What We Wish To Pass On

Week 19 – Notes

The theme of this programme is how the loss of language is connected to the loss of culture and identity.

Tanya Brittain recites in Cornish, a Brittonic language (part of the Celtic language family) that almost became extinct in the late 18^th century and was revived and standardized in the early 20^th century. It is no longer considered an endangered language as is Gwich’in which is spoken mostly north of the Arctic Circle. If ethnic group members are no longer connected to their heritage and actively engaged in passing down traditions to their children, then switching to a language with more social or economic power may well result in language death, the first step of which is its endangerment. It is estimated that of the currently spoken languages numbering between 6,000 and 7,000, between 50% to 90% will have become extinct by 2100 through globalization, imperialism, neo-colonialism or language killing (linguicide).

This programme allows you to listen to people speaking seldom heard or endangered languages some subtitled, some not: Catalan, for example, spoken by Ona, is a Western Romance language derived from Vulgar Latin. It is the official language of Andorra and also spoken in Catalonia, around Valencia and on the Balearic Islands and Miriwoong, an Australian Indigenous language with, at present, fewer than 20 speakers. Aymara is spoken by over a million people in the Andes and is, along with Spanish, an official language of multi-ethnic Bolivia, where 36 indigenous languages have official status. Nikte Sis Iboy, linguist and director of OKMA, an institute devoted to the study and preservation of Maya languages in Antigua, Guatemala, can be heard speaking Kaqchikel followed by Rikki Poynter, who challenges the notion that sign language is universal. Ainu, with a history of several thousand years, is spoken by Teruyo and another critically endangered language. The Ainu are an indigenous people from Hokkaido, Japan’s second biggest island. They were colonised and displaced in1899 by the Japanese and are now recognized an indigenous people with a distinct language, religion and culture. According to UNESCO, there are only 15 Ainu speakers left. Aida and Sonja de Jesus, reflect on the Macanese culture and on patois, a creole language based on Portuguese mixed with Cantonese, Malay and Sinhala. This is followed by a visit to a village in Southern Nigeria, where Ubang is spoken, a language that has male and female word forms. Muazzez Köçek from Kuşköy, a village in Northern Turkey still uses kuş dili or Turkish bird language to communicate over long distances and the programme ends with her whistling to her sister to pick some apples from the tree …