Last Born In The Wilderness

[Intro: 6:36] This interview with anthropologist and linguist Joshua Birchall was recorded in his office at the Museu Paraense Emílio Goeldi in Belém, Brazil. Joshua has been doing field work in Indigenous communities in the Brazilian state of Rondônia and in parts of Bolivia for over a decade, documenting dying languages before they completely disappear from the human collective for good. Languages are disappearing at an increasing and alarming rate, with Indigenous communities in Amazonia at the forefront of this trend. As Joshua explains in this discussion, of the 26-or-so known languages in the region he does field work in, two-thirds of those languages have less than 50 speakers left. This indicates that one of the most linguistically diverse regions on the planet is on the verge of losing a majority of its speakers within a few generations, if that. Along with documenting these languages for their continued use and preservation, Joshua has a deep understanding of the role language plays in the cultura