Tracking Down Dying Languages

In 1992 a prominent linguist predicted that by the year 2100, ninety percent of the world's 7,000 languages would cease to exist. Currently, 133 of those languages have fewer than ten speakers. While we sit in our armchairs and wonder what happens when a language is lost, Greg Anderson travel to places that don't appear on maps to find the last speakers.

David and Greg are The Linguists, an intrepid pair of researchers and the subjects of a film of the same name by directors Seth Kramer, Daniel Miller and Jeremy Newberger. The film is now available on DVD.

The documentary follows the linguists to Siberia, India, Arizona and Bolivia as they speak with the remaining stewards of dying languages and record the knowledge and customs that those languages carry. Greg Anderson, director of The Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages joins us along with Seth Kramer, one of the film's directors.

Endangered-languages.com - A Resource on Dying Languages

Summer Institute of Linguistics: Endangered Languages FAQ

New York Times: Why Save Dying Languages?