endangered languages

Today I read about an interesting online site aimed at gathering information about endangered languages around the world. I had a look at it and noticed that the indigenous languages around my own state, Victoria in Australia, were marked as 'vitality unknown'. I suppose that doesn't mean they're necessarily in more danger than other languages. Maybe it simply means the information is not available.

I think this is a wonderful project. I hope the use of modern technologies can turn back the tide of language loss.

It was fun to listen to native speakers of different languages. So far I've listened to Cherokee and to what a presume is a Hawaiian language.

Of course, what is simply fun for me is vitally important for others. I wish the project well!

the King James Bible and Australian indigenous languages

As I walked up the stairs in the Melbourne City Library today, I came across an exhibition about the 400th year celebration of the King James version of the Christian Bible.

After tomorrow it moves to Brisbane.

The first section to draw my attention sat below a poster with a picture of Shakespeare.



It claimed this version of the Bible has influenced our modern English language even more than Shakespeare did.



I was particularly interested in the display about translation of the Bible into Australian indigenous languages, because I think it is an indictment of our education system that most non-indigenous Australians are not only unable to understand indigenous languages, but don't even realise what a wealth of languages existed here prior to European settlement (and still exists).

The role of missionaries in studying and preserving languages around the world is a complex one. Nicholas Evans, in his book Dying Words, launched in Melbourne two years ago, says:

The idea of learning and committing to writing the languages of other, less militarily powerful peoples did not appear until Christianity, with its early urges to proselytize other people in languages they would understand...Ingenious new scripts, developed by polyglot priests for their own languages, quickly launched their traditions of religious translation, later to be followed by other forms of literature...
As would happen again and again in colonial encounters around the world, the partial official tolerance of indigenous languages and cultures did not last long.

Here's one of the short movies available at the online version of the Exhibition:

Australian Indigenous Scriptures from Bible Society Australia.

It was great to hear on this video clip that indigenous communities are taking matters into their own hands and translating the Bible into their own languages. I assume it isn't just the Bible that's being translated, of course.I assume that there would be other literature made available for people who speak an indigenous language.

Baha'i and Esperanto

When I read Brian Barker’s comment on my post, 'caring about dying languages', I wandered off around the internet to follow it up and came across Andrew O’Hehir’s article that reviews the book 'In the Land of Invented Languages'. The reviewed book was written by Arika Okrent.

The article makes the book sound interesting and I'll be looking out for it, but the subsequent comments are also worth a read.

There's plenty of informed discussion of the variety of languages that have been invented and the motives of the people who invented them. Brian Barker's comments there relate to Esperanto.

One topic I didn't see mentioned was the Baha'i religion's attitude to a universal auxiliary language. My neighbor recently gave me a book about this religion, which I had never previously heard of (not proselytising, as she's not a member of that religion).

They seem an optimistic group (not unrealistically so, I hope) and aim for world unity and peace in the future.

Their site says, in relation to their vision for a future United Nations:

4. Making a commitment to a universal auxiliary language and a common script

The United Nations, which currently uses six official languages, would derive substantial benefit from either choosing a single existing language or creating a new one to be used as an auxiliary language in all its fora. Such a step has long been advocated by many groups, from the Esperantists to the Bahá'í International Community itself.18 In addition to saving money and simplifying bureaucratic procedures, such a move would go far toward promoting a spirit of unity.

We propose the appointment of a high-level Commission, with members from various regions and drawn from relevant fields, including linguistics, economics, the social sciences, education and the media, to begin careful study on the matter of an international auxiliary language and the adoption of a common script.

We foresee that eventually, the world cannot but adopt a single, universally agreed-upon auxiliary language and script to be taught in schools worldwide, as a supplement to the language or languages of each country. The objective would be to facilitate the transition to a global society through better communication among nations, reduction of administrative costs for businesses, governments and others involved in global enterprise, and a general fostering of more cordial relations between all members of the human family.19

This proposal should be read narrowly. It does not in any way envision the decline of any living language or culture.

The Baha'i site says:The Bahá'í community, comprising members of the Bahá'í Faith from all over the globe, now numbers some five million souls. They represent 2,112 ethnic and tribal groups and live in over 116,000 localities in 188 independent countries and 45 dependent territories or overseas departments. What was once regarded by some as an obscure, tiny sect is now recognized by the Encyclopedia Britannica as the second-most widely spread independent religion in the world, after Christianity.

If you put this number together with the Encyclopaedia Britannicas estimation that

more than 100,000 persons worldwide use the language [Esperanto], and several dozen periodicals are published in Esperanto(*1)

then perhaps in the future everyone might have a second language that makes understanding between individuals and groups more of a possibility.

Reference:"Esperanto." Britannica Student Library. Encyclopaedia Britannica 2008 Ultimate Reference Suite. Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica.