The atlas shows where all the endangered languages of the world are spoken









Cornish, Manx and Irish just three of 2,500 languages facing extinction, say UN

By Claire Bates
Last updated at 2:56 PM on 20th February 2009

Traditional Cornish and Manx are now extinct and Irish is at risk of going the same way, according to a study of endangered languages.

They are just three of the 2,500 dialects judged to be at risk on Unesco's Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger.

The newly published maps show 200 out of our 6,000 world languages have become 'extinct' in the last three generations.

Ned Maddrell, who died in 1974, was the last first-language speaker of traditional Manx, while the United Nations cultural body said the last traditional Cornish speaker died around 1777.

However, there is hope for language lovers. Unesco reports that new forms of both Cornish and Manx are being revived and neither could be regarded as endangered 'as the number of users seems to be constantly growing.'

Jenefer Lowe, the development manager of the Cornish Language Partnership said: 'In the past 20 years the revival of Cornish has really gathered momentum.'

Other languages under threat in the UK include Irish and Scottish Gaelic, which are classed as 'definitely endangered.' There are now only 44,000 Irish speakers and 58,552 people who understand Scottish Gaelic.

Meanwhile Welsh and Scots are termed 'unsafe' although they have 750,000 and 1.5million speakers respectively.

But they are all faring far better than Livonian, which only has one native speaker left in Latvia.  In Montana, America, fewer than 10 elderly people speak Gros Ventre and none are fully fluent.

Francoise Riviere, deputy director of culture at UNESCO, said raising awareness of the importance of mother tongues is a crucial goal of the project.

'We are trying to teach people that the language of the country from where we come is important, and what counts is being proud of one's own language,' she said.

Rapid economic development in countries such as India and Brazil  are putting once healthy tongues at risk.

'It often brings about the loss of traditional ways of life and a strong pressure to speak a dominant language that is - or is perceived to be - necessary for full civic participation and economic advancement,' Unesco said.

However, the global picture is not all gloomy. Indigenous groups in South America have been at the forefront of preserving their regional tongues by pressuring governments to recognize indigenous rights.

The digital version of the atlas invites users to contribute with updates and allows them to search according to country, degree of endangerment, name of languages or by number of speakers.

A paper version of the 2009 atlas - which was funded by Norway and involved a team of over 30 linguists - will be launched in May.

Article: HERE