Modern Technology Helps Save Dying Languages

May 16, 2012 by

As discussed in an earlier post, modern technology can be called upon to help save a dying language. Another example of this is a language called Arapesh, marked as #140 on the Ethnologue map of languages along the northern New...

read more

More on endangered languages and saving ideas

Sep 2, 2011 by

In a number of this blog’s postings, we have discussed the so-called “amateurish linguists” and the intellectual traps they fall into, such as the Great Eskimo Vocabulary Hoax. Sadly, it is not only laymen who fall...

read more

Rescuing Endangered Languages Means Saving Ideas, Or Does It?

Sep 1, 2011 by

Yet another article appeared recently on Miller-McCune.com that prides itself for “Smart journalism. Real solutions”. But as is often the case with the media reporting on language-related topics, facts, fiction and...

read more

Linguistic diversity and language endangerment in Papua New Guinea

Jul 24, 2011 by

Papua New Guinea has what is probably the highest language density on the planet, with 830 languages in a land area of 462,840 sq. km (or about 178,700 sq. miles). In other words, there is one language every 558 sq. km (215 sq....

read more

Endangered languages as the next cool lingo?

Jul 5, 2011 by

As we discussed in an earlier posting, people often perceive the changes in language due to technology (computers, texting, the Internet, etc.) in a very negative light. But there may actually be some positive effects to texting and...

read more