Around the World: Linguistics

Language atlas unveiled

Some 2,500 of the approximately 6,000 languages used around the planet today are in danger of disappearing, a team of linguists said yesterday as they unveiled an online atlas of those that are endangered.

The atlas says 200 languages have become extinct in the last three generations and 199 languages have fewer than 10 speakers left. Among those recently classified as extinct are Eyak, whose last speaker died in Alaska last year.