Some Pinoy languages dying out

If language reflects people and culture, then a huge part of our history is in danger.

Online database EndangeredLanguages.com showed that at least 15 Philippine languages are not only becoming less known but are also being forced to extinction by more widely used regional languages.

For instance, Isarog Agta, formerly used by communities living near Mount Isarog in the Southern Luzon province of Camarines Sur, only had six native speakers in the year 2000.

The database tagged Isarog Agta as “critically endangered,” noting that it “receded from pressure” due to the use of the regional language Bicolano.

At least five other languages in the Philippines may soon be lost and forgotten, while two others are “threatened” and two more are “vulnerable” according to the database, which uses information from the University of Hawaii’s Catalog of Endangered Languages and Eastern Michigan University’s Institute for Language Information and Technology.

Next to Isarog Agta, the local language at greatest risk is Sorsogon Agta, which is “severely endangered” having only 18 native speakers in the Bicolano province of Sorsogon.

Bicolano is also pushing into oblivion Lake Buhi Agta, used by communities around Lake Buhi in Camarines Sur, the database showed.

Story from Yahoo News