Part Two: Endangered and Extinct Language
The deaf blogger is continuing to the endangered/extinct languages, including sign languages.
“World languages are now rapidly being lost. Language is a dire situation. We wanted to know how the extinction distributed globally and what are the main drivers of this…As economies develop, one language often comes to dominate a nation’s political and educational spheres. People forced to adopt the dominant language or risk being left out in the cold – economically and politically.” https://k-international.com/blog/endangered-languages-a-consequence-of-prosperity/
https://fasab.files.wordpress.com/2014/03/language-extinction-hotspot
Many years ago, the deaf blogger travelled widely around the world and stayed in many cities in many countries. The speaking language in tourism is English, for example, look at Switzerland, and there are four official speaking languages which are German, French, Italian, Romansh. In Switzerland, in the Deaf communities, there are three sign languages which are German, French and Italian. However, besides the national languages, there are five sign languages which are Swiss-German, French, Italian, Austrian and German in the other areas. The highest number of languages is German, which is 63% and the lower number is Romansh which is 0.5%. The English language in Switzerland is only 1% of speaking language. The deaf blogger visited one peculiar deaf woman now over 80 years old, and she lives in the Jura Mountains and the village where she is living in Glovelier for many years. The last place the deaf blogger visited her was St-Ursanne, Delmont, Jura Mountain. The Jura Mountains lie along on both sides of the Franco-Swiss border from the Rhône River to the Rhine. The people in Jura, speak Franco-Provençal – French language.
Here is the photo of St-Ursanne and the link here. It is a beautiful place where the deaf blogger visited many times as a peaceful spot.
St-Ursanne-Switzerland Tourism
Jura Mountains Jura Mountains, Neuchâtel canton, Switzerland. Shark
What happens if anyone moves away from their native village to the urban city or the family are getting smaller and never meet another town nearby? They are more likely to lose their native mother’s language after living in the city or evolve a new language in the next generation. Is it something to do with the economic growth, and politically?
The causes of language endangerment:
Populations that speak the languages in physical danger such as:
- War and genocide
- Natural disasters
Prevent or discourage speakers from using a language such as:
- cultural, political, or economic marginalisation creates a strong incentive for individuals to abandon their language either themselves and their children in favour of another more prestigious language.
- Political repression
- Urbanisation
- Intermarriage
Let look at the endangered sign languages.
A UNESCO study of endangered languages does not list sign languages. Here are some sign languages are facing endangered, for example, Alipur Village Sign Language (AVSL) of India, Adamorobe Sign Language of Ghana, Ban Khor Sign Language of Thailand and Plains Indian Sign Language.
Here is another information from the University of Lancashire and note the level of endangerment.
Levels of endangerment are graded as follows: 1 = Critically endangered; 2 = Severely endangered; 3 = Definitely endangered; 4 = Vulnerable.
University of Central Lancashire
| Name of Sign Language | Name of Contributor | Approximate Number of Users | Country | Level of Endangerment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Algerian Jewish Sign Language (AJSL) | Sara Lanesman and Irit Meir | 50-100 | Israel | 1 |
| Alipur Sign Language (APSL) | Sibaji Panda | 10, 000 | India | 3 |
| Al-Sayidd Bedouin Sign Language (ABSL) | Dr Shifra Kisch | 1500 | Israel | 3 |
| Austrian Sign Language (OGS) | Austrian Deaf Association (OGLB) | 20, 000 | Austria | 4 |
| Ban Khor Sign Language (BKSL) | Dr Angela Nonaka | 403 | Thailand | 2 |
| Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) | Ronice Muller de Quadros | Unknown | Brazil | 4 |
| Chican Sign Language (ChicanSL) | Cesar Ernesto Escobedo Delgado and Olivier Le Guen | 349 (17 deaf, 332 hearing) | Mexico | 2 |
| Danish Sign Language | Danish Deaf Association | 4-5000 | Denmark | 4 |
| Ethiopian Sign Language (EthSL) | Eyasu H. Tamene | 70, 000 | Ethiopia | 3 |
| Finland- Swedish Sign Language (FinSSL) | Karin Hoyer and Janne Kankkonen | 300 | Finland | 2 |
| Inuit Sign Language | Joke Schuit | 40 | Canada | 1 |
| Kata Kolok | Dr Connie de Vos | 1250 | Indonesia | 3 |
| Mardin Sign Language (MarSL) | Hasan Dikyuva | 40 | Turkey | 1 |
| New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL) | Rachel McKee | 24, 000 | New Zealand | 4 |
| Yucatec Maya Sign Language (YMSL)- Nohkop variant | Olivier Le Guen | 34 | Mexico | 2 |
In Australia, there has recently developed in the world first document of the Australian Aboriginal sign language. One of the Aboriginal sign languages isYolŋu or Murngin Sign Language and the project of Yolŋu or Murngin Sign Language is to documented for landmark resources to help prevent this rare form of communication from disappearing altogether back in 2019. The Australian Aboriginal sign languages come into two different methods of communicating – one is a manually coded language in cultures such as in the morning period for women and the second one is within the deaf aboriginal community. What is a manually coded language? A manually coded language is a bridge between signed and spoken languages. The good news is that the team of linguists collected more than 10,000 photographs and sorted part of the research for the landmark document. The research team seek funding to make this project happened and to preserve the Yolŋu or Murngin Sign Language.
Another sign languages are no longer are Marth’s Vineyard Sign Language, Old French Sign Language – Ancestral to the French Family Lineage and Old Kent Sign Language.
The main reason for losing sign language many young D/deaf people do not learn the sign language, D/deaf people being isolated in hearing cultures and having D/deaf people’s sign language excluded from the education and the Government’s agencies such as Health, Justice and Social Development.
Take a look at our country – New Zealand, our NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) became an official language in 2006 along with the Te Reo Māori in 1987 and English is the predominant language and a de facto official New Zealand language.
