An endangered language is defined as any language that children will probably not be speaking them in 100 years. Here are the top ten most at risk languages according to an article in the Telegraph.co.uk:

1. Apiaca (Brazil) This language and way of life is threatened by the gradual creep of Portuguese into the Mato Grosso region. In 2007, the language only appeared to have one remaining speaker. This in spite of an ethnic population hovering around 192 people.

2. Bikya (Cameroon) This language might actually be extinct without ethnographers knowing it. The last contact with the only known Biyka speaker occurred in 1986. The remaining speaker also happened to be the last known Bikya in the country.

3. Taje (Sulawesi) This Austronesian language, also known as Petapa, was apparently only spoken by one person in 2000. It’s entirely plausible that it may have passed into extinction since then, but no linguist or ethnographer knows for certain.

4. Dampelas (Sulawesi) UNESCO claims that only one of the 10,300 Dampelas peoples spoke the Austronesian language as of 2000, meaning it may very well be extinct by now.

5. Diahoi (Brazil) As of 2006, there was only one Diahoi speaker in the world. Hailing from the Amazon region of Brazil, Diahoi is also known as Jiahui, Jahoi, Djahui, Diahkoi and Diarroi. Because of the isolated location, linguists and ethnographers don’t know for certain whether or not the language has become officially extinct.

6. Kaixana  (Brazil) The last known individual to boast Kaixana as his primary language was Raimundo Avelino. He was 78 in 2008 and lived in the Limoeiro, Amazonas, Brazil. As of Feb 2011 he was still thought to be alive.

7. Laua (Papua New Guinea) The last of the Laua continues to speak the language and live the traditional lifestyle in the Central Province of Papua New Guinea. However, it might be extinct already. The last contact ethnographers and linguists had with the individual occurred in 2000.

8. Yamana (Chile) In an isolated pocket near Chile’s Beagle Canal Naval Base lives Cristina Calderon, the last full-blooded Yamana. The language she speaks is threatened by the encroach of Spanish.

9. Kulon-Pazeh (Taiwan) The language went officially extinct after the 2010 death of Pan Jin-yu. She had worked fiercely to educate her peoples in their native tongue, so it continues to hobble along as a second language rather than a primary However, the overall outlook remains grim.

10. Pemono (Venezuela) Little is known of this indigenous Venezuelan language other than the location of its last contacted speaker who lives in an Upper Majagua village.

Sources: UNESCO, The Christian Science Monitor, Ethnologue and The Language Database