Posts Tagged ‘Lost Languages’

Are Dying Languages Worth Saving?

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

rare languages threatenedWith over 6000 languages worldwide, it is estimated that between 500 and 1000 languages are spoken by only a handful of people around the world and that every year the world loses 25 mother tongues. With over 250 languages being lost worldwide academics have come together this week to hold a conference in Wales to discuss rare and indigenous languages of Ireland, China, Australia and Spain.

The United Kingdom is not only home to the English language, but around half a million people speak Welsh, a few thousand Gaelic, about 400 Cornish and a truly endangered language – Manx only a handful at around 100 people. (more…)

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Computer Program decodes ‘Lost Language’

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010

Lost language translated by technology

Clay tablets containing strange dots and wedge type characters of the ancient Ugaritic language have baffled Translators and Archaeologists for several decades since they were discovered in the 1920’s in the port city of Ugarit.

The Ugaritic language was used in Ancient Israelite and neighbouring cultures of the time and has been extremely important in clarifying Biblical Hebrew texts. The ‘Lost Language’ was re-discovered in 1928 by French Archaeologists who found strange clay tablets containing dots and wedge shaped stylus signs, the language is thought to have been last used in 1200BC in Syria. (more…)

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