An Indigenous Language Dies Every Two Weeks (fwd)

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An Indigenous Language Dies Every Two Weeks

Thursday, 21 February 2008, 9:58 am
Press Release: Survival International
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO0802/S00256.htm

An indigenous language dies on average once every two weeks, reports Survival on
International Mother Language Day (21 February).

Five thousand of the world's six thousand languages are indigenous, and the
majority of those threatened with extinction are indigenous languages.

The Akuntsu tribe of northern Brazil, for example, were first contacted by a
Brazilian government team in 1995. They number only six people, who saw the
rest of their tribe massacred in the 1970s and 1980s by ranchers who wanted
their land. Nobody else speaks the Akuntsu language, and it is likely that it
will disappear forever along with the tribe.

There are over a hundred uncontacted tribes worldwide, and their languages are
among the most endangered. Survival believes that many uncontacted tribes are
under serious threat of extinction within the next twenty years.

Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'Every time another tribe becomes
extinct and their language dies, another way of life and another way of
understanding the world disappears forever. Even if it has been painstakingly
studied and recorded, a language without a people to speak it means little. A
language can only live if its people live, and if today's uncontacted tribes
are to have a future, we must respect their right to choose their own way of
life.'

The UN has proclaimed 2008 'International Year of Languages'.