Totos visited by journalist

In an ancient global village.


An journalist from The Telegraph India visits the Totos of Totopara. Described as a "primitive tribe" in the opening, the author concludes that they are not as primitive as prejudice suggests. Although possibly for stylistic effect, there is an apparent sense of surprise in the piece, that Totos are normal people too.

The article mentions some of the problems facing the Totos. The health risks that arise from the endogamous tradition of the tribe, and the fact that Totopara has a significant (and wealthier) Nepali, Bihari, and Marwari population are both cited as issues.

The critically endangered Toto language is not mentioned in the article, but it does state that the Toto tribe has never numbered more than 1400. This is at odds with Ethnologue's estimate of 20,000 Toto speakers (assuming no significant Toto-speaking non-Toto population exists), but consistent with UNESCO's estimate of 1000.

Rosetta Stone Navajo

Rosetta Stone Endangered Language Program Releases Navajo

Bloomberg reports that, Rosetta Stone, through its Endangered Language programme, have released a Navajo version of their language learning software.

The report also mentions that a Chitimacha version has already been released, and lists Mohawk (Kanien’kéha), Iñupiaq and Inuttitut, as other languages in the programme.

Khoibu language absent from UNESCO list

UNESCO misfires again : Khoibu dialect not on endangered list

The Sangai Express alleges that UNESCO have erroneously left Khoibu, spoken in Manipur, off their list of endangered languages.

According to the article, there are 3000 Khoibus.

The number of speakers of a language does not necessarily correspond to its level of endangerment.