Endangered Languages

Mexico has the largest population speaking indigenous languages in the Americas. In addition, after India and China, Mexico is third in the world in the number of native languages still spoken. Many of these languages are dying out, reports the Mexican English-language newspaper. Explains that of the fewer than 100 native languages spoken in Mexico at the end of the 19th century, only 62 remain. And 16 of these languages are spoken by fewer than 1,000 individuals. One concern is that when languages die out, native terms identifying plants are lost, resulting in a loss of knowledge of their traditional uses in treating illnesses.