Tribal languages dying could later be resurrected (fwd)

[jess tauber]

This is not the first time I've seen espoused the notion that a native language's worth is largely in its potential utility to the industrial world- I guess once we have tracked down all the medically useful plants, animals and inanimate substances known to native speakers we can then sigh in relief and let the languages in question die peaceful deaths. Nice attitude. A hell of a way to get the general public to care about language endangerment.

Jess Tauber
phonosemantics at earthlink.net