An Indigenous Language Dies Once Every Two Weeks
Dear HumanDHS network friends
Please find below an artcle on the loss of indigenous lanuages.
Kind regards
Brian Ward
An Indigenous Language Dies Once Every Two Weeks
SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE
20 February 2008
An indigenous language dies on average once every two weeks, reports
Survival on International Mother Language Day (21 February).
Five thousand of the world’s six thousand languages are indigenous,
and the majority of those threatened with extinction are indigenous
languages.
The Akuntsu tribe of northern Brazil, for example, were first
contacted by a Brazilian government team in 1995. They number only six
people, who saw the rest of their tribe massacred in the 1970s and
1980s by ranchers who wanted their land. Nobody else speaks the
Akuntsu language, and it is likely that it will disappear forever
along with the tribe.
There are over a hundred uncontacted tribes worldwide, and their
languages are among the most endangered. Survival believes that many
uncontacted tribes are under serious threat of extinction within the
next twenty years.
Survival’s director Stephen Corry said today, ‘Every time another
tribe becomes extinct and their language dies, another way of life and
another way of understanding the world disappears forever. Even if it
has been painstakingly studied and recorded, a language without a
people to speak it means little. A language can only live if its
people live, and if today’s uncontacted tribes are to have a future,
we must respect their right to choose their own way of life.’
The UN has proclaimed 2008 ‘International Year of Languages’.
To watch Survival’s short film ‘Uncontacted Tribes’, featuring the
> Akuntsu, visit http://www.survival-international.org/uncontactedtribes
>
> For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or
> email mr[@]survival-international.org