Maps of Dumun

Languages of Papua New Guinea (Dahl)

Languages of Papua New Guinea (Dahl)

Map Creator:   Östen Dahl & Ghazaleh Vafaeian
Data Source:   Various web sources including:
Papuan New Guinea Collection of Data Sources

Contact:   Östen Dahl & Ghazaleh Vafaeian, Stockholm University
Email: oestenling.su.se
Department of Linguistics
Stockholm University
S-106 91 Stockholm

Date Digitized:  Sept-2011

Map Description:
This map intends to show the distribution of the indigenous languages of the eastern part of the island of New Guinea, that is, the part that belongs to the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (It thus excludes, for the time being, the Indonesian part of the island and the smaller islands included in Papua New Guinea.) Papua New Guinea is the country in the world that is home to the largest number of living languages, estimated at 830, or 12 per cent of all languages in the world. Of these, 700 are spoken on the main island. Although the geographical area covered is only about 400,000 sq. kms, this makes up roughly 10 per cent of the languages of the world. The map contains full or partial information about approximately 550 of these, or almost 8 per cent of the world's languages.

The UNESCO Database of Endangered Languages (UNESCO)

The UNESCO Database of Endangered Languages

Map Creator:   LINGUIST List (Anthony Aristar)
Data Source:   Mosely Christopher. 2010. Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger, 3rd edn. Paris, UNESCO Publishing, Online version. http://www.unesco.org/culture/languages-atlas/ (29 November 2010)
Contact:   llmaplinguistlist.org
Usage Notes/Copyright Status:   Used by Permission
Date Created:   29 November 2010

Map Description:
UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger is a database intended to raise awareness about language endangerment and the need to safeguard the world’s linguistic diversity among policy-makers, speaker communities and the general public, and to be a tool to monitor the status of endangered languages and the trends in linguistic diversity at the global level.

Degrees of endangerment
The map designates the degrees of endangerment as based on UNESCO’s Language Vitality and Endangerment framework.

This establishes six degrees of vitality/endangerment based on nine factors. Of these factors, the most salient is that of intergenerational transmission.

Degree of endangerment Intergenerational Language Transmission
safe language is spoken by all generations; intergenerational transmission is uninterrupted
>> not included in the map
vulnerable most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g., home)
definitely endangered children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home
severely endangered language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves
critically endangered the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently
extinct there are no speakers left
>> included in the Atlas if presumably extinct since the 1950s




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