Opposite to the Number of Signed Languages?

[Jean Boutcher]

The following article has raised a question in regard to signed
languages around the globe.  My question is: whereas the
number of spoken languages is shrinking, is the number of
signed languages increasing because of more deaf awareness
through the World Federation of the Deaf, Deaf Way, Deaf Games.

Regards,
Jean Boutcher

Washington Post, June 9, 2001, World News, p. A13:
"Speaking in Fewer Tongues"

In an increasingly globalized world, the number of languages is
shrinking, anthropologists and linguists say.  The UN educational
and cultural organization, UNESCO, predits that half of the 6,800
languages currently used around the world may be extinct by 2100.
As a result, the organization warns, "the reservoir of human thought
and knowledge" will be reduced. Thousands of languages have
become extinct over the past 500 years, some because they
were overwhelmed by aggressive cultures, or because of
repression, war or natural disaster..


The 10 most common languages are spoken as a native tongue
by about 2.8 billion people in 10 countries. Number of speakers,
in millions:

885 - Mandarin (Chinese)
332 - Spanish
322 - English
266 - Arabic
189 - Bengail
182 - Portuguese
170 - Russian
125 - Japanese
98 - German


About 3,300 languages are spoken in parts of eight countries as native
tongues. Number of languages spoken in these countries:

832 - Papua New Guinea
731 - Indonesia
515 - Nigeria
398 - India
300 - Mexico
300 - Cameroon
300 - Australia
234 - Brazil


-66% > Proportion of the world's children raised as
            bilingual speakers.
-6.3% > Proportion of U.S. residents who are bilingual.
-322 million > Number of people whose native tongue is English.
-350 million > Number of people who use English as a second
                    language.
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Of 6,809 languages currently spoken around the world, 53 percent are
at risk of extinction.

Percentage of languages threatened:
AMERICAS: 1,1013 -- 78% North; 77% South; 36% Central.
AFRICA: 2,058 -- 33%.
AUSTRALIA/PACIFIC: 1,311 -- 93%.
ASIA: 2,197 -- 53%.
EUROPE: 230 -- 30%

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Posted without permission.