How Technology Helps And Harms Endangered Languages

Technology is accelerating the rate of language disappearance, even while it offers the hope of preserving those that are endangered or extinct. A new crowd-sourcing platform aims to preserve the sound of Romeyka, an endangered relation to Greek considered a "linguistic goldmine and a living bridge to the ancient world", said Phys.org. Romeyka is thought to have only "a couple of thousand native speakers" in Turkey – mostly aged over 65 – and no writing system. Professor Ioanna Sitaridou of the University of Cambridge is inviting Romeyka-speakers to upload audio recordings of the language, as part of the UN's International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-32) initiative.