15 languages around the world that are going extinct

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There are 7,000 languages currently spoken around the world but many have already gone extinct— and some are endangered.

Several of the languages at risk for extinction are spoken by Native Americans, and indigenous populations in Australia.

Ainu, a language spoken by the Ainu people of Japan's Hokkaido island, only has an estimated two to 15 speakers left.

There are more than 7,000 living languages in the world, but UNESCO predicts more than half will be extinct by the end of the century. Will these be among the first to go?Res garo

Mariana Bazo Reuters

In 2016, Rosa Andrade Ocagane, the last female speaker of the Amazonian language was murdered in Peru at age 67.

She and her brother, Pablo — now Res garo’s last known speaker, making it one of the most endangered languages — were the children of a Res garo mother and Ocaina father. They spoke their mother's language to honor her and were also among the last 40 speakers of Ocaina.

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Chulym

Russia's 2010 census revealed just 44 speakers of the Chulym Turks' language. Residents of the people's Siberian villages call themselves and their language s. They were dropped as a government-recognized ethnic group in 1959, then regained their status back in 1999.

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Mudburra

Ben Ashmole Flickr

This aboriginal Australian Northern Territory language might actually be growing, or at least better documented. Australia’s 2006 Census estimated there were 47 speakers left, but the 2016 report increased to 92 speaking Mudburra at home.

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