Language Church and State

Life is full of ironies, sometimes amusing, sometimes inspiring. As Phil Mercer reports at the BBC, an indigenous language in Australia, once thought extinct, is being revived thanks in part to the efforts of 19th Century missionaries who created a dictionary for the purpose of religious conversion. After the language was banned by colonial authorities, it fell into disuse, but upon discovery by scholars, the Kauma language of indigenous peoples near Adelaide has been resurrected.