Losing a voice: 1,500 languages could be forgotten by the next century

The world’s dominant languages are running a steam roller over other smaller languages that could see us losing over 1,500 languages in the next 100 years, suggests a new study.

In fact, greater road density was linked to a higher endangerment risk for languages within a region.

The first-of-its-kind global report found that out of the 7,000 documented languages, more than half are currently endangered and the rare ones face an acute risk of completely disappearing within the next century.

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Assessing around 51 factors or predictors, the researchers discovered that schooling in a dominant language was one of the biggest reasons behind the loss of minority languages.

Writing in Nature Ecology and Evolution, the team urged for bi- or multilingual education and support for programs that let communities bring their heritage language into schools.

Language loss has been predicted for decades and if current trends continue, the world could lose at least one language per month. This is why we must encourage children to speak other languages — including their Indigenous language.

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