Lingue affascinanti: il Nuuchahnulth in via di estinzione

BBC NEWS | Americas | Bid to save nearly-lost language: "It is spoken by only a handful of people but, after 5,000 years, a rare native American language is to get its own dictionary. Some 300 people, descendants of a Native American people in west Canada, still speak Nuuchahnulth. But almost no young people in the community on Vancouver Island know the ancient language...

He said linguists found the language fascinating because of its complexity. 'Entire sentences can be built up into a single word,' Dr Stonham said. 'But there are also some concepts that can be encapsulated in a single syllable. A single sound describes the state of remaining in seclusion when the husband goes out to hunt, for example.'"