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An example of extinction
One of the world's most endangered languages has dissappeared forever after the last remaining member of a unique tribe that inhabited the Andaman Islands for as long as 65,000 years died of old age. The last speaker of the Bo language, a woman named Boa Sr., died at age 85 in late January, 2010. It is one of the ten Great Andamanese tribes that are considered indigenous inhabitants of the islands, which lie 750 miles off the east coast of India.
One of the world's most endangered languages has dissappeared forever after the last remaining member of a unique tribe that inhabited the Andaman Islands for as long as 65,000 years died of old age. The last speaker of the Bo language, a woman named Boa Sr., died at age 85 in late January, 2010. It is one of the ten Great Andamanese tribes that are considered indigenous inhabitants of the islands, which lie 750 miles off the east coast of India.
She was also the last known speaker of
the Bo language, which is distinct from those of the other Great Andamanese
tribes, according to Anvita Abbi, a professor of linguistics at Jawaharlal
National University in Delhi.
Professor Abbi, who had known Boa since
2005, said that she had been losing her sight in recent years and was unable to
converse with anyone in her own language since the other surviving Bo speaker
died several years ago."At times, she felt very isolated
and lonely as she had no one to talk to in her own language." Boa had no
children, and her husband died several years ago.She could, however, communicate with
others in a local version of Hindi and in Great Andamanese, which is an amalgam
of all the ten tribal languages, according to Professor Abbi.
The loss of Boa and her mother tongue
highlights the plight of the indigenous people on the Andaman and Nicobar
Islands, a key Indian naval outpost that foreigners can visit only with a
special permit.
The only indigenous tribe that is
relatively intact is the Sentinelese, who ban any contact with outsiders and
were famously photographed firing arrows at an Indian helicopter after the
Boxing Day tsunami in 2004.
