BBC reports on all-Elfdalian preschool

[John Cowan]

<http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-35831359>
Of course there is the usual amount of nonsense found in all news articles
about language matters, but the foregrounded facts are surely correct.

=== quote starts here ===

Swedish nursery to teach rare Viking-era language

A rare language that dates back to the Viking Age will be taught at a
new nursery school in central Sweden, it's reported.

Elfdalian will be the sole language spoken to children attending the
pre-school in the town of Alvdalen, which is the only community that
still uses it, Radio Sweden reports. Elfdalian is believed to be the
closest descendant of Old Norse, which was spoken by Scandinavians more
than 1,000 years ago.

At the moment, only about 2,500 people can speak the language, fewer
than 60 of them children, reports The Local website. To help preserve
Elfdalian, councillors in Alvdalen on Tuesday voted unanimously to build
the new nursery school.

The Local quotes the town's mayor, Peter Egardt, as saying that officials
were aware of their responsibility to "get a new generation to speak our
unique language, thus giving the language more of a chance to survive
in the long term".

The new nursery school will be up and running in the autumn, and the site
says that pupils will continue to learn the language until they turn 18.

-- 
John Cowan          http://www.ccil.org/~cowan        cowan at ccil.org
I am he that buries his friends alive and drowns them and draws them
alive again from the water. I came from the end of a bag, but no bag
went over me.  I am the friend of bears and the guest of eagles. I am
Ringwinner and Luckwearer; and I am Barrel-rider.  --Bilbo to Smaug