Language at risk of dying out =?UTF-8?Q?=E2=80=93_?=the last two speak ers aren't talking (fwd link)

[Phillip E Cash Cash]

Language at risk of dying out – the last two speakers aren't talking

Trouble in Tabasco for centuries-old Ayapaneco tongue as anthropologists
race to compile dictionary of Nuumte Oote

Jo Tuckman in Mexico City
guardian.co.uk,     Wednesday 13 April 2011 19.10 BST

The language of Ayapaneco has been spoken in the land now known as Mexico
for centuries. It has survived the Spanish conquest, seen off wars,
revolutions, famines and floods. But now, like so many other indigenous
languages, it's at risk of extinction.

There are just two people left who can speak it fluently – but they refuse
to talk to each other. Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, live
500 metres apart in the village of Ayapa in the tropical lowlands of the
southern state of Tabasco. It is not clear whether there is a long-buried
argument behind their mutual avoidance, but people who know them say they
have never really enjoyed each other's company.

Access full article below:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/13/mexico-language-ayapaneco-dying-out
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