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Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
Posts: 13,803 |
The Navajo came to the Arizona/New Mexico region some time around 1100 AD from somewhere in California, but their language is a member of the Athebaskan language group that is mostly represented by languages in the Pacific Northwest. Navajo and Apache are pretty much mutually comprehensible. Whether other Athebaskan languages share this trait with Navajo and Apache I don't know.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
Lyle Campbell, American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
Ives Goddard (Ed.), Languages, vol. 17, Handbook of North American Indians, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution, 1996.
Marianne Mithun, The Languages of Native North America, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
New edition of UNESCO’s Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger language map Here are languages and dialects most unheard of (by me anyway). Endagered Languages World-map (long pdf download )really nice to zoom in on it. (immo)
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,927 Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,927 Likes: 3 |
This map holds a wealth of info. So many languages left with only one or two persons speaking it. Makes me want to take one on if only to preserve it.
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
Posts: 5,295 |
According to the newspaper article that brought me to this site, languagediversity is to culture what biodiversity is to nature. On the list of countries counting the most endangered languages India is on top (196), followed by the United States (192) and Indonesia (147). The last speaker of Eyak, a language of Alaska died last year. So, you have the choice of 192 U.S. languages if you want to take one on. Which will it be? In my area I could choose Ripuarisch , a language spoken in Rhineland.
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Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,927 Likes: 3
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 9,927 Likes: 3 |
We had a newspaper article yesterday that pertains to this topic. According to the article, only one native speaker of Livonian remains on Earth, in Latvia. Eyak, an Alaskan language, died last year with its last speaker. These are two of nearly 2000 that UNESCO says have gone extinct or in danger of doing so. With each language being a vessel of culture, a repository for a unique set of feelings, expressions, wisdoms, ways of looking at the world, it is worth preserving. According to the article, in the USA alone more than a fourth of the 192 languages once spoken have disappeared; 71 are severely endangered, e.g., Gros Ventre (fewer than 10); Menomonee (35 speakers). Livonian is being revived by being taught in schools to young peole in Latvia and thru poetry. Sort of makes one want to learn one to help the cause along..
----please, draw me a sheep----
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Joined: Jun 2006
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2006
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Kurdish Some languages are endagered because they are banned.
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Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1
stranger
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stranger
Joined: Apr 2009
Posts: 1 |
Hi,
This is a wonderful opinion. The things mentioned are unanimous and needs to be appreciated by everyone.
robinson
Last edited by Jackie; 04/29/09 02:30 AM. Reason: We don't like spam a lot.
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