Social media used to revive extinct language (fwd link)

[Phil Cash Cash]

Social media used to revive extinct language
Jul 01, 2014 by Letisia Marquez

Citlali Arvizu, a descendant of Southern California's Gabrielino-Tongva
Indians, didn't grow up speaking the Tongva language, but she's hoping her
children do.

"It's a dream that one day we will have speakers, that we can really do a
full blessing," said Arvizu, 35, of Anaheim.

Arvizu's hope that an extinct language <http://phys.org/tags/language/> may
someday live again lies in an unusual Facebook page. The Tongva Language
page is maintained by Pamela Munro, a UCLA emeritus professor of
linguistics, who posts words, phrases and songs in Tongva.

Native Tongva speakers once numbered thousands and inhabited areas
throughout Southern California. But the language hasn't been in use for
about 50 years although there are words in our vocabulary derived from
Tongva such as Pacoima, Cahuenga and Topanga.

Access full article below:
http://phys.org/news/2014-07-social-media-revive-extinct-language.html
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