Ubykh

I determined that I had to do whatever I could to try to prevent any other such language following Ubykh to the grave.

Your September 2007 issue just arrived, and its very interesting articles on lost languages reminded me of a poem that initially appeared in the London Review of Books (August 22, 2002) under the title "The Last Man to Speak Ubykh." The linguist Ole Stig Andersen was keen to seek out the remaining traces of a West

Talking about that momentous landing on Plymouth Rock, Bingham says: "If those Mayflower settlers had chanced to speak Ubykh (a Caucasian language with 81 consonants and three vowels) or Rotokas (a Papua New Guinea language with just six consonants and three vowels), the world would most likely be speaking those fine languages today."

An online search reveals "Jordan element," named after Michael Jordan for its ability to "jump around the genome of the protist Volvox." The Bureau of Indications suggests simply translating all the gene names into the Ubykh, an extinct language with only two vowels.

An online search reveals "Jordan element," named after Michael Jordan for its ability to "jump around the genome of the protist Volvox." The Bureau of Indications suggests that researchers simply translate all of the gene names into the Ubykh, an extinct language with only two vowels.

"Should anybody care that thousands of languages are at risk?" That is the question Abley asked as he rummaged around libraries and globe- trotted around the world, listening--like a caregiver eavesdropping on the last gasps of a dying patient--to the speakers of Mati Ke, Ubykh, Marlda Kangka, Yuchi, Manx, Welsh, Provencal, and Yiddish among many other exotic tongues.