Guardian: Half of living languages face extinction

Half of living languages face extinction

The Guardian reports on Cambridge University's World Oral Literature Project

The article mentions that Gamilaraay and Southern Pomo still have speakers, but Laghu and Old Kentish Sign Language haven't.

Mark Turin gives an overview of the project and its history, stating that, although it is only updated by academics at the moment, he hopes that in the future, it will become a "Wikipedia-style web 2.0 project"

Mention is made of major collections that have been, or could be lost, having been stored in personal collections rather than archived. Turin tells story of Reverend John Whitehorn, who donated tapes that he had been keeping at home since the 1950s, after the Cambridge Museum of Anthropology accepted artefacts he donated, but didn't know what to do with his recordings.

Digital Love Letter to a Dying Language

A Digital Love Letter to a Dying Language


It's International Mother Language Day today, and Nataly Kelly writes about Irish in the Huffington Post.

She quotes David Harrison in highlighting the crucial nature of young speakers in maintaining the vitality of a language, and mentions how technology may help in the prevention of language loss.

New Project to preserve Wirangu

"AN Aboriginal community risks losing its language because too much emphasis is placed on Pitjantjatjara."


The South Australia Sunday Mail reports on a new three year project to "preserve and regenerate" the critically endangered local language Wirangu. The article states that one of the causes for endangerment is a focus on Pitjantjatjara in schools, and states that Wirangu only has two fluent speakers left.

A language dies every two weeks

A language dies every two weeks

Swiss Newspaper 20 Minuten reports on language loss, ahead of the upcoming "International Mother Language Day".

The article tells that the 2010 update to UNESCO's Atlas of endangered languages mentions 230 languages that have disappeared since 1950, and 572 "Acutely threatened" languages in the Americas, Southeast Asia, Oceania and Africa.

On a local level, the article highlights the 8 languages of Switzerland that are in the UNESCO Atlas: Franc-Comtois (which ethnologue refers to as a dialect of French), Romansh, Francoprovençal, Lombard, and Bavarian, as well as Yiddish and Romani.

The vulnerable lives of Bengal's Birhor tribals

A report in the India News Post about the effect of poor health and deforestation on Birhors in West Bengal.

The Birhor Language is Critically Endangered, with 2000 speakers, according to UNESCO estimates, or 10000 according to Ethnologue.

The Independent reports that there are > 100 uncontacted tribes in the world

In 2011, there are 100 uncontacted tribes worldwide


Following the publication of a photo of a group of people in the Brazilian Amazon, The Independent reports that there an estimated 100 isolated tribes worldwide. The report concentrates on the Amazon, and highlights the risks posed by gold miners and oil exploration in the area.

Rosetta Stone Inupiaq

Alaska natives team with Rosetta Stone

The Seattle Times reports that the North Slope Inupiaq version of Rosetta Stone language learning software is to be released in Spring.

The article comments on the state of Alaskan Languages, mentioning that only Inupiaq and Central Yup'ik have over 1000 speakers. And that Eyak is now extinct. It offers a poor prognosis for Inupiaq, stating that children are brought up in English Only Households.

The article also describes the distribution model of the software, with 800 free copies already having been distributed, and that 150 have been sold.

Another project from the Rosetta Stone Endangered Languages Programme has been mentioned in this blog: Rosetta Stone Navajo