Vanishing Languages
Very sad recent article;
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070918/tsc-uk-languages-extinction-011ccfa_2.html
The Enduring Voices project is identifying areas which are 'extinction hotspots', where a lot of languages are at risk of going into extinction.
They named a region of northern Australia that includes Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia where local languages are most threatened. The linguists said aboriginal Australia harbours some of the most endangered languages, with 153 different ones spoken in this region.
A region of central South America covering Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia was second.
Placing third and fifth on the list were regions of North America -- an area including British Columbia in Canada and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and an area covering the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Eastern Siberia was the No. 4 "hot spot."
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20070918/tsc-uk-languages-extinction-011ccfa_2.html
The Enduring Voices project is identifying areas which are 'extinction hotspots', where a lot of languages are at risk of going into extinction.
They named a region of northern Australia that includes Queensland, Northern Territory and Western Australia where local languages are most threatened. The linguists said aboriginal Australia harbours some of the most endangered languages, with 153 different ones spoken in this region.
A region of central South America covering Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Brazil and Bolivia was second.
Placing third and fifth on the list were regions of North America -- an area including British Columbia in Canada and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon, and an area covering the U.S. states of Oklahoma, Texas and New Mexico.
Eastern Siberia was the No. 4 "hot spot."