Keeping languages alive
Languages are a key tool in how we express our identities, cultures, heritage, and communicate.
Over time languages can become endangered due to a variety of reasons; often reflecting pressures, injustices, or traumas in a community. There are more than 7,000 languages today, but it is estimated that nearly half are at risk of being silenced. According to the Endangered Languages Project’s (ELP) Catalogue of Endangered Languages, language loss is now happening faster than at any time in human history.
Here at Exeter, we have been working to not only explore these issues but actively work to reclaim, revitalise, document, and promote at-risk languages. We seek to turn the tide of language loss by teaching them to new generations, and exploring them through translation and research. We spoke to several academics to gain an insight into this work.
Catalan
With more than 10 million speakers, Catalan is larger than many official EU languages. For this reason, Catalan sociolinguists prefer the term ‘minoritised’ to ‘minority’ (emphasising the power dynamic): it is spread across four countries (Spain, France, Italy and Andorra), yet it is always in competition with larger, ‘official’ languages.
Nevertheless, Catalan culture and literary tradition is rich and vibrant and is used in education, media, and public administration in the regions where it has official status. From our Department of Languages, Cultures and Visual Studies we work to promote awareness of Catalan culture and translation more widely. This is done through our visiting writer scheme with Barcelona and Exeter UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) City of Literatures, as well as through public events with the Devon and Exeter Institution, and Bookbag, Exeter’s independent bookstore.
Dr Richard Mansell (pictured below) is a Senior Lecturer at Exeter and an elected member of the Institut d’Estudis Catalans. This is the Catalan national academy and the body legally tasked with protecting the language, and his research engages with the repercussions of multiculturality in the urban environment on individuals, society and cultures.
Cornish
The Institute of Cornish Studies (ICS) is based on our Penryn Campus and includes research on the Cornish language and dialect. It is the home for all academic research linked to Cornwall and seeks to understand the histories that define Cornwall, what it is like now and futures we can move towards. Their research themes are: Cornish Democracy Unit; Cornish language and dialect; Culture and heritage; Society and Economy; and The Cornish overseas.
Alongside this research, the ICS also carries out consultancy work regarding Cornish. In 2024, Cornwall Council’s Cornish Language Office commissioned the ICS to undertake a major review of the 2015-2025 Cornish Language Strategy, Cornish Distinctiveness Impact Analysis, and Cornish National Minority Status.
The 2025 publication of Exeter academic, Dr Kensa Broadhurst’s, ‘The Cornish Language In The Nineteenth Century’, also offers a major reinterpretation of the state of the Cornish language during the period it was popularly believed to have died out. (This was drawn from Kensa’s PhD which was supervised at the ICS.)
Kurdish
There are an estimated 30-40 million Kurdish people living stateless, mainly living within Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Kurds are one of the Middle East’s largest ethnic groups; preserving this culture, as well as advancing and promoting Kurdish languages and cultures is at the heart of our research activities.
Founded in 2006, the Centre for Kurdish Studies, based at our Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, is unique outside the Kurdish homelands for its commitment to studying Kurdish history, culture and language. Exeter is the only British university to have developed a strong research focus in this field. Alongside teaching Kurdish language (Sorani and Kurmanji dialects) our researchers have produced ground-breaking research on Kurdish literature, cultures, and societies.
Exeter is home to unique Kurdish archives which we have worked to make accessible through Digital Archives of the Middle East platform. Dr Farangis Ghaderi, director of the centre, noted that the Kurdish language’s prominence on the platform contributes to its global academic visibility. She engages with translations and has co-edited ‘Women’s Voices from Kurdistan: Selection of Kurdish Poetry (2021)’. Translation is significant for language revitalisation, and to make Kurdish rich literature known and accessible.
Endangered languages are not doomed – they can be revitalised; Exeter’s commitment to speaking them, and to preserve their history plays a small part in this.
Languages reflect all our multifaceted ways of being human. As such, sustaining language diversity means investing in a world with a wider range of knowledge and encouraging the connections that exist between the words.
Exeter’s Evening Language Programme
Our Language Centre runs evening courses that are open to our students, staff, the general public, and alumni (who receive a discounted rate). Whether you’re a beginner or looking to advance your skills, they offer more than 15 languages through in-person and online opportunities.
Contact the team:
