Each language is a uniquely structured world of thought

Australian linguist Christopher Moseley explains the crucial importance of preserving languages and presents the main innovations of the just-released third edition of the “UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger”.

Interview by Lucia Iglesias (UNESCO)

Why should we care about language preservation?

We as human beings should care about this in the same way we should care about the loss of the world’s variety of plants and animals, its biodiversity. What is unique about present-day language revival movements, which didn’t exist before, is that linguists are for the first time aware of just how many languages there are in the world, and are coming to a better understanding of the forces that are attacking them and exterminating them, and of ways to control those forces. It’s very difficult and complex, and it would be naïve and oversimplifying to say that the big ex-colonial languages, English or French or Spanish, are the killers, and all smaller languages are the victims. It is not like that; there is a subtle interplay of forces, and this Atlas will help ordinary people to understand those forces better.

© UNESCO/Michel Ravassard - Christopher Moseley, Editor in Chief of the UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger

Cultural Tidbits

Source: http://fpd.gsfc.nasa.gov/culturaltidbits.html
The following cultural tidbits are a regular feature in the Critical Path newsletter. http://fpd.gsfc.nasa.gov/news.html

Did you know…

....that Iranians ring in their New Year at the precise moment of the astronomical vernal equinox (start of spring in northern hemisphere), which was on March 20th this year at ~1:48 AM EDT. On the Iranian calendar, this began the year 1387. The Persian New Year is called Norooz, which roughly translates to "New Day". Norooz has been celebrated for at least 3000 years and is deeply rooted in the rituals and traditions of the Zoroastrian religion. On New Year's Day, family members don new clothes and start twelve-days of celebrations by visiting their family elders, then the rest of their family and finally their friends.

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