Endangered Languages
Endangered languages:
“A language is classified as endangered if there is an eminent of it no longer being risk
spoken”.
An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out
or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more
native speakers, and becomes a “Dead Language”. If eventually no one speaks the language at
all, it becomes an “Extinct Language”.
The attitude of the people make language endangered. Hesitation to speak their own language.
Ideologies are changed and so attitudes towards one language changes. They attach some value
language and they are not allowed by their parents to speak their mother tongue.
Steps:
1. You desert that language
2. You shift to another language
3. You start speaking two languages
Factors/ Types:
Many languages are endangered because there have been a measurable decline in the
percentage of children who learn to speak them over the course of two or more generations.
Trajectory of the decline of the number of the people learning these languages as such that at
some point intergenerational transmission will seize. At that point that language is considered
moribund (a stage at which language cannot survive).
The second type of endangered language is that has a small number of speakers overall. Though
many such languages are thriving under the social condition that currently goaled, their limited
speakers base renders then susceptible language loss should conditions change.
Declining language:
Are those languages that evincing a steady erosim to their speaker race, primarily due to the
fact that fewer and fewer children learn this language at their homes.
1. Moribund languages:
That is no longer being learned by children as first language.
2. Extinct language:
Are those languages that have no speakers left.
Classification:
Is based on the degree of vitality of that particular language.
UNESCO provide a classification system to show just how in trouble the language is:
Vulnerable- most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains (e.g.,
home).
Definitely endangered- children no longer learn the language as a ‘mother tongue’ in the
home.
Severely endangered- language is spoken by grandparents and older generations; while the
parent generation may understand it, they do not speak it to children or among themselves.
Critically endangered- the youngest speakers are grandparents and older, and they speak the
language partially and infrequently.
Extinct- there are no speakers left.
Effects:
Language endangerment affects both the languages themselves and the people that speak
them.
Effects on communities:
As communities lose their language they often also lose parts of their cultural traditions which
are tied to that language, such as songs, myths and poetry that are not easily transferred to
another language. This may in turn affect their sense of identity, producing a weakened social
cohesion as their values and traditions are replaced with new ones. This is sometimes
characterized as anomie. Losing a language may also have political consequences as some
countries confer different political statuses or privileges. On minority ethnic groups, often
defining ethnicity in terms of language. That means that communities that lose their language
may also lose political legitimacy as a community with special collective rights.
Effects on languages:
During language loss-sometimes referred to as obsolescence in the linguistic literature-the
language that is being lost generally undergoes changes as speakers make their language more
similar to the language that they are shifting to. For example, gradually losing grammatical or
phonological complexities that are not found in the dominant language.
Causes:
A language disappears when its speakers disappear or when they shift to speaking another
language- most often, a larger language used by a more powerful group. Languages are
threatened by external forces such as military, economic, religious, cultural or educational
subjugation, or by internal forces such as a community’s negative attitude towards its own
language. Today, increased migration and rapid urbanization often bring along the loss of
traditional ways of life and a strong pressure to speak a dominant language that is or is
perceived to be necessary for full civic participation and economic advancement.
Safeguard of Endangered languages:
UNESCO acts on many fronts to safeguard endangered languages and prevent their
disappearance:
In education, UNESCO supports policies promoting multilingualism and especially mother
tongue literacy, it supports the language component of indigenous education; and raises
awareness of the Importance of language preservation in education.
In culture, UNESCO collects data on endangered and indigenous languages, develops
standardized tools and methodologies, and builds capacities of governments and civil society
(academic institutions and speaker communities).
In communication and information, UNESCO supports the use of local languages in the media
and promotes multilingualism in cyberspace..
In science, UNESCO assists programs to strengthen the role of local languages in the
transmission of local and indigenous knowledge.
Dead language:
Dead language:
A dead language is a language that no longer has any native speakers or is no longer in everyday
use.
Examples :
Latin, Ancient Greek, and Sanskrit.
These languages are typically preserved for scholarly, religious, or historical purposes.
Causes:
1. War and Genocide
2. Nature disaster ( Earthquake, Famine, Diseases, flood)
3. Mass migrations
4. Bottom -to-top ( Formal context)
5. Top -to-bottom ( political threat)
6. Linguicide ( To killed last one)
7. Language attrition (Reduction)
8. Culture clashes
