Los Angeles Valley College Data Visualization Endangered Languages Paper

Exercise 11.2 – Data Visualization: Endangered Languages

Follow the link to the map and multimedia interactive. Then answer the following questions.

Data Visualization: One World, Many Voices Endangered Languages Story Map by Smithsonian Folk Life Festival

http://www.festival.si.edu/2013/one-world-many-voices/map/smithsonian

Important Note: This web-based visualization may require up-to-date Adobe Flash Player browser plugin. Make sure to take note of any pop-ups or requests to download updates. Accordingly, be prepared to wait for video and interactive feature load times, which will depend on Internet connection speeds and other factors.

In this data module, the close connection between language and culture is showcased. Worldwide there is a staggering diversity of languages. However, over half of the world’s known languages may disappear in the next 100 years. This interactive allows you to connect with these endangered languages through its speakers and their cultural products. You can explore a multimedia virtual tour of some of these language communities across the world.

Following the link above will take you to the Introduction page for the Endangered Languages Story Map. Once you have read through the Introduction, click on the Launch Map image. A new window will open up with the Story Map interactive. Locate the main navigation controls in the top-left and the home button that will take you back to the world view. You can reach the data related to each language community by clicking on the tiles above or the dot symbols on the map. That will take you to a language community’s main profile where a video will automatically play. You can pause or mute the video while you review the description for the language community. You can also select the Learn More button that takes you to additional stories within the community.

To begin the activity, review the introduction and map descriptions. Use the information to answer the next questions.

1. Approximately how many languages are there in the world?
   1. 700
   2. 2,000
   3. 7,000
   4. 10,000

1. What is one of the ways that speakers and cultural practioners maintain the vitality of their language?
   1. performance
   2. craft demonstrations
   3. community celebrations
   4. all of these

1. What group is particularly vulnerable to language loss?
   1. indigenous communities
   2. American communities
   3. low-income communities
   4. English-speaking communities

Review the story map and the map title description.

1. What are the areas with high levels of diversity, yet also of endangerment?
   1. language communities
   2. linguistic regions
   3. language hotspots
   4. linguistic hazards

1. What is NOT supported by descriptions of the language hotspots in Africa?
   1. Nigeria alone has a high level of language diversity.
   2. Many African languages have no written form or writing system.
   3. Ethiopia alone has a high level of language diversity.
   4. African languages loss occurs with change in indigenous ways of life.

1. What was responsible for the endangered language communities in the Caucasus and Eastern Siberia?
   1. political conflict
   2. government policy
   3. indigenous decline
   4. natural hazards

Click through each of the language communities.

1. Where do the speakers of Arhuaco live?
   1. Colombia
   2. Panama
   3. Peru
   4. Venezuela

1. Garifuna is found in each of the following locations, except:
   1. Honduras
   2. Los Angeles
   3. Venezuela
   4. New York City

1. What is considered unique by linguists because it is not linked to any other in a language family?
   1. Kamentzá
   2. Penobscot
   3. Siletz Dee-Ni
   4. Welsh

1. Kallawaya is considered an important language for the world to keep since it has otherwise unknown words that describe:
   1. methods for building high-altitude villages.
   2. secret, traditional medicinal practices.
   3. pre-Colombian political systems.
   4. distinctive textile weaving techniques.

1. Both the Hawaiian and Kichwa languages were saved from extinction by:
   1. laws that preserved their use in official documents.
   2. missionaries who recorded indigenous speakers.
   3. artistic practices like music and dance.
   4. traditional agricultural practice.

1. What is the language of the European continent’s only Buddhist indigenous people?
   1. Kalmyk
   2. Zapotec
   3. Tuvan
   4. Uitoto

1. What is true about Ri Palenge as an endangered language?
   1. It is found in the southern-facing, wet tropical forests.
   2. It is a language formed among independent escaped slaves.
   3. It is a creole language of African Bantu and Brazilian Portuguese.
   4. It is particularly at-risk by incursion of English-language pop music.

1. What is the physical environment context for the Koro language of only about 1,000 speakers?
   1. island chain
   2. sub-tropical desert
   3. mountainous border
   4. high-latitude coast

1. In Jewish communities, _____ is more for conversational and artistic use, whereas _____ is for religious purposes.
   1. Hebrew; Yiddish
   2. Hebrew; English
   3. Yiddish; Latin
   4. Yiddish; Hebrew