Wrestling With Oblivion: Endangered Languages - Page 2
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The same pressures are squashing languages elsewhere. With an estimated 800 to 1,300 languages, Papua New Guinea is the wealthiest nation on earth, linguistically-speaking. Yet with the exception of English and Neomelanesian, every one of its languages is threatened. If the irony gets any thicker, we'll have to cut it with a chain saw.
Efforts to slow down the death rate include Terralingua, an association of linguists and fellow travellers dedicated to bringing the issue to the fore; Gesellschaft für bedrohte Sprachen, the University of Köln's endangered languages association; the European Bureau for Lesser Used Languages; and Britain's Foundation for Endangered Languages. Political statements include the European Charter on the Protection of Minority Languages, the proposed legislation that's driving so many EU majority cultures into a frothing rage, and the Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights. In 1990, following centuries of publicly-funded and sanctioned ethnocide, the US Congress passed the Native American Languages Act, recognising aboriginals' right to speak their own languages. Unfortunately, it allocated nothing like the resources it previously poured into destroying them.
The profusion of online endangered-language resources, maintained by organisations the world over, bears witness to the concern that the problem has excited in scientific circles. Terralingua's excellent FAQ is a good primer. From there, interested readers can proceed to UNESCO's Red Book on Endangered Languages; the Endangered Languages Fund's inventory of threatened traditions; the University of Tokyo's International Clearing House for Endangered Languages' links to the language-preservation movement; Murdoch University's list; Sabhal Mór Ostaig's European Minority Languages page; and the EU's official Euromosaic report on minority languages.
Stabilising or rejuvenating an endangered language is very hard to do; once an invading tradition gets the upper hand, with its powerful mix of convenience, political clout, and "hipness," reversing the entrenched prejudices against the minority language, even among its own speakers, is like stopping an avalanche. Yet successful efforts are on record. Even dead languages have been revived. Given determined communities and forward-looking national governments, the march of extinction can be halted or reversed.
This article available from Suite 101 World Languages: www.suite101.com/welcome.cfm/world_languages
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