Salvage The Kids Or The Dinosaurs?(

Rick and Wendy are CEO’s of YouMe Support Foundation charity that gives away non repayable high school education grants to children who will never have the opportunity to have a high school education without outside assistance.

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Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/ – Salvage The Kids Or The Dinosaurs?(

We are told over and over that information is king, but there are still remote groups of people who rely solely on tradition and custom. Each group has its own matchless language and ancient way of life. These groups are quickly becoming extinct, as was disclosed in Unesco’s recently published comprehensive database of endangered tongues.

In the 83 tropical islands of Vanuatu, (New Hebrides), which boasts a total of 110 living languages in the tiny South Pacific nation, education is not free. The 1997 statistics have altered very little: Only 55.8% of children reach year 6; 26% never go to school at all and only 18.2% are given the opportunity to go to high school. The majority of their parents can neither read or write and live on only a day.

During the International year of languages a diverse group of adults gathered from various islands in Vanuatu for a workshop. The aim was to learn to convert their oral language to the written word. Most only had very elementary primary school education. The distinct customs and traditions of their people have been handed down orally, from father to son, through the generations.

“It is the first time most of us have left our remote island home and sat in a plane, or been over an ocean”, explained Jesse, a mother of two. For most of the students it was the first time they had experienced their language in the written form.

Vanuatu is the home of many endangered languages, with the language of Ifo already extinct on the southern island of Erromango.

•Only one person is able to speak Aore in East Santo
•Only 8 people communicate with Araki on the southern part of Santo Island
•10 people only speak Maragus on the island of Malekula
•Ura, another Erromanga language, has just 6 remaining native tongue speakers
•Sowa on Central Raga Island has 20 native language speakers
•20 people communicate in Nasarian on the Southwest coast of Malekula
• Southwest Santo has 50 people who communicate in the language of Tambotala
•50 people use Mafea on East Santo
•Dixon Reef is spoken by 50 people in Southwest Malekula
•90 people on East Malekula Island communicate with Repanbitip
•There are only 90 speakers of the Lehalurup language on Ureparapara Island
•Maii is spoken used 100 people in the southwest of Epi island
•Wailapa is spoken by only 100 people in Southwest Santo
•Only 105 people communicate in Koro on Gaua Island
•Hiw is used by only 120 people on Torres Islands
On the Island of Santo there are a further eight tongues where approximately only 150 people are able to communicate in them. A further five languages have 200 or less, living users.

The question has to be asked, do you spend limited resources on attempting to keep these endangered languages alive, while the bulk of children remain uneducated, with no qualifications, or any prospects of employment? While we all value the beauty of ancient languages, is there a choice between salvaging the dinosaurs of language, or educating the next generation?

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(ArticlesBase SC #786841)

Wendy Stenberg-Tendys –
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Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/languages-articles/salvage-the-kids-or-the-dinosaurs-786841.html

Article Tags:
extinct languages, endangered languages of the world, vanuatu, south pacific, tropical islands, languages of vanuatu, endangered languages of vanuatu

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