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Regions of dying languages named
Associated Press ^ | 9/18/07 | RANDOLPH E. SCHMID

Posted on 09/18/2007 2:35:30 PM PDT by Santa Fe_Conservative

WASHINGTON - When every known speaker of the language Amurdag gets together, there's still no one to talk to.

Native Australian Charlie Mangulda is the only person alive known to speak that language, one of thousands around the world on the brink of extinction.

From rural Australia to Siberia to Oklahoma, languages that embody the history and traditions of people are dying, researchers said Tuesday.

While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks, according to linguistic experts struggling to save at least some of them.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: doomage; extinction; godsgravesglyphs; language; languages; wearedoomed
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Wonder if our major languages like English will go extinct too.
1 posted on 09/18/2007 2:35:38 PM PDT by Santa Fe_Conservative
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
You can hedge your bets and start brushing up on your Chinese and your Arabic.
2 posted on 09/18/2007 2:37:13 PM PDT by krb (If you're not outraged, people probably like having you around.)
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To: SunkenCiv

ping.


3 posted on 09/18/2007 2:37:35 PM PDT by rdl6989
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To: krb

Hitlery will make us all learn Esperanto.


4 posted on 09/18/2007 2:39:14 PM PDT by rdl6989
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To: krb

is this somehow related to global warming?


5 posted on 09/18/2007 2:40:55 PM PDT by tired1 (responsibility without authority is slavery!)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
Typical alarmists, ignoring the obvious question - at what rate are new languages evolving?

And what counts as a "language" vs. "dialect"... vs. just poor grammar being used in a region?

6 posted on 09/18/2007 2:41:10 PM PDT by SteveMcKing
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
if it doesn’t make sense to speak a language nobody will take the time to bother.
7 posted on 09/18/2007 2:41:30 PM PDT by CzarNicky (The problem with bad ideas is that they seemed like good ideas at the time.)
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To: rdl6989
Hitlery will make us all learn Esperanto.
No she won't. As far as she's concerned, money talks, bullsht walks.

She'll be an equal-opportunity grabber, taking from everybody and keeping everything for herself. She won't care what language you speak, as long as you fork over the cash.

8 posted on 09/18/2007 2:42:42 PM PDT by samtheman
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

Something for liberats to do:
each should learn at least 5 dead languages and preserve them and leave us alone.


9 posted on 09/18/2007 2:42:48 PM PDT by Leo Carpathian (ffffFReeeePeee!)
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To: krb

E su Espanol.


10 posted on 09/18/2007 2:43:41 PM PDT by JRochelle ( Winkle Paw is a Hillary donor.)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
Wonder if our major languages like English will go extinct too.

Like Latin? Very likely, and esp. now with global communications and travel and interrmarriage, English will evolve into newer forms and meld with a few other languages. Life goes on.

11 posted on 09/18/2007 2:45:01 PM PDT by Clock King (Bring the noise!)
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To: Leo Carpathian

ROTFL!

Great idea.


12 posted on 09/18/2007 2:45:28 PM PDT by JRochelle ( Winkle Paw is a Hillary donor.)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

At the risk of sounding heartless, who cares really? If native speakers no longer find the language of any use, why would they bother to pass it along?

I haven’t noticed any drop in the quality of my life because I don’t know some paleolithic language spoken by my ancestors.


13 posted on 09/18/2007 2:46:33 PM PDT by Gingersnap
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
While there are an estimated 7,000 languages spoken around the world today, one of them dies out about every two weeks,...

Good!

14 posted on 09/18/2007 2:46:58 PM PDT by 3niner (War is one game where the home team always loses.)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

There is a language called “respectble English” that is threatened with extinction. It uses outdated terms such as “sir”, “ma’am”, and “please.” Fortunately, pockets the midwest and the south are still making an effort to introduce it to younger speakers. New recruits in the military are often give a crash course in this language using traditional linguistic instruction methods.

“You will address me as “sir” or I will put a boot up your...”


15 posted on 09/18/2007 2:47:34 PM PDT by Our man in washington
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

My paternal grandmother’s first language, though she was born in Colorado, was Welsh Gaelic (Great-grandpa Evans was a collier, a coal miner).

She did not teach it to her son, so my father never learned to speak it. She told him as an American he would only need English to succeed in the world.


16 posted on 09/18/2007 2:49:27 PM PDT by SatinDoll
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative
Weird languages may be an interesting study, but any more than one language on the planet is an impediment to humanity.

We should designate English as the common human language and record all the rest on a stack of DVDs for future study of the half dozen people who really care.

17 posted on 09/18/2007 2:49:32 PM PDT by narby
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

I wonder if Pig Latin is offensive to Muslims?


18 posted on 09/18/2007 2:50:58 PM PDT by Fresh Wind (All we are sa-a-a-ying, is give Beast a chance.)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative; jpsb; ex-snook; Wolfie; mysterio; little jeremiah
I'm not sure which is more sad: the extinction -- permanent loss-- of languages, and the likely extinction of their associated cultures that were unique.

OR that on a nominally Conservative website/forum, no one has expressed any concern or regret about that extinction, or shared thoughts on how it can be avoided and why it should.

19 posted on 09/18/2007 2:53:13 PM PDT by ProCivitas (Duncan Hunter = Pro-Family + Fair Trade = Pro-America)
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To: Santa Fe_Conservative

English may morph into some other language (as Latin did). Latin could be considered an [almost] dead language, in in may ways, it is very much alive through its children languages.


20 posted on 09/18/2007 2:53:49 PM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu ( What is your take on Acts 15:20 (abstaining from blood) about eating meat? Could you freepmail?)
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