1. The Language Box
…or how do we prevent a tragedy caused by the
death of half of the existing languages?
By: Marija Grujovska

2. The problem
 There are around 6000
languages spoken today.
If nothing is done, half of
those languages will
disappear by the end of
the century.
 With a language dying
every two weeks, the
world today is facing a
LANGUAGE
EXTINCTION ON A
MASSIVE SCALE.

3. Why should we care?
 “Languages are not simply bodies of vocabulary or sets of grammatical rules,
but "old growth forests of the mind“, for the many and unique cultures of
the world reflect different ways of being, thinking, and knowing.”[1]
 Losing the wide spectrum of languages, we lose the world’s creative force on
which depend the development and existence of humanity.
Creative
Linguistic Intellectual
problem
diversity diversity
solving
 More importantly, when a language dies, a whole culture goes to the grave.
Language Culture
death death
 A death of a language represents both a scientific and a cultural tragedy

4. The struggle
 There are many organizations around
Globalization the world that have made a great
Modernization effort to reduce the rate of language
extinction.
 UNESCO, Committee of
Endangered Languages and Their
Assimilation Preservation (CELP) and The
acculturation Endangered Language Fund are
just some of them…
 Over the years they have been
documenting and revitalizing the
endangered languages, encouraging
Language the indigenous people to bilingualism
death
and raising awareness among the
endangered communities and
worldwide.

5. The idea
 The Language Box = a huge internet data-base consisting
written, audio or video data of all the world’s endangered and
already extinct languages.
Written
data
The
Audio
data language
box
Video
data

6. How does it work?
 Linguists from all around the world collect written (including
some translations, notes etc.), audio or video records, depending
on the conditions.
 All the data is stored in The Language Box and is available on the
internet.
 The already existing data is stored as well.
Audio and
video Written
material records
The Language Box

7. Is it effective?
As a • Selected data could be used by the media and made into
campaigns, documentaries, short movies etc.
• It would be available for everyone to see and raise awareness
prevention about the importance and value of language diversity
Purpose of The
Language Box
As a • All collected material would be available for all the scientists
in the world and be used for further reaserch
scientific • The data would help science in the field of
linguistics, anthropology, ethnology, psychology, computer
tool engineering etc.

8. Is it innovative?
 While I was doing my research on existing similar ideas, I found Ethnologue –
an excellent encyclopedic reference work, cataloging all of the world’s 6,909
known living languages.
 However, there are several crucial differences between Ethnologue and The
Language Box.
The Language
Ethnologue
Box
would provide a list of
provides a list of all endangered and
existing languages already extinct
languages
would provide the
provides a huge
actual, raw material
bibliography of data
that would be free and
about and connected
available for everyone
to world languages
to use and explore

9. Goals and targets
To collect the scattered
data in one place and
To make the world
prevent from losing them,
understand the meaning
serve as a tool and
and importance of
reference for scientists all
linguistic diversity and
over the world and help
language itself
develop certain sciences
concerning language.
Goals and
targets of
The
Language
Box

10. Potential impact
 Ultimately, The Language Box would help prevent a cultural
and scientific tragedy. It would help the world function in its
own, beautiful diverse way. It would help preserve the
linguistic and cultural diversity, representing a never-ending
well of different ways to be human, all sorts of knowledge
and philosophy. It would make the world a place where ideas
are born and searched in the differences. These ideas would
later contribute to the well-being of all the people on the
planet.
 “The world deserves to exist in a diverse way. We can find a
way to live in a multicultural, pluralistic world, where all the
wisdom of all the peoples can contribute to our collective
well-being” [2]

11. References
 [1], [2] Davis, Wade. ""On endangered cultures"." TED Talks.
Monterey, CA. Feb 2003. Lecture. 22 Oct 2009. -
http://www.ted.com/talks/wade_davis_on_endangered_cult
ures.html
 Ethnologue - http://www.ethnologue.com/
 UNESCO -
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/cultural-
diversity/languages-and-multilingualism/endangered-
languages/
 The Endangered Language Fund -
http://www.endangeredlanguagefund.org/
 Committee on Endangered Languages and Their
Preservation (CELP) - http://www.lsadc.org/info/lsa-comm-
endanger.cfm