Endangered languages: does the size matter?

Apr 22, 2011 by

In the latest posting, I discussed the issue of endangered languages. One interesting question to ask in this connection is whether the size of a given language (i.e., how many people speak it) matters as far as the level of danger...

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Endangered Languages and the Wikipedia

Apr 19, 2011 by

If a Martian scholar trying to understand the cultural geography of our planet had access solely to the Wikipedia, he’d get a very biased and possibly misleading picture of our human linguistic geography. As discussed in a...

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Are dying languages worth saving?

Sep 21, 2010 by

A recent conference at the Trinity College Carmarthen in Wales focused on the question of language endangerment. Experts estimate that 25 languages die each year. This amounts to losing 250 languages in a decade, something many...

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Papiamentu, the language of Curaçao

Jul 8, 2010 by

Unlike many other creoles that are endangered and whose extinction is just a matter of time, Papiamentu, a Creole language spoken by some 200,000 people on the islands of Curaçao, Bonaire and Aruba, is thriving. The origins of...

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