Halcyon Identifies

 

Today we speak with one another in c.7000 languages; but it’s estimated that 90% of these will be gone by 2050.

Despite identifying about 6,000 world languages, the UN estimates that 2,500 are endangered and 200 completely lost.  Through the World Oral Literature project, linguists are therefore trying to record and digitally preserve languages on the verge of extinction.