To: gobucks
Dying languages are preserved by the only Christian endeavor in the world that is widely recognized as the best in the world at what it does -- field linguistics. Some missionary endeavors (see the book Brutchka) integrate the Christian gospel into tribal life in such a way as to preserve aboriginal peoples. Then, there are the bungles. The tribe that discovered that antibiotics did not come "from Jesus" but from pharmaceutical warehouses now is the main source of that nation's prostitutes, for example.
4 posted on
02/05/2004 6:22:52 AM PST by
TomSmedley
((technical writer looking for work!))
To: TomSmedley
Of the 6,000 languages now spoken on the planet, two or three become extinct each week. This shows every evidence of being a totally bogus "statistic", made up by some interest group. If you do the math, there will be no languages spoken in 50 years.
6 posted on
02/05/2004 8:02:27 AM PST by
LexBaird
("I don't do diplomacy." - Donald Rumsfeld)
To: TomSmedley
"field linguistics"
Ever heard of JAARS?
7 posted on
02/05/2004 8:16:15 AM PST by
gobucks
(http://oncampus.richmond.edu/academics/classics/students/Ribeiro/laocoon)
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