How to protect an endangered language

OF the world’s 7,000-odd languages, almost half are expected to disappear by the end of the 21st century. Ross Perlin’s new book, “Language City”, is the story of what he has learned as the co-founder of the Endangered Language Alliance, a non-profit organisation that has managed to identify some 700 languages spoken in New York, a number vastly greater than the 100 or so listed in America’s official census. N’Ko, a sort of alphabet-cum-written-standard meant to serve several closely related Manding languages of west Africa, must compete with French, the language of prestige in the region. Tim Brookes, a British writer and the executive director of the Endangered Alphabets Project, another non-profit group, describes his own approach in his recent book, “Writing Beyond Writing”. The final step has proved to be the hardest: work by the language community, with leaders taking charge of the process and outsiders providing funding and advice.