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ENdangered Languages project

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Through this website, users can not only access the most up to date and comprehensive information on endangered languages. Google oversaw the development and launch of this project with the long term goal for it to be led by true experts in the field of language preservation.

new york times

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"Most people think of endangered species as far-flung or exotic, the opposite of cosmopolitan. All told, there are more endangered languages in and around New York City than ever existed anywhere else and there will likely never be this many in any single place again"

A thoughtful reportage that combines the macro story with individual portraits.

The guardian

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An edited extract from the book "Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongue" mentioned also in the previous link. That gives a general view, in depth and wide, about the current state, reasons and solutions for the current panorama of endangered languages.

TIME

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Nobody knows how many languages are spoken in the US. United States has never had an official language, and although English is the undisputed lingua franca, in no danger of ceding that position, multilingualism is fundamental.

 

In a country that reflects the world, there are no “truly foreign languages” that “nobody speaks,”

as a candidate to the presidential elections has stated on the campaign trail.

This article gives a good overview to the the many languages that are spoken throughout U.S. geography.

The guardian

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This article from 10 years ago  follows a report that showed a direct link between disappearing habitats and the loss of languages. Addressing the case of New Guinea the world's most linguistically diverse place, and also one of the most biologically abundant.. "Ultimately both biodiversity and linguistic diversity are diminishing as a result of human population growth, increasing consumption and economic globalization"

BBC

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A 4 min animated explainer created by BBC and the Open University that analyses the relationship between natural biodiversity and cultural/linguistic diversity and some initiatives that are being put on place so the latter helps to preserve the former.

WWF

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A link to the study from WWF mentioned previously where, among other facts, highlights how Australia and the Americas are the two regions with the fastest declines on language diversity.

WashinGton Post

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A reportage about a time-consuming work that is both a labor of love and a race against the clock to document for posterity not just the Iskonawa language, but also the unique, irreplaceable culture and knowledge it encodes.

tHE GUARDIAN

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Iceland’s mother tongue and cultural identity is drowning in an online ocean of English. Icelandic’s relatively few speakers are unusually proficient in English and enthusiastic early adopters of new technology. “The obvious worry is that young people will start to say: ‘Okay, so we can’t use this language abroad. If we’re not using it much in Iceland either, then what’s the point?”

tHE HILL

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Not all endangered languages face the same challenges. First World languages have excellent chances of survival. … They are precisely the ones that benefit from better technologies,

Languages with a larger population base but located in a poor part of the world and those spoken only in small communities, of which there are thousands, are more in peril.

tHE HILL

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Cristina Calderón had been declared a Living Human Treasure by UNESCO. She created a Yaghan-Spanish dictionary and also published a book of indigenous legends, songs and stories, She was the last fluent speaker of Yaghan and with her death in 2022, the language is considered extinct.

The Yaghan word "mamihlapinatapai" is listed in The Guinness Book as the "most succinct word", and is considered one of the hardest words to translate, being something similar to: "looking at each other hoping that the other will offer to do something which both parties desire but are unwilling to do"

-more in this BBC's 2018 article

NPR

In the U.S., 193 of the 197 living native languages are endangered.

135 of those languages are only spoken by elders and at least 50 having fewer than ten speakers each.

One of those languages is Caddo, native to the area where Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas meet. There are just two fluent Caddo speakers left, and they're both now in their 90s. But a younger generation is working to reclaim their native tongue.

Here is an interview with Native American language preservationist Alaina Tahlate. She answers in Caddo and English.

"The other part that I love about learning our language, like you said, is the deep meanings behind it and the insights that it can give us about our worldview and how we think about, talk about and relate with each other and our land and how it all just ties everything together"

THE CONTRAPUNTUAL

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Oakland has become home to one of the largest Mam communities in the US with an estimated 15,000 Mam speakers. When the COVID pandemic struck, the Mam community faced heightened isolation and uncertainty. 

 

Radio B'alam made their debut in December 2020 and started providing information about COVID-19 vaccines, testing, virtual schooling, and free food distribution in Mam.

The station’s weekly talk shows became a platform for experts to discuss topics such as healthcare support, legal services, rights, and community resources to increase awareness and understanding about navigating the US systems.

UNESCO

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 According to the World Atlas of Languages' methodology, there are around 8324 languages, spoken or signed, documented by governments, public institutions, and academic communities.

 

Out of 8324, around 7000 languages are still in use, but most of them endangered.

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