Inuit

Language is something all humans share, and perhaps, since we all have it, we sometimes take it for granted. During my years as a researcher I have spoken with many people who themselves, their parents, or grandparents have lost their language. A language loss is often experienced as a trauma and simultaneously as a loss of one’s culture, identity, and roots. A language is but one attribute of a person’s individual identity and group identity. This attribute very often coincides with other attributes – traditions, heritage, clothing, food and more. When a language disappears, due to colonisation or other types of power manifestations, many other of the groups’ attributes disappear.

About half of today’s languages are at risk of dying … ↪