【推荐1】To save as much language diversity as possible in the face of its rapidly dying out, researchers suggest using “evolutionary trees”, a tool from conservation biology.

One of the world’s 7,000 languages disappears every other week, and half might not survive the 21st century, experts say.

When setting conservation goals, ecologists use evolutionary trees — diagrams that show how biological species are related to one another — to identify species that have few close relatives. Such species are said to be evolutionarily distinct. Similarly, recent advances in the construction of language trees make it possible to measure how unique a language is.

“Evolutionary trees have transformed our understanding of how life has evolved and helped us to decide which species most need conserving,” says Jonathan Davies, senior author of the new study.

“The rapid rate of language loss, as well as limited resources for preservation (保护), means that we must choose carefully where to focus our efforts,” adds Max Farrell, a PhD student in Davies’ lab. “The more isolated (孤立的) a language in its family tree, the more unique information it contains and eventually contributes to language diversity.”

As a case study, they used this approach to rank 350 Austronesian languages, spoken in islands spread across Southeast Asia and the Pacific Ocean.

For each of these languages, the researchers combined measures of evolutionary distinctiveness (ED) and global endangerment (GE) to produce an “EDGE” score. The language with the highest score, which means it is extremely distinct (不同的) yet nearly dying out, was Kavalan, a language native to Tai Wan. The next-highest scores went to Tanibili, an endangered language in the Solomon Islands.

By building trees for other language groups, language specialists could target preservation efforts and help reduce the loss of language diversity in the future, the researchers say.

【推荐2】Recently I read Nineteen Eighty-Four, a novel by George Orwell set in a totalitarian (极权主义的) state where even the language they use is controlled. Adjectives are forbidden and instead they use the words such as “ungood”, “plus good” and “double plus good” to express emotions.

As I first read this I thought how impossible it would be in our society to have such vocabulary. However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized in its own way it was already happening. I type messages to my friends and alongside each is an emoji (表情符号). I often use them to emphasize something, or to seem not too serious, or because this specific GIF conveys my emotions much better than I ever could using just words. And I wonder, “With too much use of emojis, are we losing the beauty and diversity of our vocabulary?”

English has the largest vocabulary in the world, with over one million words, but who’s to say what it’ll be like in the future? Perhaps we will have a shorter language, full of saying “cry face” if something sad happens or using LOL (laugh out loud) or BRB (be right back) instead of saying the full phrase. So does this mean our vocabulary will shrink? Is it the start of an exciting new era?

Yet when you look back over time, the power of the image has always been there. Even in the prehistoric era they used imagery to communicate, and what’s even more incredible is that we are able to analyse those drawings and understand the meaning of them thousands of years later. Pictures have the ability to go beyond time and language. Images, whether they are cave paintings or emojis, allow us to convey a message that’s not restrictive but rather universal.

【推荐3】When I visited the remote Swedish town of Alvdalen, I was immediately struck by the forest-covered valley in which it is situated. I was set to meet the last speakers of Elfdalian. The language is currently used only by about2,500 people, but it has preserved language features that are to be found nowhere else in Scandinavia.

Because of its relative isolation, Elfidalian is unique among Nordic languages. While speakers of Swedish, Norwegian and Danish are able to have simple conversations and understand each other, it is not so with Eilfdalian. And it is this feature that makes Elfdalian completely baffling to non-local people.

For centuries, it was unnecessary for the majority of the native Elfdalian-speaking population to learn standard Swedish or other languages, as most trade and economic networks occurred within local areas. Elfdalían remained an active language until the 20th century.

However, with increased mobility and the arrival of mass media, speakers of Elfdalian switched to Swedish. At present, only half of the residents of Alvdalen speak it, and of the youngest generation, only about 60 children under the age of 15 are fluent in it.

During my visit, I was lucky to be introduced to a group of language activists united under the name Ulum Dalska. Attempts are being made by these local enthusiasts to revive the language. After many years of action, Ulum Dalska has recently been successful in convincing the local authorities to start up an Elfdalian-speaking group at the local preschool. This means that, for the first time in history, Elfdalian has made its official entry into the Swedish schooling system.

On the whole, more and more people seem to be convinced of the preciousness of Elfdalian and the need to preserve it for future generations. And in a globalizing world, the right attitude is perhaps the most important step towards a full language recovery.