全世界有2500种语言濒危

　　联合国教科文组织本周四发布最新的世界语言图谱时表示，目前全世界尚存的6900种语言当中，有大约2500种语言处于濒危局面，比2001年发布的濒危语言数量增加了好几倍。图谱还指出，有199种语言的使用人数不足十人，178种语言的使用人数在十人到五十人之间。另有200多种语言在流传三代后消失。世界各地虽然经济发展情况各异，但都存在着语言消失的现象。在撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲，大约使用着2000种语言(几乎是世界总数的三分之一)，而在将来的几百年内，其中至少10%的语言将会消失。而且图谱还指出，印度、美国、巴西、印度尼西亚和墨西哥，这些语言非常多样的国家同样也是濒危语言最多的国家。

　　the world has lost manx in the isle of man, ubykh in turkey and last year alaska's last native speaker of eyak, marie smith jones, died, taking the aboriginal language with her.

　　of the 6,900 languages spoken in the world, some 2,500 are endangered, the un's cultural agency unesco said thursday as it released its latest atlas of world languages.

　　that represents a multi-fold increase from the last atlas compiled in 2001 which listed 900 languages threatened with extinction.

　　but experts say this is more the result of better research tools than of an increasingly dire situation for the world's many tongues.

　　still there is disheartening news.

　　there are 199 languages in the world spoken by fewer than a dozen people, including karaim which has six speakers in ukraine and wichita, spoken by 10 people in the us state of oklahoma.