National Geographic News, Reporting Your World Daily

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Photo: Languages Racing to Extinction in 5 Global "Hotspots"


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More than half the world's 7,000 languages are expected to go extinct by 2100, experts say. The regions where languages are dying fastest are eastern Siberia, northern Australia, central South America, Oklahoma, and the U.S. Pacific Northwest, according to a new study.

Among the world's disappearing tongues is northern Australia's Magati Ke—still spoken by "Old Man" Patrick Nanudjul (far left), who is in his 70s (hear him speak).

Map from National Geographic Maps (Source: Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages); Photograph courtesy K. David Harrison