MANY Aboriginal languages are in danger of extinction, a parliamentary committee has been told, with just 20 to 30 considered ''viable''.
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More than 250 languages were spoken in 1788 but the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies was able to identify only 145 languages in 2005. Of those, 110 were classified as ''severely and critically endangered''.
The standing committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs was told on Thursday that it could cost $90 million to save the languages under threat.
The director of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, Venessa Curnow, told the meeting that calls to increase funding had been unheeded since the 2005 report.
The stagnation of funding, a lack of strategy on the issue and the end of bilingual education in the Northern Territory had all contributed to a situation that required ''urgent action'', Ms Curnow said.
