SAVING TUVAN WITH THE INTERNET.

SAVING TUVAN WITH THE INTERNET. This Economist http://www.economist.com/node/21548148 (February 25) describes four projects that are attempting to revive languages that are on the verge of extinction. The first step is to prepare a talking dictionary that can be put on the internet. Using the talking dictionary and texting in the language then increases the use of the language. One of the four languages being revived is Tuvan, spoken in Tuva in southern Siberia. The Tuvan language has dozens of words for the colors and patterns of goat fleeces. The Tuvan word for “go” has three different forms, “depending on the direction of travel in relation to the direction of the local river’s current.” There is already an internet relationship between a Texan man and a Tuvan woman, using Tuvan. Tannu Tuva has been one of the remote places on earth, and now it can be in daily touch with people all over the world.