<font size="2"><font face="georgia,serif">Language at risk of dying out – the last two speakers aren't talking<br><br>Trouble in Tabasco for centuries-old Ayapaneco tongue as anthropologists race to compile dictionary of Nuumte Oote<br>
<br>Jo Tuckman in Mexico City<br><a href="http://guardian.co.uk">guardian.co.uk</a>, Wednesday 13 April 2011 19.10 BST<br><br>The language of Ayapaneco has been spoken in the land now known as Mexico for centuries. It has survived the Spanish conquest, seen off wars, revolutions, famines and floods. But now, like so many other indigenous languages, it's at risk of extinction.<br>
<br>There are just two people left who can speak it fluently – but they refuse to talk to each other. Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, live 500 metres apart in the village of Ayapa in the tropical lowlands of the southern state of Tabasco. It is not clear whether there is a long-buried argument behind their mutual avoidance, but people who know them say they have never really enjoyed each other's company.<br>
<br>Access full article below:<br><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/mexico-language-ayapaneco-dying-out">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/mexico-language-ayapaneco-dying-out</a><br></font></font>