I can’t speak another language, have trouble pronouncing Massachusetts, and am constantly puzzled by Ebonics, but even I can appreciate the news that one of the world’s oldest languages is now extinct, after the last remaining member of a 65,000-year-old tribe has died.
There are roughly 6,000 languages spoken in the world, and about half of them are in danger of going the way of the Dodo, and now we can add the spoken words of the Bo language to that list, after an 85-year old woman named Boa Sr has passed away. Boa was the only one left from the Great Andamanese, a group of tribes that was one of the earliest descendants of human beings. Perhaps the saddest thing is that as she was getting on in years, Boa was going blind, and was unable to speak with anyone in her own language since her husband died a few years ago and she had no children.
Now, not to question the whole point of reproduction or anything, but if I knew I was one of the last members of a 65,000-year-old tribe and had a vagina, I would have did all I could to pro-create. Thanks, Boa, for killing history.
Thankfully, records of the language still exist, and linguists everywhere can have a field day studying it, while Hollywood tries to figure out how they can make a bio-pic of the old woman.
Take a listen. It sounds like something Tolkein created.
(Photo Via: Alok Das)
Comments
Kody Boye
February 24th, 2010 - 3:18:38 PM
Wow. It sure puts life in perspective when someone or something that has such a long-living lineage suddenly ends. Makes you wonder how long we in our current state will survive.
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Laura
February 24th, 2010 - 5:40:16 PM
Language is a major part of culture and the distinction between humans. We are a poorer race globally for the loss of this language. There should be at least as big a furor to save languages as there is to save a tree frog somewhere in the rainforest. A sad, sad day.
2