Aka-Bo

[Ole Stig Andersen]

Besides rejecting the notion 'ancient language' it is also possible to try
to understand what is meant by it. Maybe it refers to the Andaman Islanders'
relative isolation from outside influences for thousands of years, leaving
the seldom case of a group of languages having almost exclusively changed by
internal development. This is precisely the reason why the disappearance of
Andaman languages is a particularly sad loss to human cultural heritage and
to science.

It is interesting, though, that the article in the Hindu
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/national/article100977.ece

is so much more sober and informative than the one in BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8498534.stm

.

Ole Stig Andersen
Denmark's Language Museum
www.sprogmuset.dk



2010/2/5 bart jacobs <bikkerseiland at hotmail.com>

>  I completely agree, "ancient language" is really a misnomer.
> Still, "older" (e.g. Portuguese) and "newer" (e.g. Cape Verdean Creole)
> languages definitely exist. There is no illusion to dispel there.
> Best,
> Bart
>
>
> > Date: Fri, 5 Feb 2010 10:23:32 +0100
> > From: johanna.laakso at UNIVIE.AC.AT
> > Subject: Re: Aka-Bo
> > To: ENDANGERED-LANGUAGES-L at LISTSERV.LINGUISTLIST.ORG
>
> >
> > So sad.
> >
> > What also made me sad was the way the BBC article was written: "an
> ancient
> > language"... as if there were "older" and "newer" languages (one of the
> > staples of any introduction to historical-comparative linguistics is to
> > dispel this illusion), and as if the death of any ("less ancient")
> language
> > would not be such a loss to mankind.
> >
> > Best
> > Johanna Laakso
> >
> >
> > Am 5.2.2010 09:53 schrieb "Nicholas Ostler" unter
> > <nostler at CHIBCHA.DEMON.CO.UK>:
> >
> > > Brief exposure for Bo on the BBC's Radio 4 Today Programme this
> morning:
> > >
> > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8499000/8499752.stm
> > >
> > > I don't suppose so many people have ever heard it before, and now it is
> > > gone.
> > >
> > >
> > > Benjamin Barrett wrote:
> > >> Wikipedia has the extinction of Aka-Bo on its main page.
> > >>
> > >> BBC has an article as well:
> > >> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8498534.stm?ls
> > >>
> > >> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aka-Bo_language
> > >> http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=akm
> > >>
> > >> Benjamin barrett
> > >> Seattle, WA
> > >>
> >
> > --
> > Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johanna Laakso
> > Universität Wien, Institut für Europäische und Vergleichende Sprach- und
> > Literaturwissenschaft (EVSL) | Abteilung Finno-Ugristik
> > Universitätscampus Spitalgasse 2-4 Hof 7, A-1090 Wien
> > Tel. +43 1 4277 43019 | Fax +43 1 4277 9430
> > johanna.laakso at univie.ac.at |
> http://homepage.univie.ac.at/Johanna.Laakso/
>
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-- 
Ole Stig Andersen
Mail: olestigs at gmail.com
Mobil: (+45) 2294 2045
Skype: olestigs
Web: www.sprogmuseet.dk
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