A real conversation killer: Last two speakers of dying language refuse to talk to each other - because they don't get on



As its last two speakers, you might expect Manuel Segovia and Isidro Velazquezto to discuss how best to preserve their dying language.

But the pair engage in no such discussions - or any other for that matter - as they refuse to speak to each other.



They live less than half a mile apart in a village in Mexico but despite being the only people fluent in Ayapaneco, they apparently do not get on.



Last of a kind: Manuel Segovia is one of the final speakers of the language

Those who know the two men are unsure as to whether there is some deep-rooted conflict between them.



Although the Ayapaneco language survived the Spanish conquest it is believed to have suffered as a result of compulsory Spanish education, migration of its speakers and urbanisation.

There are 6,000 languages in the world and of those around half are expected to disappear over the next century.



Daniel Suslak, an Indiana University linguistic anthropologist, is compiling a dictionary to record the existence of the language.



MOST ENDANGERED EUROPEAN LANGUAGES Ume Sámi - (Sweden) along the Ume River with around 10 people left

Pite Sámi - (Sweden) along the Pite River by between 25 an 50 people

Ter Sámi - (Russia) by two people on the Kola Peninsula

Livonian - (Latvia) with between five and 30 speakers

Votian - (Russia) by less than 20 people

Italkian - (Italy) around 200 people

Yevanic - (Greece, Israel, Turkey and the U.S.) by less than 50 people

Krimchak - (Turkey) around 2,000 Krimchak people but only a handful still speak the language

He said he has discovered that the two men 'don't have much in common' and while Mr Segovia, 75, is 'a little prickly', Mr Velaquez, 69, doesn't like to leave his home and is 'more stoic'.



Speaking from his home village of Ayapa in southern Mexico, Mr Segovia said of the language: 'When I was a boy everybody spoke it. It's disappeared little by little and now I suppose it might die with me.'



He continues to speak to his wife and son in his native tongue who understand him but, other than a few words, they cannot speak back.



He conversed in Ayapaneco with his brother, but he died 10 years ago, according to the Guardian newspaper.



It is not believed that Mr Velazquez converses his native tongue at all any more.



The language's biggest downfall came in the mid-20th century. For several decades indigenous children were explicitly forbidden from speaking anything other than Spanish.



Then in the 1970s people started moving away and it has been diluted to the state that it is currently in.



The language of Ayapaneco died out after Mexicans were made to speak Spanish

Mr Suslak added: 'It's a sad story, but you have to be really impressed by how long it has hung around.'



The name of the language was given by outsiders and both men call their language Nuumte Oote, meaning True Voice.



They both have different versions and cannot agree on some details and the dictionary that Mr Suslak is compiling will contain both versions.



Classes are also planned as a last-ditch effort to revive the language to other locals but enthusiasm is low and even though Mr Segovia bought pencils and notebooks himself, people would stop attending.