One language dies every 14 days. By the next century nearly half of the roughly 7,000 languages spoken on Earth will likely disappear, as communities abandon native tongues in favor of English, Mandarin, or Spanish. What is lost when a language goes silent?
"There are almost 7000 languages in the world, but every two weeks one goes silent. Nearly 100 languages are lost every year. People who speak the world’s dominant languages—English, Spanish, Chinese—believe that a common language binds us and makes us one unified people. But such unification is also a loss of culture."
A language that is embedded into song, behavior and belief keeps a community intact. Language is an intimate moral compass, a belonging.
These photographs show Tuvans from the central Russian steppes, the Seri people who live on the shore of Mexico’s Sea of Cortez, and the Aka people who live in remote northeast India.
There are also the lone survivors of Native American tribes who are struggling to keep not only their words, but their very identity. Johnny Hill Jr. is Chemehuevi, from Arizona. He is one of only two remaining fluent native speakers.
“I live alone and talk to myself to remember. Not out loud but quietly in my own heart,” he says. “It’s difficult to remember the words with no one to speak to. It’s like a bird losing feathers. You see one float by and there it goes—another word gone.”
Parker, La Paz County, Arizona, United States of America“I speak it inside my heart”
— Johnny Hill, Jr., Arizona
Johnny Hill, Jr. of Parker, Arizona, is one of the last speakers of Chemehuevi, an endangered Native American language. He says, “It’s like a bird losing feathers. You see one float by, and there it goes—another word gone.”
Sapulpa, Creek County, Oklahoma, United States of America“We are still here.”
— Josephine Wildcat Bigler, Oklahoma
Josephine Wildcat Bigler says that her grandmother always demanded that she and her sister speak their native language. “As long as you live in my house,” she said, “you speak Euchee!”
Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States of America“I don’t want to see this language die out.”
— K’asa Henry Washburn, Oklahoma
K’asa Henry Washburn, 86, is one of only four fluent speakers of Euchee left. Every day he drives ten miles from his home in West Tulsa to the Euchee Language House, where children are learning their native tongue. As a result, Euchee students sometimes get in trouble again for speaking their ancestral language in school. Richard Grounds, director of the project, calls him a “living dictionary.”
Hoopa, Humboldt County, California, United States of America“My mother’s mother has been here before.”
— Melodie George-Moore, California
Melodie George-Moore was discouraged from speaking her tribal language while growing up. “Why learn Hupa? Everyone who speaks it is dead.” But she sensed her destiny was tied to learning the Hupa language, and so she has learned it well enough to fulfill her role as a medicine woman. Moore believes that answers to the troubles faced by her tribe may be found in the stories of her ancestors.
Somes Bar, Siskiyou County, California, United States of America“The white language doesn’t go deep enough.”
— Charlie “Red Hawk” Thom, California
Charlie “Red Hawk” Thom is a medicine man and ceremonial leader. He says that English goes in one ear and out the other: it never touches the heart. Karuk, he says, begins in the heart and moves to the mind. To say you love something, you say ick-ship-eee-mihni. “This is serious,” he says. “If you tell a woman eee-mihni, well, you’d better be ready to marry her.”
Mount Shasta, Siskiyou County, California, United States of America“This mountain has my heart.”
— Caleen Sisk, California
Caleen Sisk is the spiritual leader and the tribal chief of the Winnemem Wintu tribe—and a last speaker of the language that sustains her people’s identity. Above you see her sending smoke prayers up to Mount Shasta.
For a hundred years, the tribe has been fighting with the U.S. government over its territory along the McCloud River, abutting Mount Shasta, which they consider their birthplace. Loss of land and loss of language are connected, says Sisk. “This land is our church.”
Markleeville, Alpine County, California, United States of America“It’d be nice if we could all sit down and talk our language.”
— Ramona Dick, California
As a young child, Ramona Dick refused to be sent off to the Stewart Indian School near Carson City, where students were required to speak only English.
Tuva, Russia[ songgaar ]
‘go back’ or ‘the future’
[ burungaar ]
‘go forward’ or ‘the past’
The Tuvans, who are from Russia, believe that the past is ahead of them while the future lies behind. The children who flock to this bungee-cord ride outside the National Museum of Tuva look to the future, but it’s behind them, not yet seen.
Tuva, Russia[ khei-àt ]
‘air horse’ or ‘a spiritual place within’
Above on the left, Ai-Xaan Oorzhak throat sings and plays the igil, or horse-head fiddle, with bow techniques like “make horse walk.” Singers use the term “air horse” to describe the spiritual depths they draw from to produce the harmonic sounds.
[ khoj özeeri ]
‘ritual sheep slaughter’
On the right, you see how Tuvans slaughter sheep by making a slit in the animal’s chest, inserting a hand, and severing the main artery that leads to the heart. The term khoj özeeri conveys both the humane attitude of this method of slaughter and the skill that ensures no blood is spilled.
Tuva, Russia[ oktaar ]
‘to throw or take down’
A Tuvan wrestling match is decided when the first man is thrown down—when any part of his body other than the soles of his feet touches the ground. Valeriy Ondar and Sholban Mongush warm up in traditional costumes at a celebration in Kyzyl featuring more than 250 wrestlers competing for cars, refrigerators, and a stove. Competitors can be locked in positions for hours, testing each other’s points of power and weakness.
Tuva, Russia[ anayim ]
‘my little goat’
Aidyng Kyrgys caresses his newborn baby girl, whom he refers to using this tender term of endearment. The arrival of an infant is cause for a celebration and feasting for the whole family at their tiny log house.
[ ak byzaa ]
‘white calf, less than one year’
Raising sheep, yaks, and goats on the Siberian steppe is so central to Tuvan life that the vocabulary for livestock is embedded with detailed information about each animal’s age, gender, fertility, coloration.
Tuva, Russia[ artyštaar ]
‘to burn juniper’ | ‘to purify’
A Tuvan shaman cleanses the house of a deceased relative’s spirit using smoke from burning juniper to chase away darkness. The incense fills the room as the family ask the spirits of hearth and home to protect them.
Arunachal Pradesh, India[ tradzy ]
‘a necklace of yellow stone beads’
The Aka have more than 26 words to describe beads. Beyond being objects of adornment, beads are status symbols and currency. This toddler will get this necklace at her wedding.
Arunachal Pradesh, India[ shobotro vyew ]
‘to calculate bride price using twigs’
The price for an Aka marriage is negotiated with bamboo sticks. The groom’s side lays down a number representing money and gifts, and the bride’s family counteroffers. Families can haggle for months using the same sticks.
[ chofe gidego ]
‘is looking at liver’
A marriage is not recognized until after the ritual slaughter of a mithan, a type of cattle, when its liver can be read. The verdict: A small spot might signal an accident in the couple’s future but otherwise a happy life.
Arunachal Pradesh, India[ ayay ]
‘mama’
[ chulai ]
‘mother chicken or hen’
Giamum Yame stands with her two-year-old son in the doorway of their home an hour away from Palizi. A henhouse basket is nailed to the wall.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ ziix quih haasax haaptxö quih áno cöcacaaixaj ]
‘one who strongly greets with joy/peace/harmony’
There is no greeting among the Seris akin to a handshake or wave. But Josué Robles Barnett demonstrates a gesture that used to be performed when arriving in a strange community to convey you meant no harm.
Desemboque, Sonora, Mexico[ iquiisax hipi hacx caap ]
‘spirit that exists alone’
The Seris used to believe that when air spun into a whirlwind in the desert, it was the spirit of a dead person. Now most Seris are Christians and have moved away from a literal belief that ghosts are among them. In this El Desemboque cemetery Marcela Díaz Félix uses a scarf for shade as she visits her father’s grave.
[ Miixöni quih zó hant ano tiij? ]
‘Where is your placenta buried?’
This is how the Seris ask, Where are you from? Those who were born before hospital births know the exact spot where their afterbirth was placed in the ground, covered in sand and ash, and topped with rocks.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ atcz ]
‘daughter of a parent’s younger sibling’
[ azaac ]
‘daughter of a parent’s older sibling’
The Seri people have more than fifty terms for close kinship relationships, such as between these two cousins, many specific to the gender and birth order of the relative. A woman uses a different word for father than a man does.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ hant iiha cöhacomxoj ]
‘ones who have been told the ancient things’
She’s blind and nearly deaf, but Isabel Chavela Torres still passes on traditional knowledge. The Seri names for species in the Sonoran Desert and Gulf of California reveal behaviors scientists have only recently begun to discover.
[ hepem cöicooit ]
‘one who dances like the white-tailed deer’
Chavela’s grandson Jorge Luis Montaño Herrera shakes gourd rattles and assumes the identity of a deer. Just as his grandmother once sang him traditional melodies, he now wants to teach the deer dance to Seri children.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ caahit ]
‘to cause the fish to eat’
When Seri fishermen like Juan Barnett Díaz catch a fish in the Gulf of California, they say they “encouraged the fish to eat”—a respectful, fish-centric way of describing their dependence on the sea’s bounty. Generations ago, Seris who worked along the shores of the gulf returned with abundant varieties of fish and sea turtles. Today competition from commercial boats means they must settle for puffer fish and skates.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ heeno cmaam ]
‘woman from place of the plants’
Herbalists like Juanita Herrera Casanova are greatly esteemed in the Seri community for their knowledge of herbal medicine and traditional ceremonies. Herrera searches out desert lavender, desert mistletoe, and desert senna and carries the bounty home on her head.
Punta Chueca, Sonora, Mexico[ ziix hacx tiij catax ]
‘thing that moves on its own’
As modern inventions like cars enter their world, the Seris tend to adapt their language rather than import Spanish words. Erica Barnett uses an abandoned car as a hothouse to grow mangroves to replenish an estuary.
Kino, Sonora, Mexico[ hihipon ]
‘my voice’
Deborah Anabel Herrera Moreno has a rebellious streak. She’s trying to find her own voice by learning to write the Seri language, called Cmiique Iitom. Although she dropped out of school, she’s teaching herself to read and write in hopes of becoming a teacher someday.
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A version of this story originally appeared on
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STORY TOLD BYLynn Johnson
Photographer, teacher & life-time learner of the ever complex human condition.
