The northern tier of land in Australia, Aborigines, a man who is the last speaker of his language; across the miles, Welsh, the tongue under fire and pressure to be liquidated, only through struggle vindicated and now on equal footing with English; Hawaii, lonely islands mid Pacific, the language shunted aside and forbidden, but struggling back in the mouths of school children speaking only Hawaiian.
"Language Matters" in being a people's identity, its culture, its roots, its place; to see these exemplars, knowing 6,000 languages exist, 3,000 are endangered and could be gone by century's end; to see the place (the beautiful landscapes, animal life, and where water meets and laps and licks), and to realize how native words are the very grit and gristle of these human lives in their surrounds.
ALL this is evoked and cherished and intelligently uncovered in this wonderful documentary, both frightening and courageous!
You may watch this film online at this PBS location.
Ooh this looks good. Did you watch it?
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