ELL: old quote

[Mike_Cahill at SIL.ORG]

Thanks, Doug!

While endangered languages are certainly worth a whole lot more attention
than they have gotten, it is a mild source of irritation to me when people
say that half the world's languages WILL disappear in the next century.
While a lot undoubtedly will, we just don't have the data or even
theoretical model to predict that confidently. But it does make a better
news story...

Mike Cahill



                    Doug Whalen
                    <whalen at alvin.haskins.yale.edu>               To:
                    Sent by:                                      endangered-languages-l at carmen.murdoch.edu.au
                    owner-endangered-languages-l at cleo.murd        cc:
                    och.edu.au                                    Subject:     ELL: old quote


                    03/01/2002 08:13 AM
                    Please respond to
                    endangered-languages-l





   Dear Listers,
   This is old news by now, but since I was one of the ones that was
amused, I thought it was worth setting the record straight.
   In an AP story last year, it was claimed that only languages with
100,000 or more speakers were safe.  Many on this list pointed out
that most languages *never* reach this level (and perhaps all of
Australian aboriginal languages together never did).  But here is a
possible source for the (unattributed) quote, from 1998:
   "During the coming century, according to some informed estimates,
3,000 of the existing 6,000 languages will perish and another 2,400
will come near to extinction.  This leaves just 600 languages in the
'safe' category, assuming that category to be languages having
100,000 speakers or more."  The source?  Ken Hale in Grenoble and
Whaley, p. 192.  So, I think he was talking about modern languages in
modern circumstances, but it is certainly easy to see how this comes
out as the need for 100K speakers for survival.
   Well, this is a minor bit, but it solved a small riddle for me, so
I thought I would share it.
   Doug Whalen DhW
--
Doug Whalen (whalen at haskins.yale.edu)
Haskins Laboratories
270 Crown St.
New Haven, CT 06511
203-865-6163, ext. 234
FAX:  203-865-8963
http://www.haskins.yale.edu/
----
Endangered-Languages-L Forum: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
Web pages http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/lists/endangered-languages-l/
Subscribe/unsubscribe and other commands: majordomo at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
----




----
Endangered-Languages-L Forum: endangered-languages-l at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
Web pages http://cleo.murdoch.edu.au/lists/endangered-languages-l/
Subscribe/unsubscribe and other commands: majordomo at cleo.murdoch.edu.au
----