random quip

About 97% of the world’s people speak about 4% of the world’s languages; conversely, about 96% of the world’s languages are spoken by about 3% of the world’s people…. Even languages with many thousands of speakers are no longer being acquired by children; at least 50% of the world’s more than six thousand languages are losing speakers. We estimate that about 90% of all languages may be replaced by dominant languages by the end of the 21st century. -UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages, “Language Vitality and Endangerment”-