2008 International Year of Languages
In joining under the banner of the United Nations proclamation of 2008 as the International Year of Languages, ILI will promote the protection, perpetuation and preservation of the worldâs indigenous languages. ILI joins global efforts to promote the diversity of indigenous local languages that are important for humanity but are being challenged to survive under the shadow of the most widely used dominant world languages such as English, Spanish, French, Chinese, and others.
Intangible Heritage Section document states the case well:
Language diversity is essential to the human heritage. Each and every language embodies the unique cultural wisdom of a people. The loss of any language is thus a loss for all humanity.
The extinction of each language results in the irrecoverable loss of unique cultural, historical and ecological knowledge. Each language is a unique expression of the human experience of the world. Thus, the knowledge of any single language may be the key to answering fundamental questions of the future.
Every time a language dies, we have less evidence for understanding patterns in the structure and function of human language, human prehistory and the maintenance of the worldâs diverse ecosystems. Above all, speakers of these languages may experience the loss of their language as a loss of their original ethnic and cultural identity.
Language Vitality and Endangerment, UNESCO Document, 2002
This commitment was echoed in the recently passed UN Resolution on the rights of Indigenous people:
GENERAL ASSEMBLY PROCLAIMS 2008 INTERNATIONAL YEAR OF LANGUAGES, IN EFFORT TO PROMOTE UNITY IN DIVERSITY, GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING
Recognizing that genuine multilingualism promotes unity in diversity and international understanding, the UN proclaimed 2008 the International year of Languages.
The task at hand is immense and, in North America, we have only a ten-year window of opportunity to stem the tide of this massive erosion of humanityâs most precious legacy of diverse languages. The âUnity in Diversityâ will be protected by diverse groups uniting and collaborating effectively towards a unified goal of language preservation through use, education and promotion.
Please join Indigenous Language Institute and our partners, sister organizations and associates, as well as Native communities in North America, in proclaiming our united efforts to preserve humanityâs important diversity â our languages.
Gerald L Hill
President
Indigenous Language Institute
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