Internet may save endangered languages

[Jesse]

It butchers English lol

Internet may save endangered languages
18 Feb 2012
Vanishing languages spoken by only small groups of people around the world could be saved from extinction by social media networks and the internet.

Around half of the world's 7,000 languages are expected to have disappeared from use by the end of the century. They are threatened by cultural changes, ethnic shame and government repression.

But technology is allowing many languages to increase audience by establishing a presence on YouTube, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter and text messaging.

Linguists have also unveiled eight new "talking dictionaries" as part of a project to save thousands of ancient tongues from extinction.

The digital dictionaries feature more than 32,000 written words and, 24,000 audio recordings taken from native speakers from remote corners of the world.

David Harrison, from Swarthmore College in Philadelphia, said: "You can have a language spoken by only 50 or 500 people, only in one location, and now through digital technology that language can achieve a global voice."

"Endangered language communities are adopting digital technology to aid their survival and to make their voices heard around the world. This is a positive effect of globalisation."

The talking dictionaries initiative from National Geographic Society's Enduring Voices project is an attempt to prevent these ancient languages being forgotten.

Dr Harrison, who was speaking at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, visited language "hot spots" around the world with colleague Dr Gregory Anderson, president of the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages in Oregon, US.

In 2010 the team provided the first documentation of a language known as Koro spoken by only a few hundred people in north-eastern India.

Alfred "Bud" Lane, one of the last fluent speakers of a Native American language called Siletz Dee-in from Oregon, said: "The talking dictionary is and will be one of the best resources we have in our struggle to keep Siletz alive."

Other dictionaries feature Matukar Panau, an Oceanic language from Papua New Guinea which has only 600 surviving speakers.

Before the Enduring Voices team began studying it three years ago, the language had never been recorded or written.

Even though they had never experienced the internet, the Matukar Panau community asked for their language to be placed on the Web.

They finally saw and heard their language online when computers arrived in their village last year.

The Matukar Panau dictionary contains 3,045 entries, 3,035 audio files, and 67 images.

Other endangered languages include Chamacoco, from Paraguay's remote northern desert, Remo, Sora, and Ho, from India, and Tuvan, from Siberia and Mongolia.

The eighth dictionary is dedicated to Celtic tongues. More are now in production, say the linguists.

Jesse Reviewed by Jesse on 18th Feb 2012. Internet may save endangered languages It butchers English lol Internet may save endangered languages 18 Feb 2012 Vanishing languages spoken by only small groups of people around the world could be saved from extinction by social media networks and the internet. Around half of the world's 7,000 languages are expected to have disappeared from use by the end of the century. They are threatened by cultural changes, ethnic shame and government repression. But technology is allowing many languages to increase audience by Rating: 5

[ibby]

lol they are endangered because of immigration and war..

lets hope the internet saves something like a language. might be kool.