The Chimané people have provided insights into the power of number words
REUTERS/David Mercado
LAST February, in southern Chile, a language died with the passing of an elderly woman. Cristina CalderÓn, a 93-year-old, was the last known native speaker of Yaghan, a language that was once prevalent across Tierra del Fuego, the Land of Fire, at the tip of South America. The extinction of any language is a tragedy, but Yaghan’s disappearance is particularly significant because it was an “isolate” – a language that was completely unique and not related to any other language in the world.
There are approximately 200 language isolates out of the estimated 7,400 languages in use today, and many of them are in danger of becoming extinct. It is estimated that 30 percent of all languages will vanish by the end of this century, and isolates, spoken by only a few hundred people, are especially vulnerable.
However, the increased vulnerability of isolates has also brought about a greater understanding of how they can provide insights into human communication and cognition. In recent years, these languages have shed light on the relationship between cultural and linguistic evolution and have supported a controversial hypothesis that suggests a connection between our language and our understanding of reality. “Each of these isolates is a… completely different window into the mind,” says Lyle Campbell at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa.
Furthermore, there is new hope that this research can help identify better strategies for preserving these languages from extinction.
