ELL: Language Loss

[Joan Smith/Kocamahhul]

Matthew McDaniel wrote:
>
> Half of world's 6,800 languages could die by 2100
>
> Navajo, Maori and Cornish, to name just a few, may be lost forever
>
> WASHINGTON (AP) -- [snip]
>
> It's becoming a struggle, too, to find many who can say "thank you" in
> the Navajo language of the American Indian tribe (ahehee), "hello" in
> the Maori language of New Zealand (kia ora), or rattle off the proud
> Cornish saying: "Me na vyn cows Sawsnak!" (I will not speak English!).
>
Definitely a case of don't believe everything you read - people who can
say "kia ora" in New Zealand are a dime a dozen, my husband was taught
it when he first came here as a tourist and it has already found it's
way into the Oxford dictionary of New Zealand English. The rest of the
language is another matter.I would've thought the author missed the
point when Maori and Navajo are in comparatively better positions than
many other indigenous languages.

By the way, does anyone know of a good definition of 'indigenous language'?

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>
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>
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>
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--
Joan Smith/Kocamahhul
Department of Linguistics
University of Canterbury
Private Bag 4800
Christchurch
NEW ZEALAND

e-mail: j.smithkocamahhul at ling.canterbury.ac.nz
tel: 00-64-3-3667-001 ext 8321
fax: 00-64-3-364-2969
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