In Danger of Extinction

Christian Sammut photo

English: Across the Pond.

by Christian Sammut February 28, 2013 Case Studies

When you consider the differences between the United States and Britain, it’s not hard to conclude that they are, ultimately, much the same. While there is 3,000 or so miles separating these tiny Isles in Northern Europe from the vast continent of the North Americas physically, it’s merely a drop in the ocean in most [...]

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RIP, Cromarty Fisherfolk Dialect

by Alison Kroulek October 5, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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Most people have never heard of the Cromarty Fisherfolk dialect. And now, it’s gone forever. Bobby Hogg, the last living speaker of the dialect, passed away last week. This unique dialect dies with him. Cromarty is a small fishing community in Scotland with around 700 inhabitants, so the language was always vulnerable. As linguist Dr. [...]

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The Endangered Alphabets Project In Bangladesh

by Alison Kroulek September 29, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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Almost a year ago, we had the honor of publishing a guest post from Vermont artist Tim Brookes, of the Endangered Alphabets project. The Endangered Alphabets project aims to bring attention to endangered alphabets through a series of beautiful wood carvings. Now, Mr. Brookes is starting a new project, this time focused on the Chittagong [...]

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Documentary Preserves a Dead Language

by Alison Kroulek September 23, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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A while back, we wrote about the last two speakers of Mexico’s Ayapaneco language. Although the two elderly gentlemen, Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquez, share a native language, they haven’t spoken in decades. Now, a new documentary, Lengua Muerta, will preserve the sounds of the language indefinitely. Director Denisse Quintero told Fox News that at [...]

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Shanghainese in Danger

by Alison Kroulek September 13, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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How do you unite a country as diverse as China? A common spoken language certainly helps, but the government has often promoted Mandarin at the expense of, instead of in addition to, local dialects. As a result, the survival of other Chinese languages is threatened. For example, even Shanghainese, the most famous branch of the [...]

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Endangered Languages Want the Airwaves

by Alison Kroulek August 15, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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We’re always reading about the promise of new technology to help restore endangered languages, but one of the most promising technologies is surprisingly old-fashioned: radio. The Atlantic recently ran an article about how radio broadcasts are boosting endangered languages all over the world. In the United States, for example, The Pew Research Center reports that [...]

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Endangered Languages in Mexico

by Alison Kroulek July 22, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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Spanish is Mexico’s official language, but it’s neither the first nor the only language spoken there. Long before the conquistadors arrived on the country’s shores, indigenous groups spoke languages of their own. In fact, when Mexico was governed by Spain, the colonial government initially made the indigenous language Nahuatl the official language of the new [...]

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Turkish “Bird Language” Falling Silent

by Alison Kroulek July 18, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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In the remote Turkish village of Kuşköy, residents long ago developed an unusual and fascinating method of communication: a whistled dialect of Turkish, called “kuş dili” or “bird language, ” in which whistles correspond to the sounds of the Turkish alphabet.  Using “bird language,” people could easily communicate with their nearest neighbors, the nearest of [...]

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Google Joins the Language Preservation Fight

by Alison Kroulek June 23, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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Google’s commitment to its “don’t be evil” motto has been in question for some time. However, there’s no question that they do sometimes use their powers for good, and this week’s announcement of the Endangered Languages project is a perfect example. The Endangered Languages Project is a searchable online repository for information about endangered languages [...]

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An Aramaic Language Revival?

by Alison Kroulek June 3, 2012 In Danger of Extinction
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The ancient Aramaic language (or group of languages, depending on who you ask) has long been endangered, clinging to life in small pockets of the Middle East. While Aramaic was once the lingua franca of the entire region, by 1996, there were only 500,000 speakers left.  The language is still used for services in the [...]

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