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CMLawLibraryBlog

The CM Law Library Blog seeks to inform the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law community about key legal education, research, practice, and law library news, with a particular focus on Cuyahoga County and Ohio as well as faculty research interests.

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How Do You Say That In Oshiwambo?

Amy Burchfield, Access & Faculty Services Librarian amy.burchfield@law.csuohio.edu | May 06, 2008 - 11:40

As posted earlier, 2008 has been designated by the U.N. as the International Year of Languages. The UNESCO portal provides some interesting tidbits on languages.

Did you know that --

  • More than 50% of the approximately 7,000 languages spoken worldwide are likely to die out within the next few generations?
  • 96% of the world’s languages are spoken by a mere 4% of the world’s population?
  • Less than 100 languages are used in digital environments?

Minority languages are afforded some measure of protection through human rights mechanisms such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Article 27), and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.

One of the most linguistically rich areas of the world is Africa, with an estimated 2,000 languages spoken on the continent [see Major Languages of Africa from PanAfriL10n from more details.] The topic of international legal protection for African languages is taken up in this new GlobaLex guide, “Towards the Human Rights Protection of Minority Languages in Africa” by Innocent Maja of Zimbabwe. It’s one of a large collection of research guides on international and foreign law topics available through GlobaLex.



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