It says something about the modern-day state of affairs, that not only are several of the world’s indigenous languages dying off from extra-cultural encroachment, but that their demise is paralleled by the growing popularity of wholly invented languages.

In other words (in English only, perhaps regrettably): People would rather learn and spread fabricated tongues than preserve authentic ones. So while Siletz Dee-ni and Amurdag are each down to aged, sole-surviving oral speakers, Klingon and Toki Pona are picking up new adherents every day via the Web.

Both these linguistic trends are sad, albeit in different levels of solemnity.