Google Launches Endangered Languages Project

redletterdave writes "About half of all of the languages in the world — more than 3,000 of them — are currently on the verge of extinction. Google hopes to stem the tide with its latest effort that launched Thursday, called The Endangered Languages Project. Google teamed up with the Alliance for Linguistic Diversity, a newly formed coalition of global language groups and associations, to give endangered-language speakers and their supporters a place to upload and share their research and collaborations. The site currently features posts submitted by the Endangered Languages community, including linguistic fieldwork, projects, audio interviews, and transcriptions."

At the risk of a flame war...

[fuzzyfuzzyfungus]

I can entirely understand why linguists value having as many different language samples to work with as possible, and I am similarly aware that active campaigns against various languages have usually closely accompanied active campaigns against their speakers(anything from harassment and discrimination up to and including wholesale slaughter). However, there is also a lot of language homogenization that occurs quite peacefully, with kids wanting to watch TV or speakers of some fairly obscure tongue looking for access to opportunities, culture, and company in more common languages.

Given the value of language in communication between people, and the rather dubious history of the various things that make messy tribalism even easier than it already is, is this 'Linguistic Diversity' stuff actually a good thing(beyond the relatively narrow; although certainly important, value as a research sample for linguists and as a useful rallying point for resistance to other flavors of attack on relatively powerless groups)?

My language is in the list :(

[Cyberax]

One of the languages I know (Udmurt) is in the list :(

It'd be nice to preserve it, but even I don't see that much value in it.

Re:why in the hell

[Anonymous Coward]

A study discussed on NPR recently found that when people think specifically in not-their-first language they are more rational and thoughtful. It was hypothesized that thinking in your primary language made it easier for your brain to take emotional shortcuts, making you less rational and coherent.