Are dying languages worth saving? (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

14 September 2010
UK

Are dying languages worth saving?

How people are trying to preserve endangered languages

Language experts are gathering at a university in the UK to discuss saving
the world's endangered languages. But is it worth keeping alive dialects
that are sometimes only spoken by a handful of people, asks Tom de Castella?

"Language is the dress of thought," Samuel Johnson once said.

About 6,000 different languages are spoken around the world. But the
Foundation for Endangered Languages estimates that between 500 and 1,000 of
those are spoken by only a handful of people. And every year the world loses
around 25 mother tongues. That equates to losing 250 languages over a decade
- a sad prospect for some.

Access full article below:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11304255
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