Endangered Island Languages
"What would my grandmother make of this?" I wonder? I'm sitting in a te reo Māori language class struggling to count to 7. I've learnt the pronunciation of some of the vowels, but my ear doesn't pick up all the nuances and my brain wants to switch to Spanish. My late grandmother was born, and also lived, in a small community on an island, not far from the antipodal point to where I am now. I believe she was fluent in French, English, Spanish and Jèrriais with possibly some knowledge of Breton . The house in Jersey where my late grandmother lived and which I visited in 2016. In the late 1800s Jèrriais writers in Jersey (my grandmother's island off the coast of France about the size of Exton in PA, USA and NOT New Jersey - PA's neighbour) were supported by writer Viktor Hugo during his exile, however, in 2019 the language was reported to be severely endangered with less than 2880 basic speakers and 113 n...