, so please excuse me if I just don't see the humor.

[StillAmused]

11:24 PM on 09/18/2007

These linguists have probably been driven into panic by Junior's press conferences. Talk about watching a language die before your eyes...

[PerryClease]

09:00 AM on 09/19/2007

Yes but it is the rise of the Yokel language.