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Only two elders in Mexico still speak Ayapaneco language





Linguists plan to publish a dictionary of the Ayapaneco language, spoken by just two elderly men in Mexico.

The dictionary will feature two versions of the language, one spoken by Manuel Segovia, 75, and and another by Isidro Velazquez, 69. The men don't talk to each other so linguists are working with both men on the project.

"When I was a boy everybody spoke it," Segovia told The Guardian. "It's disappeared little by little, and now I suppose it might die with me."

Segovia and Velazquez refer to their language as Nuumte Oote, which means "True Voice."

Get the Story:
Language at risk of dying out – the last two speakers aren't talking (The Guardian 4/13)

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