An article on a planned mega-development project on Great Nicobar island, off the southern coast of India, and the threats it poses to the highly endangered Nicobarese languages, spoken by Indigenous communities on this small island.
"The megaproject will destroy their gipen (forests), gihous (lands), seashores, and the unique flora and fauna that sustain both the community and their culture. Beyond these ecological and cultural losses lie the imminent danger to their ancient language—a linguistic isolate with no known relation to any other tongue or language family. If it disappears before being properly documented, an entire world view, centuries of ecological knowledge, and the intricate semiotics encoded in its structure will be gone.
To truly grasp what is at stake, we must reflect on the following questions: How are languages, cultures, and ecologies intertwined in indigenous life-worlds? In what ways do languages encode ecological knowledge, place-based wisdom, and sustainable ways of living? What vanishes when an indigenous language dies? And how does such erasure impact the collective memory and identity of its speakers?"
