USEUROPEAFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
Home / World

Languages on New Guinea vanish without a whisper

By Jerome Rivet | China Daily | Updated: 2011-07-22 07:41

JAYAPURA, Indonesia - Who will speak Iniai in 2050? Or Faiwol? Moskona? Wahgi? Probably nobody, as the languages of New Guinea - the world's greatest linguistic reservoir - are disappearing in a tide of indifference.

Yoseph Wally, an anthropologist at Cendrawasih University in Jayapura, keeps his ears open when he visits villages to hear what language the locals are speaking.

"It's Indonesian more and more. Only the oldest people still speak in the local dialect," he said.

Languages on New Guinea vanish without a whisper

Today's Top News

Editor's picks

Most Viewed

Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US