สำนักราชบัณฑิตยสภา

The Journal of the Royal Institute of Thailand Volume III - 2011 59 Suwilai Premsrirat What is being done to slow down the death of languages? 1) Academics and language speakers are being encouraged to document as much as possible the language, culture and oral traditions before they are lost forever. 2) The language speakers / ethnolinguistic communities are being encouraged to conduct language revitalization programs with technical support of academics (linguists, anthropologists, education experts etc.) and with initial financial support from the TRF and other funding agencies. 3) The national language policy is being reconsidered to facilitate and support the use of ethnic minority languages along with the national language (Thai) and international languages. Figure 3: Language and oral traditions documentation by linguists III. Language Revival Efforts from Grassroots Communities and Indigenous Rights Movements (focusing on education) A Mon lady uses a vivid metaphor to describe the Mon language endangerment situation comparing it to a fruit which çis breaking off from the stemé and the language revitalization activity as çthe last breathé of the speakersé. 54-75_mac9 5/3/12, 10:42 PM 59