The Endangered Languages Project

Photo: Jeremy Fahringer

"The Endangered Languages Project, is an online resource to record, access, and share samples of and research on endangered languages, as well as to share advice and best practices for those working to document or strengthen languages under threat."

http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/

Jomolhari

"Jomolhari is a free, Unicode compatible, Tibetan script font named after Mt Jomolhari on the border of Bhutan & Tibet. This font can be used for Tibetan and Dzongkha text.  It was inspired by Bhutanese manuscript examples and was originally designed for use in publishing traditional Buddhist texts."

https://sites.google.com/site/chrisfynn2/home/fonts/jomolhari

Hobson-Jobson: The words English owes to India

"In 1872 two men began work on a lexicon of words of Asian origin used by the British in India. Since its publication the 1,000-page dictionary has never been out of print and a new edition is due out early next year. What accounts for its enduring appeal?"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18796493

• Flora: "While having tiffin on the veranda of my bungalow I spilled kedgeree on my dungarees and had to go to the gymkhana in my pyjamas looking like a coolie."

The Innermost Treasury and Zhangzhung Language

"I promised to make available two works that I consider to be by far the most important source works for the study of Zhangzhung. The first is the Mdzod-phugs (I like to translate this as Innermost Treasury, although Primordial Treasury could also work), and the second is the Zhangzhung glossary compiled by the Yogi of the Zhu Clan Nyima Dragpa (Zhu-yi Rnal-’byor Nyi-ma-grags-pa)."

http://tibeto-logic.blogspot.com/2010/04/innermost-treasury-and-zhangzhung.html

"Using them as searchable electronic references makes it possible to find Zhangzhung words in their context immediately and with ease. The work of recovering Zhangzhung and deciphering may be partially done, but it’s still continuing. It’s a work in process."

https://sites.google.com/site/tibetological/innermost-treasury-of-life

The Seed Syllable 'a'

"The letter 'a' is the first letter of the Indic alphabets. It is the short 'a' sound that we find in the English word but (= ə in the IPA Alphabet). In Indic languages each consonant has an implied short a attached to it, so the consonants are ka, kha, ga, gha, etc. So 'a' is said to be present in each consonant, and to be the mother of all of the letters. If you open your mouth and breath out the sound is 'a'."

http://www.visiblemantra.org/a.html

Shetland ForWirds

"We aim to promote and celebrate the use of written and spoken Shetland dialect as a valued and essential element of Shetland’s distinctive heritage and culture.

In our website you can listen to the dialect and see it written.

If you’re interested in the history of the dialect or just curious about words, go to John Graham’s dictionary; if you want a taste of dialect literature, there’s poetry, prose and drama to choose from; if you want to find out what we sound like in conversation, click on the map and listen to people who live in different parts of Shetland."

http://www.shetlanddialect.org.uk/

Welsh and Sanskrit

Having stated that there are Welsh and Sanscrit words which correspond, more or less, in sound and meaning, I here place side by side a small number of such words, in order that the reader may compare them.

WELSH	SANSCRIT
Aber, a meeting of waters, an outflowing; Avon, a river; Aw, a flowing	Ap, apah, water; apaga, a river; Persian, ab, water; Wallachian, apa
Anal, breath	Anila, air
Arian, silver Aur, gold	Ara, brass; Gypsy, harko, copper
Athu, to go	At'ha; Russian, iti
Bod, being, existence	Bhavat, bhuta
Brenin, a king	Bharanda, a lord; Russian barin
Caer, a wall, a city	Griha, geha, a house; Hindustani, ghar; Gypsy, kair, kaer
Cain, fine, bright	Kanta, pleasing, beautiful; Kana, to shine
Canu, to sing	Gana, singing
Cathyl, a hymn	Kheli a song; Gypsy, gillie
Coed, a wood, trees	Kut'ha, kuti, a tree
Cumro, a Welshman	Kumara, a youth, a prince
Daear, daeren, the earth	Dhara, fem. dharani
Dant, a tooth	Danta
Dawn, a gift	Dana
Derw, an oak	Daru, timber
Dewr, bold, brave	Dhira
Drwg, bad	Durgati, hell; Durga, the goddess of destruction
Duw, God	Deva, a god
Dwfr, dwfyr, water	Tivara, the ocean (Tiber, Tevere)
Dwr, water	Uda; Greek, [Text which cannot be reproduced] Sanscrit, dhlira, the ocean; Persian, deria, dooria, the sea; Gypsy, dooria
En, a being, a soul, that which lives	An, to breathe, to live; ana, breath; Irish, an, a man, fire
Gair, a word	Gir, gira, speech
Gwr, a man Gwres, heat	Vira, a hero, strong, fire; Lat. vir, a man; Dutch, vuur, fire; Turkish, er, a man; Heb., ur, fire
Geneth, girl	Kani
Geni, to be born	Jana
Gwybod, to know	Vid
Hocedu, to cheat	Kuhaka, deceit
Huan, the sun	Ina
Ieuanc,young	Youvan
Ir, fresh, juicy Irdra, juiciness	Ira, water
Llances, a girl	Lagnika
Lleidyr, a thief	Lata
Maen, a stone	Mani, a gem
Mam, mother	Ma
Marw, to die	Mara, death
Mawr, great	Maha
Medd, mead	Mad'hu, honey
Meddwi, to intoxicate	Mad, to intoxicate; Mada, intoxication; Mada, pleasure; Madya, wine; Matta, intoxicated; Gypsy, matto, drunk; Gr. [Text which cannot be reproduced], wine, [Text which cannot be reproduced], to be drunk
Medr, a measure	Matra
Nad, a cry	Nad, to speak; Nada, sound
Nant, ravine, rivulet	Nadi, a river
Neath, Nedd, name of a river; nedd, a dingle, what is low, deep (Nith, Nithsdale)	Nicha, low, deep; nichaga, a river, that which descends; nitha, water
Nef, heaven	Nabhas; Russian, nabeca, the heavens; Lat., nubes, a cloud
Neidiaw, to leap;	Nata, to dance; Nata, dancing
Ner, the Almighty, the Lord, the Creator	Nara, that which animates every thing, the spirit of God31
Nerth, strength, power	Nara, man, the spirit of God; Gr. [text which cannot be reproduced], a man, [text which cannot be reproduced] strength; Persian, nar, a male; Arabic, nar, fire
Noddwr, a protector	Natha
Nos, night	Nisa
Pair, a cauldron	Pit'hara
Ped, a foot; pedair, four	Pad, a foot; pada, a quarter
Pridd, earth	Prithivi, the earth
Prif, principal, prime	Prabhu, a lord, a ruler
Rhen, the Lord	Rajan, a king
Rhian, a lady	Hindustani, rani
Rhod, a wheel	Ratha, a car
Swm, being together	Sam
Swynwr, a wizard, sorcerer	Sanvanana, a witch; Hindustani, syani
Tad, father	Tata
Tan, fire	Dahana
Tant, a string	Tantu
Tanu, to expand	Tana
Toriad, a breaking, cutting	Dari, cutting
Uchafedd, height	Uchch'ya
Ych, ox	Ukshan

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Borrow&c_id=36

Cumro and Cumraeg

"As to its sounds - I have to observe that at the will of a master it can be sublimely sonorous, terribly sharp, diabolically guttural and sibilant, and sweet and harmonious to a remarkable degree. What more sublimely sonorous than certain hymns of Taliesin; more sharp and clashing than certain lines of Gwalchmai and Dafydd Benfras, describing battles; more diabolically grating than the Drunkard's Choke-pear by Rhys Goch, and more sweet than the lines of poor Gronwy Owen to the Muse? Ah, those lines of his to the Muse are sweeter even than the verses of Horace, of which they profess to be an imitation. What lines in Horace's ode can vie in sweetness with

"Tydi roit a diwair wen
Lais eos i lysowen!"


"Thou couldst endow, with thy dear smile,
With voice of lark the lizard vile!"

Eos signifies a nightingale, and Lysowen an eel. Perhaps in no language but the Welsh, could an eel be mentioned in lofty poetry: Lysowen is perfect music."

http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/text/chap_page.jsp?t_id=Borrow&c_id=36

Tibetans in China Protest Proposed Curbs on Their Language

"Thousands of Tibetan students in western China have protested since Tuesday against proposals to curb or eliminate the use of the Tibetan language in local schools, according to reports from Tibet advocacy groups and photographs and video of the protests circulating on the Internet. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/23/world/asia/23china.html?_r=1

The Bilingual Advantage

"If you have two languages and you use them regularly, the way the brain’s networks work is that every time you speak, both languages pop up and the executive control system has to sort through everything and attend to what’s relevant in the moment. Therefore the bilinguals use that system more, and it’s that regular use that makes that system more efficient. "

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/31/science/31conversation.html

Solresol language

"Solresol words are made up of from one to five syllables or notes. Each of these may be one of only seven basic phonemes, which may in turn be accented or lengthened. There is another phoneme, silence, which is used to separate words: words cannot be run together as they are in English."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solresol


http://www.omniglot.com/writing/solresol.htm


http://www.langmaker.com/outpost/solresol.htm

Beyond Language - Finding freedom through thoughts and words

"In Zen practice we are always trying to stand within language in a fresh way, to open up the hand of thought, and play with language and let language play with us. This means we come to understand and dwell within language in many ways. Each word means something and not something else. But also each word is gone even as we speak it, and so it isn’t anything. When we speak about something we might think we are understanding it or controlling it, but that is not so. When we are speaking about something we are also—and mainly—speaking about nothing. Speaking is just being ourselves, expressing ourselves. When we get tangled up in the something we think we are speaking about, we suffer."

http://www.tricycle.com/dharma-talk/beyond-language

Globish, Glanglish and Google Translate

"Globish is a privatised lingua franca, a commercially driven “world language” unencumbered by the utopian programme of Esperanto. As taught by Nerrière’s enterprise, it combines the coarseness of a distended phrase book and the formulaic optimism of self-help texts – themselves a genre characterised by linguistic paucity, catchphrases and religiose simplicity. "

http://opendotdotdot.blogspot.com/2010/06/globish-glanglish-and-google-translate.html
 
"So instead of Globish or Glanglish, I think that increasingly people will simply speak their own language, and let Google et al. handle the rest. In a way, that's great, because it will allow people to communicate directly with more or less anyone anywhere. But paradoxically it will probably also lead to people becoming more parochial and less aware of cultural differences around the globe, since few will feel the need to undergo that mind-expanding yet humbling experience of trying to learn a foreign language - not even Glanglish."

Porth Termau - Welsh Terms

"To search for a term on the website, type the term in the search box and click on the 'Search' button. The language used in the search will be detected automatically. The results which match your search exactly will be shown at the top of the page, with less exact matches shown underneath."

http://www.termau.org/porth/

Speaking Welsh may delay onset of Alzheimers

"SPEAKERS of Welsh and English might have more than their bilingualism as an advantage over monolingual counterparts.

Because scientists believe being bilingual – a state familiar to generations in Wales brought up on the likes of Sali Mali from their earliest days – exercises the brain and protects against Alzheimer’s disease.

[...]

The study showed bilingual Alzheimer’s patients developed symptoms several years later than those who spoke only one language."

Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/02/19/speaking-welsh-may-delay-onset-of-alzheimer-s-91466-28196591/

Move to rescue obscure words

"(1) Oncethmus - The loud and hard cry of a donkey (2) Suffarcinate - Pack tightly (3) Weesquashing - Spearing of fish or eels by torchlight from canoes. (4) Archigrapher - Principal or head secretary or clerk (5) Lugent - Sobbing or grieving (6) Philargyrist - Someone who loves money (7) Homerkin - Liquid measure for beer (8) [buffoonery] Not a rare word as such, but the collective noun for orangutans, which is weird enough to warrant a footnote (9) Jobler - One who does small jobs (10) Sturionic - Pertaining to the sturgeon. (11) Eternitarian - One who believes in the eternity of the soul (12) Quadrimular - Something lasting four years - unlike a tattoo! (13) Modernicide - The killing of modern people. (14) Welmish - Of a pale or sickly colour (15) Aeipathy - A continued passion; an unyielding disease"


http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/nov/07/rescuing-obscure-words


http://savethewords.org/

PaperRater

"PaperRater.com is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help students improve their writing."

http://www.paperrater.com/

Random Word Machine

"Generating random words is easy. Producing pronounceable words is a whole other story. The algorithm of the Random Word Machine is based on neurolinguistic theories. This ensures that the whole space is explored of theoretical words that could have been. You can use this machine as a general brainstorm tool, for producing brand names, or just for fun. RWM is not responsible for generating words that may offend."

http://www.randomwordmachine.com/

Nelson dialect phrases to be carved on stone cubes

"Phrases like ‘tha meks a betta dower than a winda’, and ‘e cudn’t stop a pig in a ginnil’ are just some of the pieces of Lancashire logic which will be preserved for posterity. "

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/burnleypendlerossendale/8974619.Nelson_dialect_phrases_to_be_carved_on_stone_cubes/

Manx language alive and kicking

"Manx language officer Adrian Cain said: "Manx Gaelic far from being dead is doing very well in the Isle of Man. There is a Manx Gaelic Primary school (Bunscoill Ghaelgagh) and over 1,000 other children learn some Manx in schools.

"The adult language sector is thriving and Manx is a very visible sign of the Island's culture. The Manx people and its government can be proud of its support for the language and the contribution this has made to linguistic diversity."

http://www.isleofman.com/News/article.aspx?article=31529