Indian language is new to science
Researchers have identified a language new to science in a remote region of India.
Known as Koro, it appears to be distinct from other languages in the family to which it belongs; but it is also under threat.
The tragedy of dying languages
Koro was discovered by a team of linguists on an expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, in north-eastern India.
The team was part of National Geographic's "Enduring Voices" project on threatened indigenous languages.
The researchers were searching for two other little-known languages spoken only in one small area.
As they heard and recorded these, they found a third which was completely new to them and had never before been listed.
"We didn't have to get far on our word list to realise it was extremely different in every possible way," said Dr David Harrison, one of the expedition leaders.
The linguists recorded thousands of words- and found Koro was distinct from other languages in the area.
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Known as Koro, it appears to be distinct from other languages in the family to which it belongs; but it is also under threat.
The tragedy of dying languages
Koro was discovered by a team of linguists on an expedition to Arunachal Pradesh, in north-eastern India.
The team was part of National Geographic's "Enduring Voices" project on threatened indigenous languages.
The researchers were searching for two other little-known languages spoken only in one small area.
As they heard and recorded these, they found a third which was completely new to them and had never before been listed.
"We didn't have to get far on our word list to realise it was extremely different in every possible way," said Dr David Harrison, one of the expedition leaders.
The linguists recorded thousands of words- and found Koro was distinct from other languages in the area.