Brasília, 5/6/2003 (Agência Brasil - ABr) - At least 42 of the 160 indigenous languages spoken in Brazil are in danger of extinction. They are languages spoken by a limited number of Indians and have little chance of being transmitted to other generations.

According to Denny Moore, linguistic coordinator at the Emilio Goeldi Museum in Pará, "Documentation of these languages is urgent. Measures are needed to revitalize them."

This month the linguistic department did get some good news. England's Endangered Languages Documentation Programme agreed to finance a project to protect threatened Tupi languages (Puruborá, Mekens, Ayuru Mondé (spoken in the state of Rondônia) and Xipáya (Pará)). The project budget is around R$3 million. (AB)