By the end of the century, more than 40% of the world's estimated 7,000 languages are in danger of disappearing. Those include indigenous languages in the Amazon. The United Nations also estimates that
an Indigenous language dies every two weeks. Today, we focus on two endangered languages spoken in the Vaupés region of northwest Amazonia: Desano and Siriano. Linguist
Wilson de Lima Silva at the University of Arizona has been working with the community for a decade in an effort to document the language for future generations.
Check out the book Global Language Justice, co-edited by Professor Lydia Liu.Want to hear more Indigenous or linguistics stories? Make your opinion heard by emailing us at shortwave@npr.org!
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