Comments on Phenomenica: Top 10 endangered languages

A language is more than the sum of all the words i...

2009-01-15T18:58:00.000-08:00

A language is more than the sum of all the words in its dictionary. A language is where the spirit of its speakers reside. A language is a culture. A language is a unique perspective of the its speaker's relationship to the world. A language is the truth and meaning of a culture, civilization and the beings that dwell in it.

When a language dies, an entire human populace, an entire collective gathering of humans with their unique understand and meaning of the world also dies. When a language dies, an entire historical tree of humanity dies also.

A language is more than the words found in its dictionary. A language is the house of Being. A language is where Existence erupts, where the world takes physical meaning in the form of sound and iteration.

Death of a language is the end of existence for an entire world of humanity, an entire history of that humanity.

Death of a language is existential genocide.

As soon as I stumbled this post, I had to search f...

2008-09-21T18:50:00.000-07:00

As soon as I stumbled this post, I had to search for Ket. An old college professor of mine, Dr. Vajda, was the guy that developed (or assisted the Ket in developing) a writing system for it.

Out of the whole list... I really wanna learn Schm...

2008-09-21T16:01:00.000-07:00

Out of the whole list... I really wanna learn Schmoina! I think these languages should definately be recorded and studied by linguists, but in some cases the language may belong to a culture or way of life that no longer exists and will never exist again, so the cultural ties of that language become obsolete. Teaching kids a language that they can neither connect with culturally nor communicate in is too much effort for no reward. Also, its easy to become nostalgic about the distant obscure past of a particular cultural group but what if that past is characterised by poverty, oppression and a daily, grinding struggle to survive? Would you want people 500 years from now to work to maintain a link with today, a time full of selfishness, wastefulness and chauvinism? Just a thought.

I forgot to mention that Schmoina is related to Yi...

2008-09-18T14:11:00.000-07:00

I forgot to mention that Schmoina is related to Yiddish, but not by marriage.

My brother and I are the last speakers of Schmoina...

2008-09-18T14:09:00.000-07:00

My brother and I are the last speakers of Schmoina, the language of the Stetch people of what is now called "The Bronx" but used to be Flentzky. In Schmoina their are only 17 verbs but 115 tenses and nine genders plus 7 time markers which conflate the verbs chaotically. We speak Schmoina between ourselves but have preferred to speak to our children in Fehrtzle, a partly aromatic language with strong pheromonal accents. Our favorite words are Kazaika, Blummis, and Fluterus. Too bad no one will ever remember our tongue. Or our earlobes, either.

I feel Yiddish should be added to the list.

2008-09-17T23:33:00.000-07:00

I feel Yiddish should be added to the list.

language is an important part of culture. when a ...

2008-09-17T20:32:00.000-07:00

language is an important part of culture. when a language dies, a culture loses its last links to the distant, obscure past. for a lot of people, those links are very meaningful.

the way we communicate signifies the ways we think...

2008-09-17T18:38:00.000-07:00

the way we communicate signifies the ways we think; WE, the folks who know the major communicative languages of the modern world, can learn NEW things from old languages

While I agree that these languages should be recor...

2008-09-17T17:24:00.000-07:00

While I agree that these languages should be recorded and documented for the sake of understanding linguistic roots, why should we be teaching them to children?
The purpose of a language is communication. Teaching a child a language that virtually nobody knows is a waste. They should be learning the world's major languages (eg English, Chinese, French, and Spanish)

i agree with captain

2008-09-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

i agree with captain

Let frat boys die out. Είναι μαλάκες.

2008-09-16T23:32:00.000-07:00

Let frat boys die out. Είναι μαλάκες.

keep the languages alive! be proud of what you hav...

2008-09-16T22:52:00.000-07:00

keep the languages alive! be proud of what you have!!!!!!

Another article about language extinction: http://...

2008-09-16T21:18:00.000-07:00

Another article about language extinction: http://www.unesco.org/courier/2000_04/uk/doss01.htm.

Just let them die out

2008-09-16T15:51:00.000-07:00

Just let them die out

Very interesting, languages spoken by just 5 peopl...

2008-09-15T21:44:00.000-07:00

Very interesting, languages spoken by just 5 people, amazing, the world is changing so damn fast.

Don't forget Wichita. There's only ONE living spe...

2008-09-15T21:42:00.000-07:00

Don't forget Wichita. There's only ONE living speaker left.

http://www.kumeyaay.com/2008/01/last-fluent-speaker-of-wichita-tribal-language-preserves-whats-left/

Very cool post.

2008-09-13T09:58:00.000-07:00

Very cool post.