Fun_People Archive
3 Oct
The world's least used language?

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri,  3 Oct 97 12:10:30 -0700
To: Fun_People
Subject: The world's least used language?

Forwarded-by: Nev Dull <nev@bostic.com>
Forwarded-by: guy@netapp.com (Guy Harris)

The British magazine *Prospect*'s "In Fact" column, in the October 1997
issue, reports this factlet from the 1997-07-22 issue of *The Guardian*:

	The world's least used language is Bikya, spoken by an 87-year-old
	woman living near the Cameroon/Nigeria border.

A Web search for "Bikya" turned up an entry in the Ethnologue, at

	http://www.sil.org/ethnologue/countries/Came.html

which says:

	BIKYA (FURU) [BYB] 1 speaker 70 years old, plus 3 others who have
	limited proficiency (1986 R. Breton).  Furubana village, Furu-Awa
	Subdivision, Menchum Division, North West Province.  Niger-Congo,
	Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo, Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern,
	Unclassified.  24% lexical similarity with Nsaa and Noone
	(Beboid), 14% with Akum.  May be Eastern Beboid.  The people are
	now called 'Furu', and speak Jukun.  They were formerly called
	'Bikya'.  Isolated, no roads.  Mountain slope.  Nearly extinct.

However, it also says:

	BISHUO (BIYAM, FURU) [BWH] 1 speaker over 60 years old, plus 1
	partial speaker (1986 R. Breton).  Ntjieka, Furu-Turuwa, and
	Furu-Sambari villages, Furu-Awa Subdivision, Menchum Division,
	North West Province.  Niger-Congo, Atlantic-Congo, Volta-Congo,
	Benue-Congo, Bantoid, Southern, Unclassified.  16% to 17% alexical
	similarity with Nsaa and Noone, 11% with Bikya.  May be Jukunoid.
	The people are called 'Furu' and now speak Jukun.  There were
	formerly called 'Biyam'.  Isolated, no roads.  Mountain slope.
	Nearly extinct.

although maybe the 3 others who have limited proficiency in Bikya have died
off by now, while the 1 partial speaker of Bishuo is still around.

© 1997 Peter Langston