Study Links Biodiversity and Language Loss
As if losing one or the other weren’t bad enough.
The authors said that 70% of the world’s languages were found within the planet’s biodiversity hotspots.
Data showed that as these important environmental areas were degraded over time, cultures and languages in the area were also being lost.
The results of the study have been published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
“Biologists estimate annual loss of species at 1,000 times or more greater than historic rates, and linguists predict that 50-90% of the world’s languages will disappear by the end of the century,” the researchers wrote.
Lead author Larry Gorenflo from Penn State University, in the US, said previous studies had identified a geographical connection between the two, but did not offer the level of detail required.
Imagine a world with fewer animals, languages, and cultures. Much of the richness of this planet comes from the variety of people and organisms we share it with. Maybe it’s a strictly academic concern, but I for one am very much bothered by this.
5 
