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Sunday, October 18, 2009

BBC - Today - The death of language?



In 1992 a prominent US linguist stunned the academic world by predicting that by the year 2100, 90% of the world's 7,000 languages would have ceased to exist.
Far from inspiring the world to act, the issue is still on the margins, according to prominent French linguist Claude Hagege.
"Most people are not at all interested in the death of languages," he says. "If we are not cautious about the way English is progressing it may eventually kill most other languages."
According to Ethnologue, a US organisation that compiles a global database of languages, 473 languages are currently classified as endangered.
Thanks @jennyeather
Seens everwhere you look dramatic change is taking place in the way we live. A homogenised world seems to be the most likely outcome as the human race pushes the earth to the limit.

2 comments:

BiteTheDust said...

Australia had more languages than Europe and more language groups than most of the world. We have also been the most successful in ensuring their loss

Jayne said...

That apathy allowed the loss of further languages is reprehensible.