Abstract:

The development of globalization and widely spread of English as a general language in the worldwide have constituted great challenges to multiple language ecology. At the moment, many national languages are in a state of endangerment or disappearing from the world. Language problems have aroused people’s attention in the world. UNESCO has been devoted to the protection of endangered languages for a long time. A series of documents were published and the concept of language rights and language protection were pointed out, which aimed at promote the development of linguistic diversity. This study aims at analyze UNESCO’s actions on language diversity and its impressive influences, to provide some guidances for each state to protect linguistic diversity.

Key words: UNESCO, endangered languages, language protection, language rights, language diversity

摘要：

全球化进程的发展和英语作为通用语在世界范围内的广泛传播，对世界上多元的语言生态构成了日益严峻的挑战，很多民族语言处于濒危消失的状态。语言问题引起了人们的普遍关注。联合国教科文组织一直坚持不懈的致力于濒危语言的保护工作，先后出台了一系列文件，明确提出了语言权利和语言保护的概念，旨在促进语言多样化的发展。本文旨在分析教科文组织在保护语言多样性方面采取的相应措施及其深远影响，为推动各国政府采取措施保护语言多样性提供重要的指导意义。

关键词：联合国教科文组织，濒危语言，语言保护, 语言权利，语言多样性

1. Introduction
1.1 The definition of UNESCO
 The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is one of the specialized agencies in United Nations, and the organization was set up on November 4, 1946. It aims at promoting international cooperation in education, science and culture to help people in different countries know each other and maintain world peace. The UNESCO has 195 member states by November 23, 2011, and it also has nine associate members. In total, there are 204 countries and areas in the organization, and each member state takes protecting human cultural diversity as one of their most important tasks.