(Roughly) Daily

We’re all aware that many of the world’s plants and animals are in danger of extinction, but not so mindful that many human languages are in danger of becoming extinct too. Globalization has helped to make the world a smaller place. But, as Stephen Jones illustrates, it has also contributed to the loss of many languages around the world…

Across the 7,168 living languages today, 43% are at risk of being endangered.

In fact, a language dies off every 40 days. The vast majority of endangered languages are found in Indigenous communities, which risk the loss of culture and knowledge that they contain. At current rates, 90% of the world’s languages could disappear over the next 100 years…

…

For instance, during the 1970s, the Māori language was spoken by just 5% of Māori schoolchildren. Fast forward to today, and 25% speak the language, driven by efforts from the Māori, leading the government to protect it by law.

In Hawaii, just 2,000 people spoke the native language in the 1970s. After the government ensured it was taught in schools, the number of speakers jumped to 18,700 in 2023…

“The State of the World’s 7,168 Living Languages,” from @derivationllc @VisualCap.

AI is being used to preserve endangered languages (e.g., by Google, Microsoft, and Jones’s own organization, Derivation). But in the end, what keeps a language and its cultural impact alive is human use. Check out Wikitongues for an organization that’s devoted to preserving collective wisdom the old-fashioned way.

* Nicholas Ostler

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As we deepen linguistic diversity, we might recall that it was on this date in 1928 that a milestone in the development of a technology that has contributed to the globalization of culture (and the threat to languages) was achieved:  John Logie Baird transmitted a TV image across the Atlantic ocean (using short wave radio) from station 2 KZ at Purley, England to Hartsdale, NY.

Baird’s system was electromechanical: a light sensitive camera behind a rotating disc. The picture was crudely formed from a scan of thirty lines at twelve frames per second. The television receiver in Hartsdale displayed a tiny, uneven– but “readable”– image. Still, this caused a sensation: The New York Times (accurately) compared the event to Marconi’s sending of the letter “S” by radio across the Atlantic, 27 years earlier.