The threatening extinction of the languages of minorities and the communities of indigenous peoples is the subject of the Society for Threatened Peoples STP (Gesellschaft für bedrohte Völker GfbV) at the Leipzig Book Fair. The international human rights organisation is presenting there a 111-page report on the worldwide dying out of languages with many examples from all continents. Those interested can listen at its stand to examples of threatened languages. With a panel discussion "If the language lives, the culture lives”, at which an Itelman from the Russian peninsula of Kamchatka and an expert for Indian minorities are expected, the STP will be pointing out urgently needed initiatives for the rescue of threatened languages.

Statistically speaking, every fortnight one of the 7000 languages still in existence dies out, reports the STP in its new human rights report. In particular danger are the languages of the indigenous peoples. "When a language dies out this is a bad sign for the situation of those speaking it. Often they suffer from infringements of human rights, are discriminated, driven out of their territory or threatened.

"With their language the people lose the most important expression of their culture. They lose the names of plants, animals, places, feelings, religious values and most of the stories which have been handed down and which form the link with their origins, warns the STP. For this reason the loss of a language leads also to the loss of identity and often means a collective trauma which lasts for generations. But this affects the whole of humanity. For when a language dies out there is likewise an irrevocable disappearance of examples of human thought, ideas and modes of expression.

To keep a language alive it is not only imperative that the society concerned does its best to preserve it. The "small languages” must be on a par both legally and in everyday life. Their educational institutions and media must be given financial support. Regional self-government for regions with minority languages is a sturdy and essential pillar of support for "small languages”.