Last of the Manchus

In The last of the Manchus: Et tu Manchu,The Economist reports on the decline of the Manchu language from "National Language of a vast empire" to near extinction in just a century, putting a human face on the decline in the form of Ms Zhao, one of the only two fluent speakers of Manchu in her village.  The decline turns out not to be so rapid, as 100 years ago, it wasn't as widely spoken as the opening line implies.  However, the report does raise some important points:

1. Opression can cause language loss:
• As the "language of the oppressors", the decline was accelerated by the revolution in China, when "Hundreds if not thousands of Manchu civilians" were "were massacred during the revolution by vengeful Han troops".  At the same time, many Manchu would have stopped speaking the language to avoid punishment.
2. Language death can lead to a loss of history, even in a literate society: 
• "2m out of 10m Qing documents in the country’s collection are written in Manchu."
3. Reporting on speaker numbers is difficult, the article states that Ms Zhao is one of the last two fluent speakers in her village.
• According to the article, " In 1979 there were 50 fluent speakers left"
• Ethnologue reports that there were 60 speakers in 1999,
• UNESCO Atlas gives a "compromise figure" of 10, with no date on that statistic.
4. Language revitalisation projects can be too late:
• "About six years ago Sanjiazi set up the country’s first Manchu school. But Ms Zhao does not think this will make much difference. The Manchu teachers, she says, do not understand her Manchu"

ELA on Today Programme

This morning's Today Programme, on BBC Radio 4, included an item on the Endangered Language Alliance.  The report stated that they are mostly working with the New York members of various diasporas, and included  interviews with speakers of three minority languages, Nahuatl, Shugni, and Circassian.

The brief summary given in the online timeline is:

"It is estimated that world languages are dying out at the rate of one every fortnight. This statistic has prompted a small group of linguists in New York to form the Endangered Language Alliance. Our reporter Matt Wells visited them at their field station in the middle of Manhattan, to see how they are trying to preserve minority voices from disappearing."

Programme: Avoiding Language Extinction

All words in Ninde start with N

In An Idiot Abroad, Series 2 Episode 1, "Desert Island", the protagonist spends a night alone on a small island in Vanuatu, after meeting with the residents of a nearby island for some instruction and cultural background.

The locals speak Ninde.  It is implied that all Ninde words begin with n, and a joke is made that games of I-Spy must be boring.

He also visits other communities in Vanuatu, (the Yaohnanen, and a community that practices Land Diving), but nothing is said about language there.

Berenstain Bears in Lakota

A new children's cartoon series, featuring the Berenstain Bears is to be aired in Lakota , called "Matho Waunsila Thiwahe" or "Compassionate Bear Family".

I first saw this article in the Dickinson Press in early August, but I've been waiting for it to break on a less local news source, and also to come to a site without a paywall. Four days ago, AP published the story, and as such has now spread to Time and CBS

The Age on Children's books

In Silly Stories with a serious message, Elisabeth Tarica reports on The Naked boy and the Crocodile, a book edited by children's author Andy Griffiths but comprised of "13 stories written and illustrated by children that he had met" travelling to remote communities in Australia.

She also comments on the low literacy rates amongst Indigenous Australian children, and also mentions the Book Buzz programme, under which, "popular picture books such as The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dear Zoo and Where is the Green Sheep? are translated into local languages and supplied to preschoolers in remote communities." The project has "achieved amazing results because the books are translated into the Ngaanyatjarra language.

The article highlights the importance of literacy to the individual in "today's print-driven world", but makes no mention of the importance of written materials in the survival of a language in such a print-driven world, by maintaining the prestige of a language.

The Age: New chapter for ancient songbook

In New chapter for ancient songbook, Andrew Bock writes about The Song Peoples Sessions, a project to produce both archival material, and commercial releases of traditional and contemporary indigenous Australian musicians.

The article claims that "This is the first project to help contemporary indigenous musicians learn traditional language and record music with song people from their own families", and relates the stories of some of the musicians involved.

Languages mentioned: Yanyuwa, Warumungu

The Economist on the Berber Spring

In Springtime for them too?, The Economist reports on the "Berber renaissance taking place across north Africa", alongside the Arab Spring.

The article notes that "Moroccan Berber" has recently been recognised by the Government there. Ethnologue lists Five Berber languages spoken in Morocco: Ghomara, Tamazight (Central Atlas), Tachelhit, Senhaja de Srair, and Tachawit



It includes a short history of written Berber:

A written script for the various Berber dialects was created only in the 20th century. Algeria’s Kabyles, a Berber people said to number 4m, have usually preferred the Latin alphabet, whereas a Tuareg alphabet, called Tifinagh, is now officially used in Morocco and has been adopted by Libyan Berbers who were banned from using it under the colonel. (The Tuareg are nomadic Berber pastoralists living mainly in southern Algeria, eastern Mali and western Niger.)

Although, in the most part, it speaks of Berber Languages as a group, Tamazight is mentioned by name, referred to as: "Tamazight, the Berber tongue". In context, that phrase could be interpreted as having an implied "... spoken in Libya", but a casual reading might assume it is the Berber language. Although not identified as languages, the Tuareg and Kabyle people are also mentioned.