Skip to main content

UNESCO Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger

“This project was born of a concern for the loss of diversity in this most basic human resource. It parallels the increasing concern over the loss of the world’s biological diversity, and for related reasons: the loss of isolated and self-sustaining habitats in the face of encroaching urbanization, economic concentration and the consequent homogenization of human cultures.

 

By its very nature, this Atlas tends to become outdated more rapidly than an ordinary language atlas would do. What is plotted on these maps are the most fragile linguistic balances – languages in danger of disappearing, even disappearing from one edition to the next.” (p.8)