Newsgroups: sci.lang
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From: klm@il.us.swissbank.com (Karen McIntyre)
Subject: Re: Language Extinction
Message-ID: <1995Feb24.192957.5397@il.us.swissbank.com>
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Date: Fri, 24 Feb 1995 19:29:57 GMT
Lines: 35

Scott Horne writes
> What can you do to prevent the extinction of languages?
>     Learn a language on the endangered list!

Perhaps a better answer:  Help prevent the extinction of the People that  
speak the language.

I just finished reading an article in OMNI magazine (March 95) entitled  
"Last Chance For First Peoples" by Stephan Mills.  Though it doesn't have  
anything to say about language, I'd guess that many of those "half of  
~6000 languages that will become extinct during the next century" are  
represented by the list of indigenous peoples in OMNI's article.


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C. R. Selvakumar writes
> ... When we see millions of dollars being spent to 
> preserve living species (flora and fauna) ... should not
> preserving every living language also be a high priority? 

Please don't lament the millions being spent to save flora and fauna --  
some of those dollars are, in turn, helping to preserve the lands which  
indigenous peoples need to continue their lifestyles and those keep their  
languages "living".  Maybe environmentalists buy "Rain Forest Crunch" to  
save a rain forest, or buy organic cosmetics at the Body Shop to protest  
animal testing, without ever realizing that they are helping to save  
languages and peoples.  It's not so much the motive that matters, but the  
result.


--
----_/--_/----_/-------_/_/--_/_/----Opinions expressed herein are
---_/_/------_/-------_/--_/--_/-----my own and do not reflect the
--_/---_/---_/_/_/---_/------_/------opinions of Swiss Bank Corp.
