Seke Language | 09 Jan 2020
- Seke means "golden language" which originated in the Mustang district of Nepal.
- It is an unwritten language.
- It is spoken in just five villages of Chuksang, Chaile, Gyakar, Tangbe, and Tetang, a region close to the border with Tibet.
- There are just 700 or so Seke speakers left in the world.
- The three reported dialects of Seke are Tangbe, Tetang, and Chuksang.
- It is one of the endangered languages in the world.
- According to the criteria adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a language becomes extinct when nobody speaks or remembers the language. The UNESCO has categorized languages on basis of endangerment as follows:-
- Vulnerable
- Definitely Endangered
- Severely Endangered
- Critically Endangered
- UNESCO has recognised 42 Indian languages as Critically Endangered.
- According to the criteria adopted by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), a language becomes extinct when nobody speaks or remembers the language. The UNESCO has categorized languages on basis of endangerment as follows:-
| Degree of Endangerment | Intergenerational Language Transmission |
| Safe | Language is spoken by all generations; intergenerational transmission is uninterrupted. |
| Vulnerable | Most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains. |
| Definitely endangered | Children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home. |
| Severely endangered | Language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves. |
| Critically endangered | The youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the language partially and infrequently. |
| Extinct | There are no speakers left. |