Of the world’s seven thousand languages nearly half will disappear by the end of this century. Their extinction means the end of entire cultures, traditions, and histories.
K. Davis Harrison and Gregory Anderson are on a mission to save these dying languages. They’re linguists, but not the kind who spend their lives in libraries and classrooms.
They travel the world — from the Bolivian Andes to the steppes of Siberia — searching for the last speakers of native tongues. Think of them as action-adventure linguists with a cause.
This hour, On Point: the race to save vanishing languages.
-Anthony Brooks
Guests:
Greg Anderson, co-founder and director of Living Tongues: Institute for Endangered Languages, he teaches linguistics at the University of Oregon.
David Harrison, professor of linguistics at Swarthmore College, author of “When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World’s Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge,” and co-founder and director of research for Living Tongues: Institute for Endangered Languages.
Daniel Miller, co-founder of Ironbound Films and co-producer, co-director, and writer of the documentary film “The Linguists”
Tags: culture, language, linguist, travel
I’m interested in Greg anderson’s brief allusion this morning to a language so tied with the experience of nature that it is often untranslatable into English. Where can I find out more about this language?
I am not expert at using the computer and so do not know how to find the answer on this web-site.
Posted by M. Frances Stilwell, on February 21st, 2009 at 11:07 AM