65,000-yr-old language loses its last speaker

Updated on: 05 February,2010 07:13 AM IST |
Agencies |

The last speaker of Bo, an ancient language in the Andaman Islands, has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist told the BBC

The last speaker of Bo, an ancient language in the Andaman Islands, has died at the age of about 85, a leading linguist told the BBC. The language is believed to be more than 65,000 years old, making it one of the oldest languages in the world.

Big loss for India
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Professor Anvita Abbi said that the death of Boa Sr was highly significant because with her, India had lost an irreplaceable part of its heritage. Languages in the Andamans are believed to have originated from Africa.

The islands are often called an 'anthropologist's dream' and are one of the most linguistically diverse areas of the world. Professor Abbi -- who runs the Vanishing Voices of the Great Andamanese (Voga) website -- explained: "After the death of her parents, Boa was the last Bo speaker for 30 to 40 years."

She said that Boa Sr's death was a loss for intellectuals wanting to study more about the origins of ancient languages, because they had lost "a vital piece of the jigsaw".

Earliest ancestors

u00a0"It is generally believed that all Andamanese languages might be the last representatives of those languages which go back to pre-Neolithic times," she said. "The Andamanese are believed to be among our earliest ancestors."