Half of world’s languages may become extinct by 2100

Languages are now becoming extinct faster than birds, mammals, fish or plants. Of the estimated 7,000 unique languages spoken in the world today, nearly half are likely to disappear this century, with an average of one lost every two weeks. Losing a language often means losing the knowledge and history of an entire culture, especially when there is no written record available. For this reason, the National Geographic Society and the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages have engaged in an impressive undertaking to identify and record the most endangered languages in the world.

If you want to follow this up, another resource is Ethnologue: Languages of the World, a comprehensive catalog which alphabetically lists all known living languages (Ethnologue lists 6,912), documenting the world’s complex language situations, including endangered languages. Ethnologue is produced by SIL International, a faith-based organization that studies, documents, and assists in developing the world’s lesser-known languages.