Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Badeshi: Only three people speak this 'extinct' language
Pakistan is regarded as a young country. About half of the total population of 200 million are under the age of 30, and 35% of the population is under 15.
There are over 60 languages spoken in this ethnically diverse country. Urdo is the national language, along with English, and understood by over 75% of Pakistanis. However, the Punjabi language is the most commonly spoken language used by 44% of the population.
As those young children start to have their own families, this already-populous country is going to add more people at a faster rate than the world average.
Then, what language do those young people and will their new children speak? Usually, children speak in either mother tongue or a language spoken among their friends and in school. This means not all the languages currently used may be spoken or preserved in the future. In fact, there is one language that is thought to have been extinct but recently found to be spoken only by three people in a remote valley deep in the mountains of northern Pakistan. It is called Badeshi. Sadly, the language isn’t learned by their children or any other neighbors as other language had become dominant in the region. Even those only speakers have forgotten some words of the language because they rarely speak it. Since no one else speaks or learn the language, when those three people die, so will the language.
Enjoy reading and listening to the endangered language that will soon become extinct.
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