Half of world's 6,800 languages could die by 2100 from CNN, and Most World Languages Gone by 2100 from Discovery.com.

when i was a student at OU, my anthropology professors were abuzz with a project the department was working on involving a man in western Oklahoma who was the last speaker of a Native language. they were recording him as much as possible, and he was working with linguistical anthropologists to set the grammar in writing so that the language wouldn't be completely lost. there was some urgency in the project, as the man was in his mid 80s.

i read, last summer, in the Native American Times of the death of man who was the last member of his tribe and the last speaker of his tribe's language. i don't know if this man was the same as the one with whom the University had worked (as i understand it now, there are several languages with only a few remaining speakers with whom the University is working to preserve), and i thought then, as i do now, that, if language is not only a method of communication but also a reflection of the way a person perceives the world, beyond the issues of identity and culture, the world has lost a truly unique perspective on itself.

Ethnologue Language Family Index is a nifty little resource listing thousands of languages grouped by family.

i'll quit abusing my native language for now, until i find something else to post about.