from The Washington post -
Babble On, Say Researchers In 'Linguists' Documentary
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Another good reason for keeping record of dying languages, other than just preservation or documentary:

" '[S]cience is playing catch-up in many respects to the people who have lived there for thousands of years and know about that ecosystem,' says Anderson. 'So since all of these ecosystems are under collapse now, it would behoove us to not just throw away this knowledge that people have accrued over the millennia.' "