15 LANGUAGES ENDANGERED
Hurriyet
Feb 25 2009
Turkey
ISTANBUL – Three languages in Turkey have slipped into extinction and
15 more are on the endangered list. The latest edition of the "Atlas
of the World’s Languages in Danger," published by The United Nations’
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO, has
shown that 15 languages in Turkey are in danger of becoming extinct.
According to research carried out by UNESCO on International Mother
Language Day on Feb.21, half of the 6,700 languages spoken today
are in danger of disappearing before the century ends. The recent
publication of the "Atlas of the World’s languages in Danger" aims
to encourage governments and speaker communities to take action in
order to slow the process at which these languages are disappearing.
In the Atlas, UNESCO explained the rate of language endangerment in
five different categories, unsafe, definitely endangered, severely
endangered, critically endangered and extinct. The Atlas showed
that while 15 languages in Turkey were in danger, three had become
completely extinct. The extinct languages include Cappadocian Greek,
which is extinct in Turkey and critically endangered worldwide,
Mlahso, a language spoken in the Lice district of the eastern
province Diyarbakır, which became extinct when its last speaker died
in 1995. And Ubykh was lost with the death of its last registered
speaker in 1992. Four languages in Turkey were categorized as unsafe:
Zazaki, Abkhaz, Adyge, and Kabard-Cherkes. Definitely endangered
are: Abaza, Homshetsma, Laz, Pontus Greek, Romani, Suret and Western
Armenian. Three languages were classed as severely endangered: Gagavuz,
Assyrian and Ladino. HÂ~Nrtevin is the one language in Turkey that
is critically endangered. It used to be spoken in the province of
Siirt in the southeast of Turkey.
UNESCO Director-General Ko?chiro Matsuura said: "The death of a
language leads to the disappearance of many forms of intangible
cultural heritage, especially the invaluable heritage of traditions
and oral expressions of the community that spoke it, from poems and
legends to proverbs and jokes."
As there are no current language protection programs in Turkey,
UNESCO has urged the country to start running safe guard projects
by including these endangered languages in culture, education,
communication and science.
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress
