聯(lián)合國教科文組織本周四發(fā)布最新的世界語言圖譜時表示，目前全世界尚存的6900種語言當中，有大約2500種語言處于瀕危局面，比2001年發(fā)布的瀕危語言數(shù)量增加了好幾倍。圖譜還指出，有199種語言的使用人數(shù)不足十人，178種語言的使用人數(shù)在十人到五十人之間。另有200多種語言在流傳三代后消失。世界各地雖然經(jīng)濟發(fā)展情況各異，但都存在著語言消失的現(xiàn)象。在撒哈拉沙漠以南的非洲，大約使用著2000種語言(幾乎是世界總數(shù)的三分之一)，而在將來的幾百年內，其中至少10%的語言將會消失。而且圖譜還指出，印度、美國、巴西、印度尼西亞和墨西哥，這些語言非常多樣的國家同樣也是瀕危語言最多的國家。

　　the world has lost manx in the isle of man, ubykh in turkey and last year alaska's last native speaker of eyak, marie smith jones, died, taking the aboriginal language with her.

　　of the 6,900 languages spoken in the world, some 2,500 are endangered, the un's cultural agency unesco said thursday as it released its latest atlas of world languages.

　　that represents a multi-fold increase from the last atlas compiled in 2001 which listed 900 languages threatened with extinction.

　　but experts say this is more the result of better research tools than of an increasingly dire situation for the world's many tongues.

　　still there is disheartening news.

　　there are 199 languages in the world spoken by fewer than a dozen people, including karaim which has six speakers in ukraine and wichita, spoken by 10 people in the us state of oklahoma.