Speak Up! 42 languages near extinction

More than 40 Indian languages and dialects are nearing extinction because of the dwindling number of people who speak them, government officials said, corroborating a UNESCO list.

There are 42 languages spoken by less than 10,000 people in the country are endangered, officials in the census directorate said.

In all, there are 3,000-4,000 languages and dialects spoken by less than 10,000 people.

Tinkarlo, spoken by just 187 people Uttarakhand, is not in the endangered category. Because it is spoken actively by people and has been passed on from one generation to another.

In 2014, the government initiated a project to save these languages through the Central Institute of Indian Languages, Mysore.

Ayesha Kidwai, Professor, Centre of Linguistics, School of Language, Jawaharlal Nehru University, said, "It is not just the number of people. If a language is not passed on, or if there is no literature, the language is endangered." Extinction of a language also happens because of people's movement, she said.

The government had also asked universities to open "Centres for Endangered Languages", but so far, only a few universities like Tezpur and Sikkim have functional centres.

Experts working on languages feel that saving languages just through one institute is not possible, and there has to be more involvement at the level of schools as well.