Half of the 6,000 or so languages spoken in the world are under threat and a wealth of human knowledge could be lost with them, according to a new study. The Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger of Disappearing says pressures from dominant languages such as English, French, Spanish, and Russian are drowning out minority tongues at an accelerating pace. "The dying and disappearance of languages has been going on for thousands of years as a natural event in human society, but at a slow rate," says the study funded by UNESCO. "However, the past 300 years or so have seen a dramatic increase in the death or disappearance of languages ... leading to a situation today in which 3,000 or more languages that are still spoken are endangered, seriously endangered or dying." The study cites several reasons for the disappearance of languages, ranging from repressive government policies and assimilation to economic pressures, migratory trends, disease and natural disasters. While sounding the alarm, it notes that a determined multilingual approach can rescue even the most threatened tongues. In Japan, only eight elderly people spoke Ainu on Hokkaido Island by the late 1980s after decades of official neglect, but promotional policies have since revived the language.

　　新的研究表明，世界上现存的大约6,000种语言中有一半濒临消失，而大量的人类知识也将与之偕亡。由联合国教科文组织资助的题为《世界濒危语言地图》的论文指出，来自英语、法语、西班牙语以及俄语等主流语言的压力正在以越来越快的速度使弱势语言走向灭亡。“语言的死亡和消失是人类社会的正常现象，其过程已经持续了数千年。不过，这一过程速度缓慢，”论文中说。“但是，语言的消失在过去300年左右的时间里发生了戏剧性的增长……导致了今天这个局面：3,000种甚至更多仍在使用的语言处于危险、极度危险或是濒临死亡的状态之中。”论文列举了一些造成语言消亡的原因，包括政府的压制政策、同化作用、经济压力、移民风潮、疾病以及自然灾害等等。在敲响警钟的同时，论文也提到即使是处境最危险的语言也能通过坚定的多语种措施而获拯救。在日本，由于政府数十年的漠视，到80年代晚期全国会说阿伊努语的已经只有生活在北海道岛的8位老人，但此后政府的鼓励政策又使这种语言得到了新生。

　　Remarks：“书同文”的时代似乎已在望中，也许不久我们又可以开始建造象征人类狂妄的巴别塔了。