There are almost 7,000 human languages spoken around the world, but by the end of the century almost half could be extinct, existing only as preserved specimens in obscure databases.
The survival, and even revival, of these endangered languages could well depend on these same databases, but only if they become a lot less obscure and a lot more accessible.
Enter virtual reality.
Imagine a virtual reality catalogue where looking up a language is the first step to immersing yourself in the sensory world of that language. You could experience street scenes, see and hear people speak, call up songs, listen to stories, learn the words for different things.
We aren’t quite there yet, but some Australian linguists are showing the way. They have created a virtual reality fly-through of the South Pacific Islands including Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea, home to an astonishing 130 and 900 languages respectively.
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Source: The University of Melbourne