Researcher documents indigenous language in danger of extinction (fwd link)

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Researcher documents indigenous language in danger of extinction7 hours ago
by Susan Bell

Deep in the Amazon, Evangeline Alva had just awoken from a nap when she
heard her first words in Desano.

"A man said to me 'Good morning, sleepy head,' " the linguistics major
recalled of her research trip to the indigenous town of São Gabriel da
Cachoeira in the Brazilian Amazon.

"He spoke first in Portuguese, which I understood, and then repeated the
greeting in Desano. At first I was totally perplexed. Desano is incredibly
difficult to understand because it's a nasal
language<http://phys.org/tags/language/> and
speakers tend to talk very quietly, mumbling under their breath."
Access full article below:
http://phys.org/news/2014-01-documents-indigenous-language-danger-extinction.html#jCp
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