cristina calderon was the last fluent speaker of yamana.endants can now revitalise this language. cultures change, grow, develop and evolve, languages with that. how important is language as part of the cultural identity? a language is one of a culture's links to the past, present and future, and so when a language disappears, it can sever that tie. so cristina calderon's passing is very significant because she was that link to the past. the ancestral past. so it is very important to preserve languages forfuture generations. and there is a big difference between extinction because of colonisation and gradual change over time. how many indigenous languages are there in south america and the rest of the world? in south america, we currently have 600 indigenous languages, there could have been more that were unrecorded, that could have disappeared because of genocide and war and disease and cultural assimilation. around the world, we have approximately 4000 indigenous languages and there are other languages at risk as well that are not indigen

cristina calderon had compiled a dictionary with spanish translation, after the death of her sister,people in chile and argentina. her daughter said a wealth of knowledge had died with her, taking the culture of her community to the brink of extinction. let's cross to the us now and speak to anna luisa daigneault — programme director, with the living tongues institute for endangered languages. they help indigenous youngsters to record and document their elders' traditional languages. thank you for being with us. tell us more about yamana. christina calderon was the last fluent speaker of yamana. and so her passing really has a big impact but she left a strong legacy and so the descendants can now revitalise this language. can now revitalise this language-— can now revitalise this lanaauae. , . ., language. cultures change, . row, language. cultures change, grow. develon _ language. cultures change, grow, develop and - language. cultures change, grow, develop and evolve, | grow, develop and evolve, languages with that. how important is language to part of the cultural identity? fix, of