Badeshi is an Extinct Language With Only Three People Speaking it! Here Are 4 Other Least Spoken Languages in the World

Badeshi, a language which was spoken widely a generation ago is only understood by three people today. Badeshi was spoken mostly in the mountains of northern Pakistan, however, now is considered extinct. While officially Badeshi is considered extinct, there are three people in the remote snow-clad valley who speak the language. Other than these three old men, the young in the village is not interested in learning it. The children and the youth in the village prefer speaking more dominant languages in the region.

Rahim Gul, one among the men who can speak Badeshi told BBC that a generation ago the entire village spoke Bidashi. But after people from their village married women from other villages who spoke Torwali, the children then began to speak in their mother tongue. Said Gul, Rahim Gul's first cousin said, "Their children spoke in their mother tongue, so our language started dying out. Now our children and their children speak Torwali. So who should we speak our own language with?"

Sagar Zaman, a linguist affiliated with Forum for Language Initiative, a non-governmental organisation said, "I traveled to this valley three times, but the inhabitants were reluctant to speak this language in front of me. Other linguists and I were able to collect a hundred or so words which suggested that this language belongs to Indo-Aryan subfamily of languages." Zaman is dedicated to the promotion and preservation of Pakistan's endangered languages.

With the village having no job opportunities, the men have moved to Swat District where they have picked up Pashto language. Meanwhile, we take a look at 6 more least spoke languages in the world:

1. Sarcee

The Sarcee language is spoken by the Canadian branch of the Tsuu T'ina tribe classified as an Athabaskan language.  The Sarcee language is spoken by the Canadian branch of the Tsuu T'ina tribe classified as an Athabaskan language. It is said it is related to the Navajo language spoken in the Southern United States, While there are no written records of this language, it has around 170 users.

2. Satawalese

The Satawalese language has around 460 speakers of which the most live in Satawal Island in the Federated States of Micronesia. Th language belongs to the Austronesian language family in the Truukic branch and their number of speakers have been growing. While the language is considered endangered, effort towards its sustainability is in process.

3. Paipai

The Paipai language is a part of the larger Yuman language family and is spoken by the Paipai people. They are majorly from the northern Baja California in Mexico. There are approximately 300 Papai speakers and are settled in Kumeyaay villages.

4. Chamicuro

Spoken only by 20 speakers, Chamicuro is classified in the Arawakan language family which has Arawak and Guajiro as their languages. It is one of the critically endangered languages and is an indigenous American language. Speakers of Chamicuro language belong to a tributary of the Huallaga River in a region of Pampa Hermosa in Peru. Although there is a Chamicuro dictionary, the children living in Pampa do not speak Spanish.

According to UNESCO, more than 1000 languages are severely or critically endangered. Mostly, the factor that contributes to the extinction of languages is a small geographical range and decline in the language's number of speakers. Reviving endangered languages are a responsibility of communities, governments, and linguistics. The Irish language is a prime example of how a language was revived after its decline.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Feb 26, 2018 04:25 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).