PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 22 (UPI) -- A professor at Swarthmore College near Philadelphia says he has discovered a previously undocumented Siberian language.
K. David Harrison says the language is spoken by the Chulym people, an indigenous community in a remote part of central Siberia, and is approaching extinction.
They "have a unique way of talking about the local ecosystem," said Harrison, an assistant professor of linguistics. "When they lose it, they will lose all the specialized knowledge the language contains."
There are 6,800 known languages, Harrison said.
He said he went looking for one he wasn't sure existed and found it.
"It had been misidentified and falsely lumped together with other languages in Russia for convenience and political reasons, and we didn't know if any speakers were left. No scientists had visited them in 30 years."
Nor was a single word recorded, Harrison said.
In July, Harrison went to Siberia with a small documentary film crew. Their forthcoming film "Vanishing Voices" covers his discovery.
