Lingformant » Language preservation http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com News for linguists Tue, 27 Jul 2010 05:51:58 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Languages Racing to Extinction in 5 Global “Hotspots” http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2007/09/21/languages-racing-to-extinction-in-5-global-hotspots/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2007/09/21/languages-racing-to-extinction-in-5-global-hotspots/#comments Fri, 21 Sep 2007 10:24:12 +0000 Vili Maunula http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2007/09/21/languages-racing-to-extinction-in-5-global-hotspots/ From Alaska to Australia, hundreds of languages around the world are teetering on the brink of extinction—some being spoken only by a single person, according to a new study. The research has revealed five hotspots where languages are vanishing most rapidly: eastern Siberia, northern Australia, central South America, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Pacific Northwest. …

Read the full news article at National Geographic

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2007/09/21/languages-racing-to-extinction-in-5-global-hotspots/feed/ 0 Extinction of Languages Puts Plants and Animals at Risk http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/08/15/extinction-of-languages-puts-plants-and-animals-at-risk/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/08/15/extinction-of-languages-puts-plants-and-animals-at-risk/#comments Tue, 15 Aug 2006 08:15:15 +0000 Vili Maunula http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/08/15/extinction-of-languages-puts-plants-and-animals-at-risk/ When the nonprofit organization Terralingua mapped the distribution of languages against a map of the world’s biodiversity, it found that the places with the highest concentration of plants and animals, such as the Amazon Basin and the island of New Guinea, were also where people spoke the most languages.

Read the full article at LiveScience.com

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/08/15/extinction-of-languages-puts-plants-and-animals-at-risk/feed/ 0 Australia leads in extinct languages http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/13/australia-leads-in-extinct-languages/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/13/australia-leads-in-extinct-languages/#comments Thu, 13 Jul 2006 17:05:08 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2006/07/13/australia-leads-in-extinct-languages/ Australia has more extinct languages than any other country in the world, a new report has found. The Worldwatch Institute’s latest Vital Signs publication focuses on the threat posed to the globe’s languages, particularly those spoken by indigenous populations.

Read the full article at Daily Telegraph

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/13/australia-leads-in-extinct-languages/feed/ 0 NSF, NEH boost efforts to make digital records of dying languages http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/10/nsf-neh-boost-efforts-to-make-digital-records-of-dying-languages/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/10/nsf-neh-boost-efforts-to-make-digital-records-of-dying-languages/#comments Mon, 10 Jul 2006 17:05:03 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2006/07/10/nsf-neh-boost-efforts-to-make-digital-records-of-dying-languages/ The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) today announced the awarding of 12 fellowships and 22 institutional grants in the two agencies’ partnership on Documenting Endangered Languages (DEL). This is the second round of their multi-year campaign to preserve records of languages threatened with extinction. Experts estimate that more than half of the approximately 7,000 currently used human languages are headed for oblivion in this century. These new DEL awards, totaling $5 million, will support digital documentation work on more than 60 such languages.

Read the full article at EurekAlert!

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/07/10/nsf-neh-boost-efforts-to-make-digital-records-of-dying-languages/feed/ 0 “New World” Film Revives Extinct Native American Tongue http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/01/24/new-world-film-revives-extinct-native-american-tongue/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/01/24/new-world-film-revives-extinct-native-american-tongue/#comments Tue, 24 Jan 2006 17:03:33 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2006/01/24/new-world-film-revives-extinct-native-american-tongue/ For his recent movie ‘The New World’, director Terrence Malick wanted to accurately recreate the sights and sounds of a 17th-century English colony, including the indigenous language of the time. There was only one problem: No one had spoken the tongue for about 200 years. Enter Blair Rudes, a linguist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. National Geographic News recently spoke with Rudes about the challenges of bringing a language back from the dead.

Read the full article at National Geographic

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2006/01/24/new-world-film-revives-extinct-native-american-tongue/feed/ 0 Saving Cornish language not as easy as A-B-C http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/20/saving-cornish-language-not-as-easy-as-a-b-c/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/20/saving-cornish-language-not-as-easy-as-a-b-c/#comments Sun, 20 Nov 2005 17:02:44 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/11/20/saving-cornish-language-not-as-easy-as-a-b-c/ Historians and linguists have tried to revive Cornish, one of a group of old Celtic languages whose cousins include Gaelic, Welsh and Breton. But the campaign isn’t going so well. For one thing, only about 200 people currently speak it well enough to hold a conversation. For another, there are four competing groups promoting the language, each with its own spelling system.

Read the full article at Austin American Statesman

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/20/saving-cornish-language-not-as-easy-as-a-b-c/feed/ 0 Number of languages in the world to be cut by half in a century http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/10/number-of-languages-in-the-world-to-be-cut-by-half-in-a-century/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/10/number-of-languages-in-the-world-to-be-cut-by-half-in-a-century/#comments Thu, 10 Nov 2005 17:02:32 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/11/10/number-of-languages-in-the-world-to-be-cut-by-half-in-a-century/ Half of the existing 6,700 languages in the world will die away in a century and another 2,000 languages will be endangered if no efforts are made to save them, a top expert on social science said on Wednesday.

Read the full article at Peoples Daily

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/11/10/number-of-languages-in-the-world-to-be-cut-by-half-in-a-century/feed/ 11 MS supports development of Eskimo language http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/15/ms-supports-development-of-eskimo-language/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/15/ms-supports-development-of-eskimo-language/#comments Sat, 15 Oct 2005 17:02:06 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/10/15/ms-supports-development-of-eskimo-language/ A project aimed at compiling a glossary of computer words in Greenlandic, an Eskimo language, has been launched, reports said on Friday. Suggestions will be vetted by the Greenland Language Council, Oqaasileriffik, and the project is sponsored by software giant Microsoft, the online computer news site ComOn reported.

Read the full article at IOL

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/15/ms-supports-development-of-eskimo-language/feed/ 0 UBD Holds Seminar On Dialects In Asia-Pacific http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/ubd-holds-seminar-on-dialects-in-asia-pacific/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/ubd-holds-seminar-on-dialects-in-asia-pacific/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:01:59 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/10/04/ubd-holds-seminar-on-dialects-in-asia-pacific/ An international seminar on “Austronesia Dialects in the Asia-Pacific” drew to a close yesterday afternoon with the presentation of certificates to all participants at the Chancellor’s Hall of Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).

Read the full article at Brudirect

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/ubd-holds-seminar-on-dialects-in-asia-pacific/feed/ 0 Task force calls for funding of Aboriginal language project http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/task-force-calls-for-funding-of-aboriginal-language-project/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/task-force-calls-for-funding-of-aboriginal-language-project/#comments Tue, 04 Oct 2005 17:01:58 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/10/04/task-force-calls-for-funding-of-aboriginal-language-project/ The Federal Task Force on Aboriginal Cultures and Language recently released a 142-page report, calling on the Canadian government to immediately begin funding Aboriginal language projects before it’s too late.

Read the full article at Indian Country

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/10/04/task-force-calls-for-funding-of-aboriginal-language-project/feed/ 0 Language Born of Colonialism Thrives Again in Amazon http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/28/language-born-of-colonialism-thrives-again-in-amazon/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/28/language-born-of-colonialism-thrives-again-in-amazon/#comments Sun, 28 Aug 2005 17:01:18 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/08/28/language-born-of-colonialism-thrives-again-in-amazon/ When the Portuguese arrived in Brazil five centuries ago, they encountered a fundamental problem: the indigenous peoples they conquered spoke more than 700 languages. Rising to the challenge, the Jesuit priests accompanying them concocted a mixture of Indian, Portuguese and African words they called “língua geral,” or the “general language,” and imposed it on their colonial subjects. Now, tribes that have lost their own mother tongue are taking refuge in língua geral and making it an element of their identity.

Read the full article at New York Times

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/28/language-born-of-colonialism-thrives-again-in-amazon/feed/ 0 Inuit language conference an English-only event http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/26/inuit-language-conference-an-english-only-event/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/26/inuit-language-conference-an-english-only-event/#comments Fri, 26 Aug 2005 17:01:15 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/08/26/inuit-language-conference-an-english-only-event/ When delegates to an international youth conference on Inuit languages met in Iqaluit last week, they were unable to conduct any of their working sessions in their native tongue or dialects.

Read the full article at Nunatsiaq News

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/26/inuit-language-conference-an-english-only-event/feed/ 0 CSUSM professor helps preserve Guatemalan language http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/16/csusm-professor-helps-preserve-guatemalan-language/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/16/csusm-professor-helps-preserve-guatemalan-language/#comments Tue, 16 Aug 2005 17:01:05 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/08/16/csusm-professor-helps-preserve-guatemalan-language/ A group of women who lost their husbands and fathers two decades ago in Guatemala’s violent civil war are one step closer to telling the world their stories thanks to help from a cultural linguistics professor at Cal State San Marcos.

Read the full article at North County Times

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/16/csusm-professor-helps-preserve-guatemalan-language/feed/ 0 Project seeks to preserve world’s dying languages http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/10/project-seeks-to-preserve-worlds-dying-languages/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/10/project-seeks-to-preserve-worlds-dying-languages/#comments Wed, 10 Aug 2005 17:00:56 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/08/10/project-seeks-to-preserve-worlds-dying-languages/ Every two weeks or so the last elderly man or woman with full command of a particular language dies. At that rate, as many as 2,500 native tongues will disappear forever by 2100. David W. Lightfoot is helping spearhead a government initiative to preserve some of these dying languages, believing each is a window into the human mind that can benefit the world at large.

Read the full article at USA Today

]]> http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/10/project-seeks-to-preserve-worlds-dying-languages/feed/ 0 Experts Want African Languages in Schools http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/09/experts-want-african-languages-in-schools/ http://lingformant.vertebratesilence.com/2005/08/09/experts-want-african-languages-in-schools/#comments Tue, 09 Aug 2005 17:00:52 +0000 Vili Maunula http://www.vertebratesilence.com/newling/2005/08/09/experts-want-african-languages-in-schools/ Delegates from 17 African countries who attended a regional conference on Bilingual Education and on the use of African languages as mediums of instruction have called for the introduction of such languages in all African schools.

Read the full article at allAfrica

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