AN INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE DIES 'ONCE EVERY TWO WEEKS'

[marcel]

Wed, 20 Feb 2008 10:38:24 +0000
From: Miriam Ross <m...@survival-international.org>

SURVIVAL INTERNATIONAL PRESS RELEASE

20 February 2008


An indigenous language dies on average once every two weeks, reports
Survival on International Mother Language Day (21 February).

Five thousand of the world's six thousand languages are indigenous,
and the majority of those threatened with extinction are indigenous
languages.

The Akuntsu tribe of northern Brazil, for example, were first
contacted by a Brazilian government team in 1995. They number only
six people, who saw the rest of their tribe massacred in the 1970s
and 1980s by ranchers who wanted their land. Nobody else speaks the
Akuntsu language, and it is likely that it will disappear forever
along with the tribe.

There are over a hundred uncontacted tribes worldwide, and their
languages are among the most endangered. Survival believes that many
uncontacted tribes are under serious threat of extinction within the
next twenty years.

Survival's director Stephen Corry said today, 'Every time another
tribe becomes extinct and their language dies, another way of life
and another way of understanding the world disappears forever. Even
if it has been painstakingly studied and recorded, a language without
a people to speak it means little. A language can only live if its
people live, and if today's uncontacted tribes are to have a future,
we must respect their right to choose their own way of life.'

The UN has proclaimed 2008 'International Year of Languages'.

-ENDS-

To watch Survival's short film 'Uncontacted Tribes', featuring the
Akuntsu, visit http://www.survival-international.org/uncontactedtribes

For more information contact Miriam Ross on (+44) (0)20 7687 8734 or
email m...@survival-international.org

To read this press release online visit
http://www.survival-international.org/news/3086

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