The Enduring Voices Project
Half of the World's Languages are in Danger of Extinction
By 2100, more than half of the more than 7,000 languages spoken on Earth—many of them not yet recorded—may disappear, taking with them a wealth of knowledge about history, culture, the natural environment, and the human brain.
National Geographic's Enduring Voices Project (conducted in collaboration with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages) strives to preserve endangered languages by identifying language hotspots and documenting the languages and cultures within them.
Language defines a culture, through the people who speak it and what it allows speakers to say. Words that describe a particular cultural practice or idea may not translate precisely into another language. Many endangered languages have rich oral cultures with stories, songs, and histories passed on to younger generations, but no written forms. With the extinction of a language, an entire culture is lost.
National Geographic's Enduring Voices Project (conducted in collaboration with the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages) strives to preserve endangered languages by identifying language hotspots and documenting the languages and cultures within them.
Language defines a culture, through the people who speak it and what it allows speakers to say. Words that describe a particular cultural practice or idea may not translate precisely into another language. Many endangered languages have rich oral cultures with stories, songs, and histories passed on to younger generations, but no written forms. With the extinction of a language, an entire culture is lost.
Dying Languages
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"Talking Dictionaries"
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Revealed Language
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Endangered Languages
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SERI
Mexico
Number of speakers: 650-1,000
[ caasipl ]
the one who makes marks Other Seris can’t understand why Lorenzo Herrera Casanova has chosen to be a writer, or “one who makes marks,” because it doesn’t earn him anything. But since linguists came to help the Seris create their first dictionary, he’s become obsessed with documenting everything his grandfather told him as a boy. [ atcz | azaac ]
daughter of a parent’s younger sibling daughter of a parent’s older sibling The Seris have more than 50 terms for kinship relationships, such as between these two cousins, many specific to the gender and birth order of the relative. A woman uses a different word for father than a man does. |
[ ziix quih haasax haaptxö quih áno cöcacaaixaj ] one who strongly greets with joy/peace/harmony There is no greeting among the Seris akin to a handshake or wave. But Josué Robles Barnett demonstrates a gesture that used to be performed when arriving in a strange community to convey you meant no harm. [ ziix hacx tiij catax ]
thing that moves on its own As modern inventions like cars enter their world, the Seris tend to adapt their language rather than import Spanish words. Erica Barnett uses an abandoned car as a hothouse to grow mangroves to replenish an estuary. |