Last 2 speakers of dying language won’t talk to each other
The last two people fluent in a nearly-extinct language refuse to speak to each other.
The men, Manuel Segovia, 75, and Isidro Velazquez, 69, live close to one another in a village located in south Mexico, but they don’t “really enjoy each other’s company,” according to an article in the London Telegraph.
They speak Ayapaneco, a language used for centuries by the indigenous people of Mexico.
Segovia still uses Ayapaneco to speak to his wife and son, who understand him but can only speak a few words. Velazquez no longer uses the language daily.
”When I was a boy, everybody spoke it,” Segovia said. ”It’s disappeared little by little, and now I suppose it might die with me.”
The article says there are 68 different indigenous languages in Mexico, further subdivided into 364 variations. A handful of other Mexican indigenous languages is also in danger of extinction, though Ayapaneco is the most extreme case.
Segovia and Velazquez call their language Nuumte Oote, which means the True Voice. They speak different versions of this truth and tend to disagree over details, which doesn’t help their relationship, the article says. A dictionary, which is due out later this year, will contain both versions.
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22 comments Add your comment
cheech
April 15th, 2011
7:35 am
so is english
Michele
April 15th, 2011
8:25 am
Well said, Cheech. Well said.
Last Two Speakers Of Dying Mexican Language Refuse To Talk
April 15th, 2011
3:57 pm
[...] Last 2 speakers of dying language wont talk to each other — Atlanta Journal Constitution blog Uncategorized dying, language, last, mexican, of, refuse, speakers, talk, to, two No Comments » [...]
blacksheep
April 15th, 2011
7:35 pm
Ironic, huh?
Panties
April 16th, 2011
1:50 am
This is a very interesting article. It includes historical details that I wasn’t aware of.
FriarTuk
April 16th, 2011
8:07 am
Too bad they can’t record a conversation for posterity and National Geographic movie.
seadog14
April 16th, 2011
8:54 am
@cheech: Really? If English is a “dying language” then why are we all speaking it? BTW “cheech” “English is capitalized, for it is a proper noun. There have been many languages lost to the ages, most people could care less if it doesn’t affect them. These two that speak it are just as vain, they let their egos in the way instead of trying to keep it for history.
omarkh
April 16th, 2011
11:50 am
Give both of them Marijuana (a lot), …and see what happens…
(don’t forget to keep the cameras rolling)
bohobo
April 16th, 2011
11:55 am
Cheech is right, according to linguists; our distinctive regional dialects are dying in great part due to television. And American’s word usage is abysmally limited. The bulk of our population navigate through life using only 10% of the 500,000 words in our beautiful language. Where once we waxed eloquent, we now communicate in grunts and sentence fragments. As performance poet and English professor, I mourn the loss.
Zee
April 16th, 2011
1:14 pm
I agree wholeheartedly with bohobo. I believe “texting” has taken its toll on the language also. Fragmenting a sentence, using abbreviations, and misspelling words in order to “make them fit” and/or to “save time” also has the bulk (not all) of the new generations’ language, pronunciation, and spelling spiraling downward. (Do not EVEN get me started on proper phone etiquette and customer service relations!) Bohobo, you are not alone.