Hundreds of Indian languages struggle to survive (fwd link)

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Hundreds of Indian languages struggle to survive

By Yasmeen Mohiuddin (AFP) – 23 hours ago

NEW DELHI — Classrooms at the Adivasi Academy in western India echo to the
speech patterns of languages that may soon become no more than a meaningless
jumble of noises.

Kukna, Panchmahali and Rathvi are just three of dozens of tribal Indian tongues
taught at the academy, which was set up in 1996 in an attempt to preserve the
country's indigenous cultures.

India's 1.16-billion people speak more than 6,500 languages and dialects,
according to the 2001 census.

But almost 200 of them are seriously endangered, says the United Nations
cultural agency UNESCO, as Hindi and English strengthen their grip in an
increasingly mobile and interconnected world.

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