More than 100 Languages in Russia at risk of disappearing

In lieu of the UN’s Native Language Day, UNESCO has released a new “Atlas of the Languages of the World.” This compilation not only provides information on some 2500 languages, out of the more than 6,000 most linguists say exist, but also classifies those in terms of the risk they face over the next century. The UN projections for the linguistic situation in Russia especially stands out. The UNESCO ‘Atlas’ reports that 19 languages spoken on the territory of Russia a half century ago have ceased to exist, and 117 more are either in a position that UN experts say is “unsafe” (21 languages), “definitely endangered” (47), “severely endangered” (29), or “critically endangered” (20).
Although many of the languages in danger are spoken by extremely small groups, languages such as Kalmyk, Udmurt, Yiddish, Chechen, Yakut and Tuvan, which are spoken by entire nations, are also at risk. Because the chances for saving the dying languages are low, UN experts and other language supporters are calling for the dispatch of linguists to “hot spots” in order to create dictionaries and grammar records that might allow these languages to survive or at least give access to their richness. This work, prepared during 2008, which the UN had declared the International Year of Languages.

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