She is the last known speaker(hablante) of Eyak, a language
native to Alaska and one that is expected to become extinct(extinguirse)
when the 83-year-old Smith passes away(muera).
"It's horrible to be alone," she told The Associated Press on Monday. "I
have a lot of friends. I have all kinds of children yet(pero,
sin embargo) I have no one to speak
to(nadie
con quien hablar)" in Eyak. Eyak isn't the only language with a grim(sombrío)
future. Among the world's 6,800 tongues(lenguas),
half to 90 percent could become extinct by the end of the century, linguists
predict. One reason is because half of all languages are spoken by fewer
than(menos
de) 2,500 people each, according to(según)
the Worldwatch Institute, a private organization that monitors(controla)
global trends(tendencias).
Languages need at least(por
lo menos) 100,000 speakers to survive the ages, says UNESCO,
the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. War
and genocide, natural disasters, the adoption of more dominant languages
such as Chinese and Russian, and government bans(prohibiciones) on language also contribute
to their demise(desaparición,
fallecimiento). "In some ways it's similar to what threatens(amenaza) species," said Payal Sampat, a Worldwatch researcher(investigador) who wrote about the issue(tema) for the
institute's May-June magazine.
Udihe and Arikapu, spoken in Siberia and the Amazon jungle, are among the
endangered tongues(lenguas
en peligro). About 100 people speak Udihe, and Arikapu
is down(se
ha reducido) to its
last six speakers, Worldwatch says. Linguists also confirm that Smith is the
last known speaker of Eyak. It's becoming a struggle(lucha,
esfuerzo), too, to find many who
can say "thank you" in the Navajo language of the American Indian tribe (ahehee),
or state proudly(con
orgullo) in Cornish: "Me na vyn cows Sawsnak!" (I will not speak
English!)
The losses(murmullos) ripple(ondear)
far beyond(mucho
más allá de) the affected communities. When a language dies,
linguists, anthropologists and others lose rich sources(fuentes) of material for
their work documenting a people's history, finding out(averiguando) what they knew and
tracking(rastreando) their movements. And the world, linguistically speaking, becomes
less diverse(diverso).
In January, an earthquake(terremoto) in western India killed an estimated 30,000
speakers of Kutchi, leaving about 770,000. Manx, from the Isle of Man in the
Irish Sea, disappeared in 1974 when its last speaker died. In 1992, a
Turkish farmer's passing(desaparición) marked the end of Ubykh, a language from the
Caucasus region with the most consonants on record, 81.
Eight countries account for(contabilizan,
representan) more than half of all languages. They are, in
order: Papua New Guinea, Indonesia, Nigeria, India, Mexico, Cameroon,
Australia and Brazil. That languages die isn't new; thousands are believed
to have disappeared already. "The distinguishing thing(causa
diferenciadora) is it's happening at
such an alarming rate(promedio
alarmante) right now(ahora
mismo)," said Megan Crowhurst, chairwoman(presidenta) of the
Linguistic Society of America's endangered languages committee.
Linguists believe 3,400 to 6,120 languages could become extinct by 2100, a
statistic much grimmer(sombría) than the common estimate of about one language death(muerte)
every two weeks. But some languages are coming back from the dead(regresando
de la muerte), so to
speak(para
hablar).
In 1983, Hawaiians created 'Aha Punana Leo to reintroduce their native
language throughout(por
todo el estado) the state, including its public schools. Hawaiian nearly
became extinct after the United States banned schools from teaching students
in the language after annexing(anexar) the country in 1898. 'Aha Punana Leo, which
means "language nest(nido)," opened Hawaiian-language preschools in 1984, followed
by secondary schools that produced their first Hawaiian-taught graduates in
1999. Some 7,000 to 10,000 Hawaiians currently(actualmente) speak their native tongue, up
from fewer than 1,000 in 1983, said Luahiwa Namahoe, the organization's
spokeswoman(portavoz). "We just want Hawaiian back where she belongs," Namahoe
explained. "If you can't speak it here, where will you speak it?"
Elsewhere(en
otras partes), efforts(esfuerzos) are under way to revive Cornish, the language of
Cornwall, England, that is believed to have died around 1777, as well as
ancient Mayan languages in Mexico.
Hebrew(hebreo) evolved(evolucionó) in the last century from a written
language into Israel's national tongue, spoken by 5 million people. Other
initiatives hope to revive(reactivar) Welsh, Navajo, Maori and several languages native
to Botswana.
Governments can help by removing bans(eliminado
prohibiciones) on languages, and children should be
encouraged to speak other languages in addition to their native tongues,
said Worldwatch's Sampat, who is fluent(habla
con fluidez en) in French and Spanish and grew up(creció)
speaking the Indian languages of Hindi, Marathi, Gujarati and Kutchi.
|
Inglés
|
Francés |
Alemán
|
Italiano |
Otros
1 (A-E)
| 2 (F-L) |
3 (N-S)
| 4 (T-U)
Árabe |
Chino |
Esperanto
|
Griego
|
Japonés
|
Portugués
|
Rumano
|
Ruso
|
Catalán
|
Euskera