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Ancient Indian language dies out By Alastair Lawson BBC News
The last speaker of an ancient language in India's Andaman Islands has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist has told the BBC.
Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.
She said that India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage.
Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.
The islands are often called an "anthropologist's dream" and are one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world.
'Infectious'
Professor Abbi - who runs the Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese (Voga) website - explained: "After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.
"She was often very lonely and had to learn an Andamanese version of Hindi in order to communicate with people.
"But throughout her life she had a very good sense of humour and her smile and full-throated laughter were infectious."
She said that Boa Sr's death was a loss for intellectuals wanting to study more about the origins of ancient languages, because they had lost "a vital piece of the jigsaw".
"It is generally believed that all Andamanese languages might be the last representatives of those languages which go back to pre-Neolithic times," Professor Abbi said.
"The Andamanese are believed to be among our earliest ancestors."
Boa Sr's case has also been highlighted by the Survival International (SI) campaign group.
"The extinction of the Bo language means that a unique part of human society is now just a memory," SI Director Stephen Corry said.
'Imported illnesses'
She said that two languages in the Andamans had now died out over the last three months and that this was a major cause for concern.
Academics have divided Andamanese tribes into four major groups, the Great Andamanese, the Jarawa, the Onge and the Sentinelese.
Professor Abbi says that all apart from the Sentinelese have come into contact with "mainlanders" from India and have suffered from "imported illnesses".
She says that the Great Andamanese are about 50 in number - mostly children - and live in Strait Island, near the capital Port Blair.
Boa Sr was part of this community, which is made up of 10 "sub-tribes" speaking at least four different languages.
The Jarawa have about 250 members and live in the thick forests of the Middle Andaman. The Onge community is also believed to number only a few hundred.
"No human contact has been established with the Sentinelese and so far they resist all outside intervention," Professor Abbi said.
It is the fate of the Great Andamanese which most worries academics, because they depend largely on the Indian government for food and shelter - and abuse of alcohol is rife.
Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because one of the world's oldest languages - Bo - had come to an end.
Questionable. Otherwise, one would think a related language phylum(s) would still be found somewhere in Africa, and if there is one, I'd like to hear about it, but then again, the article says
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Languages in the Andamans are thought to originate from Africa. Some may be 70,000 years old.
Is it safe to say these languages are as old as "click" languages in Africa, which are generally thought of as relics of one of the earliest language systems of Africa?
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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You would think with all the nonsense technology we have someone would of recorded the language.
No excuse for this to happen.
Peace
Sadly, this is an example amongst many. I brought up the subject some time back, albeit received very little attention at the time. See: The danger of losing indigenous languages
I think the onus is on the language bearers not to see their languages disappear under the banner of foreign sourced "lingua franca" or official languages borrowed from foreign sources, since other than the language bearers, it seems that outsiders care little or not about these languages.
Posts: 7516 | From: Somewhere on Earth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Reading that Thread it seems globolization is taking away peoples mother tongues. Thats a shame.
Unesco needs to do a better job of recording these languages. Native Americans are under threat and need the help needed to preserve their mother languages.
Peace
Posts: 9651 | From: Reace and Love City. | Registered: Oct 2005
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quote: Why are they not recording these languages.
You would think with all the nonsense technology we have someone would of recorded the language.
That was the first thought when I started reading the article, and when I was reading it I hoped that somewhere in the article my hopes would be confirmed, but sadly enough, it didn't.
"After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.
That means that for at least 30 years, nobody made an effort to document it. Makes you wonder why, if they really thought of those languages as an "anthropologist's dream". I've always found it very strange that people often start to regret something or give attention to things when the person who was crying for attention all of his/her life has already died. Had a funeral a couple of days ago and the children of the person that died were crying their hearts out, but when their mother was alive they abused her and took her for granted.
Telling you, people can have some really weird quirks..
quote: Why are they not recording these languages.
You would think with all the nonsense technology we have someone would of recorded the language.
That was the first thought when I started reading the article, and when I was reading it I hoped that somewhere in the article my hopes would be confirmed, but sadly enough, it didn't.
"After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years.
That means that for at least 30 years, nobody made an effort to document it. Makes you wonder why, if they really thought of those languages as an "anthropologist's dream". I've always found it very strange that people often start to regret something or give attention to things when the person who was crying for attention all of his/her life has already died. Had a funeral a couple of days ago and the children of the person that died were crying their hearts out, but when their mother was alive they abused her and took her for granted.
Telling you, people can have some really weird quirks..
Kalonji
Probably because they are NEGRITO. India does a lot to hide its "negrito" population WITHIN India and surrounding it...........Ask an Indian.
Half the world is already alaramed and surposed there are 65000 year old negroes in India.
Posts: 2463 | From: New Jersey USA | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Yep, and they (the indians) are not the only ones, the Arabians seem to be keen on doing the same thing with the Ubaidan descendants idem dito with the Egyptians and the Iranians.
quote:Half the world is already alaramed and surposed there are 65000 year old negroes in India. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I would say "65,000 year old Africans in India". It's more accurate that using that silly Portugese/Spanish sailor-origined world.
In fact, the physiognomy of the Andaman Islanders is evidence of what Africans looked like 70,000 years ago.
I heard the language on the BBC site and it sounds nothing like the so-called click language of Southern Africa.
Posts: 5492 | Registered: Nov 2004
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quote:Originally posted by KING: Why are they not recording these languages.
You would think with all the nonsense technology we have someone would of recorded the language.
No excuse for this to happen.
Peace
It would be really messed up if they didn't record the language considering that there are in fact organizations whose sole purpose is to save endangered languages or preserve whatever is left of extinct ones! Here are three most well known ones:
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