Archives of Babel: forward

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From Linguist List: Discovery Channel: Archives of Babel

From: Maartje Schreuder <M.J.Schreuder at let.rug.nl>
Discovery Channel: Archives of Babel


In celebration of International Mother Language Day Discovery
Communications, Inc. in partnership with UNESCO, and the UN Works
Programme, will highlight some of the world's endangered languages
with a broadcast to over 100 million viewers internationally on the
Discovery Channel.

The broadcast will include nine short-form programs that capture
stories from the few remaining people who speak these threatened
languages. The stories were filmed in Scotland, Sweden, Canada, Japan,
Malaysia, Mexico, Argentina, and India. Websites from UNESCO
www.unesco.org and the UN Works Programme (www.un.org/works) will
complement the short-form programs to futher bring these little known
languages and cultures to millions of people worldwide. On
International Mother Language Day, Discovery Channel will also air
Archives of Babel, a program that attempts to reconstruct the world's
first language, as spoken by every human being at a given moment in
history. Many of today's languages have roots originating from that
single language.

International Mother Language Day is February 21st. It was proclaimed
by UNESCO's General Conference in November 1999, and was celebrated
for the first time on February 21st, 2000.