Extinct language

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Eteocypriot writing, Amathous, Cyprus, 500-300 BC, Ashmolean Museum Eteocypriot writing.jpg
Eteocypriot writing, Amathous, Cyprus, 500–300 BC, Ashmolean Museum

An extinct language or dead language is a language with no living native speakers. [1] [2] A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a symbol of ethnic identity to an ethnic group; these languages are often undergoing a process of revitalisation. [3] Languages that have first-language speakers are known as modern or living languages to contrast them with dead languages, especially in educational contexts.

Contents

Languages have typically become extinct as a result of the process of cultural assimilation leading to language shift, and the gradual abandonment of a native language in favor of a foreign lingua franca . [4] [5] [6]

As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the languages spoken at that time will have become extinct by 2050. [7]

Language death

Sisters Maxine Wildcat Barnett (1925-2021) (left) and Josephine Wildcat Bigler (1921-2016); two of the last elderly speakers of Yuchi, visiting their grandmother's grave in a cemetery behind Pickett Chapel in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. According to the sisters, their grandmother had insisted that Yuchi be their native language. Yuchilanguagespeakers.jpg
Sisters Maxine Wildcat Barnett (1925–2021) (left) and Josephine Wildcat Bigler (1921–2016); two of the last elderly speakers of Yuchi, visiting their grandmother's grave in a cemetery behind Pickett Chapel in Sapulpa, Oklahoma. According to the sisters, their grandmother had insisted that Yuchi be their native language.

Normally the transition from a spoken to an extinct language occurs when a language undergoes language death by being directly replaced by a different one. For example, many Native American languages were replaced by Dutch, English, French, Portuguese, or Spanish as a result of European colonization of the Americas. [9]

After a language has ceased to be spoken as a first language, it may continue to exist as learned, second language, such as Latin. [10]

In a view that prioritizes written representation over natural language acquisition and evolution, historical languages with living descendants that have undergone significant language change may be considered "extinct", especially in cases where they did not leave a corpus of literature or liturgy that remained in widespread use (see corpus language), as is the case with Old English or Old High German relative to their contemporary descendants, English and German. [11] This is accomplished by periodizing English and German as Old; for Latin, an apt clarifying adjective is Classical, which also normally includes designation of high or formal register. [12]

Bilingual Latin-Punic inscription at the theatre in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya Inscription Theatre Leptis Magna Libya.JPG
Bilingual Latin–Punic inscription at the theatre in Leptis Magna in present-day Libya

Minor languages are endangered mostly due to economic and cultural globalization, cultural assimilation, and development. With increasing economic integration on national and regional scales, people find it easier to communicate and conduct business in the dominant lingua francas of world commerce: English, Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, and French. [13]

In their study of contact-induced language change, American linguists Sarah Grey Thomason and Terrence Kaufman (1991) stated that in situations of cultural pressure (where populations are forced to speak a dominant language), three linguistic outcomes may occur: first – and most commonly – a subordinate population may shift abruptly to the dominant language, leaving the native language to a sudden linguistic death. Second, the more gradual process of language death may occur over several generations. The third and most rare outcome is for the pressured group to maintain as much of its native language as possible, while borrowing elements of the dominant language's grammar (replacing all, or portions of, the grammar of the original language). [14] A now disappeared language may leave a substantial trace as a substrate in the language that replaces it. There have, however, also been cases where the language of higher prestige did not displace the native language but left a superstrate influence. The French language for example shows evidence both of a Celtic substrate and a Frankish superstrate.

Institutions such as the education system, as well as (often global) forms of media such as the Internet, television, and print media play a significant role in the process of language loss. [13] For example, when people migrate to a new country, their children attend school in the country, and the schools are likely to teach them in the majority language of the country rather than their parents' native language. [15] [16]

Language death can also be the explicit goal of government policy. For example, part of the "kill the Indian, save the man" policy of American Indian boarding schools and other measures was to prevent Native Americans from transmitting their native language to the next generation and to punish children who spoke the language of their culture of origin. [17] [18] [19] The French vergonha policy likewise had the aim of eradicating minority languages. [20]

Language revival

Language revival is the attempt to re-introduce an extinct language in everyday use by a new generation of native speakers. The optimistic neologism "sleeping beauty languages" has been used to express such a hope, [21] though scholars usually refer to such languages as dormant.

In practice, this has only happened on a large scale successfully once: the revival of the Hebrew language. Hebrew had survived for millennia since the Babylonian exile as a liturgical language, but not as a vernacular language. The revival of Hebrew has been largely successful due to extraordinarily favourable conditions, notably the adoption of it as a lingua franca amongst the Jewish community in Palestine prior to 1948 (which grew as a result of successive waves of immigration by Jews in the 19th and 20th centuries, many of whom spoke Yiddish, Ladino and Judeo-Arabic dialects), the creation of a nation state (modern Israel in 1948) in which it became the official language, as well as Eliezer Ben-Yehuda's extreme dedication to the revival of the language, by creating new words for the modern terms Hebrew lacked.

Revival attempts for minor extinct languages with no status as a liturgical language typically have more modest results. The Cornish language revival has proven at least partially successful: after a century of effort there are 3,500 claimed native speakers, enough for UNESCO to change its classification from "extinct" to "critically endangered". A Livonian language revival movement to promote the use of the Livonian language has managed to train a few hundred people to have some knowledge of it. [22]

Recently extinct languages

This is a list of languages reported as having become extinct since 2010. For a more complete list, see Lists of extinct languages.

DateLanguageLanguage familyRegion Terminal speaker Notes
14 July 2025 Caddo Caddoan Oklahoma, United StatesEdmond Johnson [23] Under a process of revival.
8 March 2024 Tandia Austronesian West Papua, IndonesiaSpeakers shifted to Wandamen. [24] [25]
8 March 2024 Mawes Northwest Papuan? West Papua, Indonesia [25]
8 March 2024 Luhu Austronesian Maluku, Indonesia [25]
2 May 2023 Columbia-Moses Salishan Washington, United StatesPauline Stensgar [26]
5 October 2022 Mednyj Aleut Mixed Aleut–Russian Commander Islands, RussiaGennady Yakovlev [27]
19 April 2022 Quapaw Siouan Tulsa, Oklahoma Ardina Moore [28]
16 February 2022 Yahgan Isolate Magallanes, Chile Cristina Calderón [29]
by 2022? Moghol Mongolic Herat Province, Afghanistan [30]
by 2022 Lachoudisch Indo-European Schopfloch, Bavaria [31]
25 September 2021 Wukchumni dialect of Tule-Kaweah Yokuts Yokuts California, United States Marie Wilcox [32]
27 August 2021 Yuchi Isolate Tennessee (formerly), Oklahoma, United StatesMaxine Wildcat Barnett [33]
7 March 2021 Bering Aleut Eskimo-Aleut Kamchatka Krai, RussiaVera Timoshenko [34]
17 February 2021 Juma Tupian Rondônia, BrazilAruka Juma [35]
by 2021 Hokkaido Ainu Ainu Hokkaido, Japan [36]
2 December 2020 Tuscarora Iroquoian North Carolina, United StatesKenneth Patterson [37] Under a process of revival. [38]
4 April 2020 Aka-Cari dialect of Northern Andamanese Great Andamanese Andaman Islands, IndiaLicho [39]
23 March 2019 Ngandi Gunwinyguan Northern Territory, AustraliaC. W. Daniels [40] [41]
4 January 2019 Tehuelche Chonan Patagonia, Argentina Dora Manchado [42] [43]
9 December 2016 Mandan Siouan North Dakota, United States Edwin Benson [44]
30 August 2016 Wichita Caddoan Oklahoma, United States Doris McLemore [45]
29 July 2016 Gugu Thaypan Pama-Nyungan Queensland, Australia Tommy George [46]
11 February 2016Nuchatlaht dialect of Nuu-chah-nulth Wakashan British Columbia, CanadaAlban Michael [47]
4 January 2016 Whulshootseed Salishan Washington, United StatesEllen Williams [48] [49]
4 February 2014 Klallam Salishan Washington, United States Hazel Sampson [50] [51] [notes 1] being taught as a second language on the Olympic Peninsula of Washington State
c. 2013 Demushbo Panoan Amazon Basin, Brazil
by 2014 Sarghulami Indo-European Badakhshan May be spurious [52]
5 June 2013 Livonian Uralic Latvia Grizelda Kristiņa [53] [notes 2] Under a process of revival. [54]
26 March 2013 Yurok Algic California, United States Archie Thompson [55] Under a process of revival. [56]
by 2013 Sabüm Mon–Khmer Perak, Malaysia2013 extinction is based on ISO changing it from living to extinct in 2013
2 October 2012 Cromarty dialect of Scots Indo-European Northern Scotland, United KingdomBobby Hogg [57]
11 July 2012 Upper Chinook Chinookan Oregon, United StatesGladys Thompson [58]
10 March 2012 Holikachuk Na-Dene Alaska, United StatesWilson "Tiny" Deacon [59]
2012 Andoa Zaparoan Peru Hipólito Arahuanaza [60]
c. 2012 Dhungaloo Pama-Nyungan Queensland, AustraliaRoy Hatfield [61]
c. 2012 Ngasa Nilotic Tanzania Most speakers have shifted to Chaga
by 2012 Mardijker Portuguese-based Creole Jakarta, IndonesiaOma Mimi Abrahams [62]
10 April 2011 Apiaká Tupian Mato Grosso, BrazilPedrinho Kamassuri [63]
2011 Lower Arrernte Pama-Nyungan Northern Territory, Australia Brownie Doolan Perrurle [64]
24 October 2010 Pazeh dialect of Pazeh Austronesian Taiwan Pan Jin-yu [65]
20 August 2010 Cochin Indo-Portuguese Creole Portuguese-based Creole Southern IndiaWilliam Rozario [65]
26 January 2010 Aka-Bo Andamanese Andaman Islands, India Boa Sr. [66]

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Last surviving native speaker.
  2. ↑ Last surviving native speaker; some children still learn it as a second language.

References

  1. ↑ Matthews, P. H. (1 January 2007), "dead language" , The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199202720.001.0001, ISBN   978-0-19-920272-0 , retrieved 14 November 2021
  2. ↑ Lenore A. Grenoble, Lindsay J. Whaley, Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization, Cambridge University Press (2006) p.18
  3. ↑ "What is the difference between a dormant language and an extinct language?". www.ethnologue.com. 15 February 2013. Archived from the original on 2 January 2022. Retrieved 29 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Byram, Michael; Hu, Adelheid (26 June 2013). Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning. Routledge. ISBN   978-1136235535.
  5. ↑ Walt, Christa Van der (1 May 2007). Living Through Languages: An African Tribute to René Dirven. AFRICAN SUN MeDIA. ISBN   9781920109707.
  6. ↑ Hall, Christopher J.; Smith, Patrick H.; Wicaksono, Rachel (11 May 2015). Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners. Routledge. ISBN   978-1136836237.
  7. ↑ "Study by language researcher, David Graddol". NBC News. 26 February 2004. Retrieved 22 March 2012.Ian on Friday, January 16, 2009 61 comments (16 January 2009). "Research by Southwest University for Nationalities College of Liberal Arts". Chinasmack.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2010. Retrieved 22 March 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link). Ethnologue records 7,358 living languages known, "Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 5 October 2001. Retrieved 22 March 2012. but on 2015-05-20, Ethnologue reported only 7,102 known living languages; and on 2015-02-23, Ethnologue already reported only 7,097 known living languages.
  8. ↑ "One of the Last Remaining Native Yuchi Speakers Passes". www.culturalsurvival.org. June 2016. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
  9. ↑ "How Colonialism Causes Language Endangerment". www.goethe.de. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  10. ↑ Matthews, P. H. (1 January 2007), "dead language" , The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics, Oxford University Press, doi:10.1093/acref/9780199202720.001.0001, ISBN   978-0-19-920272-0 , retrieved 14 November 2021
  11. ↑ "Library : Liturgical Languages". www.catholicculture.org. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  12. ↑ Sichel, Barb (12 November 2019). "Understanding Extinct Languages: When and Why They Die Off - ILS Translations" . Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  13. 1 2 Malone, Elizabeth (28 July 2008). "Language and Linguistics: Endangered Language". National Science Foundation. Archived from the original on 9 March 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
  14. ↑ Thomason, Sarah Grey & Kaufman, Terrence. Language Contact, Creolization, and Genetic Linguistics, University of California Press (1991) p. 100.
  15. ↑ "Could social media save endangered languages?". www.humanities.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 23 October 2024.
  16. ↑ Atifnigar, Hamza (July–August 2021). "Exploring the Causes of Language Death: A Review Paper" (PDF). International Journal of Arts and Social Science.
  17. ↑ "The History of Native American Boarding Schools is Even More Complicated than a New Report Reveals". 17 May 2022. Archived from the original on 11 November 2024. Retrieved 25 April 2024.
  18. ↑ Levitt, Zach; Parshina-Kottas, Yuliya; Romero, Simon; Wallace, Tim (30 August 2023). "'War Against the Children'". The New York Times.
  19. ↑ "Legacy of Trauma: The Impact of American Indian Boarding Schools…". PBS .
  20. ↑ "La Vergonha and the Future of Occitan Language | Performing Trobar".
  21. ↑ See pp. 57 & 60 in Ghil'ad Zuckermann's A New Vision for "Israeli Hebrew": Theoretical and Practical Implications of Analysing Israel's Main Language as a Semi-Engineered Semito-European Hybrid Language, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies 5: 57–71 (2006). Dr Anna Goldsworthy on the Barngarla language reclamation, The Monthly , September 2014
  22. ↑ Ernštreits, Valts (14 December 2011). "Lībiešu valodas situācija". Livones.net (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  23. ↑ "Caddo Nation mourns loss of last fluent language speaker". KOCO News. 16 July 2025. Retrieved 16 July 2025.
  24. ↑ "Tandia" (in Indonesian). Ministry of Education and Culture . Retrieved 20 October 2024.
  25. 1 2 3 "11 Indigenous Languages Declared Extinct: Education Ministry". Jakarta Globe. 8 March 2024. Retrieved 10 September 2024.
  26. ↑ "Last Fluent Speaker of Nxamxcin Language Dies at 96". The Spokesman. Spokane, Washington.
  27. ↑ "Last Native Speaker Of Aleut Language In Russia Dies". RadioFreeEurope. 5 October 2022.
  28. ↑ "Ardina Revard Moore Obituary". Osage News. 21 April 2022. Retrieved 8 May 2022.
  29. ↑ S.A.P, El Mercurio (16 February 2022). "Fallece a los 93 años Cristina Calderón, la última hablante del idioma Yagán | Emol.com". Emol (in Spanish). Retrieved 16 February 2022.
  30. ↑ Mogholi at Ethnologue (25th ed., 2022) Closed Access logo transparent.svg
  31. ↑ Eylon, Lili (25 June 2022). "The Judenrein town that spoke Hebrew". Times Of Israel. Retrieved 4 November 2024. Indeed, by 1994, reportedly only 12 people used some 200 Lachoudish words. The dialect Lachoudish had its day; it is now extinct
  32. ↑ Seelye, Katharine Q. (6 October 2021). "Marie Wilcox, Who Saved Her Native Language From Extinction, Dies at 87". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 12 February 2022.
  33. ↑ "'Race against time': Pandemic propels fight to save Native American languages". POLITICO. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 13 April 2021.
  34. ↑ "Last Native Speaker Of Rare Dialect Dies In Russia". Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty. 9 March 2021. Retrieved 18 March 2021.
  35. ↑ International, Survival (10 March 2021). "Aruká Juma, Last Man of His Tribe, Is Dead". NY Times. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  36. ↑ "An Ainu-language expert illuminates their worldview". Sustainable Japan by The Japan Times. 29 November 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2025. There are no native speakers of Ainu left in Japan.
  37. ↑ Anderson, Dale (11 December 2020). "Chief Kenneth Patterson, 93, leader in the Tuscarora Nation". The Buffalo News. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  38. ↑ "NTLP". www.tuscaroralanguage.org. Retrieved 25 May 2025.
  39. ↑ International, Survival (1 June 2020). "The last speaker of the Sare language has died". Medium. Retrieved 28 June 2020.
  40. ↑ "Preserving Indigenous languages". Monash Life. Monash University. 27 October 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  41. ↑ "Cherry Wulumirr Daniels laid to rest". Yugul Mangi Development Aboriginal Corporation. 24 April 2019. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
  42. ↑ Daigneault, Anna (6 November 2019). "Museums of the mind: Why we should preserve endangered languages". Global Voices. Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  43. ↑ Domingo, Javier (30 January 2019). "La imborrable obra de Dora Manchado: ¿la última guardiana de la lengua tehuelche?". Infobae (in Spanish). Retrieved 23 November 2019.
  44. ↑ Joe Skurzewski (10 December 2016). "Edwin Benson, last known fluent speaker of Mandan, passes away at 85". KFYR-TV. Archived from the original on 23 September 2023.
  45. ↑ Daffron, Brian (6 October 2016). "Doris McLemore, Last Fluent Wichita Speaker, Walks On". Indian Country Media Network. Archived from the original on 4 August 2017. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  46. ↑ "A "Legend", Indigenous Australian Leader, Knowledge Holder Tommy George Passes On". Snowchange Cooperative. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 24 May 2017.
  47. ↑ Jack Knox (19 March 2016). "Jack Knox — A silenced tongue: the last Nuchatlaht speaker dies". Times Colonist. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021.
  48. ↑ Lacitis, Erik (8 February 2005). "Last few Whulshootseed speakers spread the word". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  49. ↑ Sweet Dorman, Lois (21 June 2005). "Lost in translation: a connection to the sacred". Seattle Times. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 15 September 2012.
  50. ↑ Kaminsky, Jonathan (7 February 2014). "Last native speaker of Klallam language dies in Washington state". Reuters. Archived from the original on 19 July 2023.
  51. ↑ "Last native Klallam speaker dies in Port Angeles". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 8 February 2014.
  52. ↑ Kakar, Hasan Kawun (2014). Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman Khan (5 ed.). University of Texas Press. ISBN   9780292729001.
  53. ↑ Charter, David. "Death of a language: last ever speaker of Livonian passes away aged 103". The Times .
  54. ↑ Ernštreits, Valts (14 December 2011). "Lībiešu valodas situācija". Livones.net (in Latvian). Archived from the original on 2 February 2014.
  55. ↑ Romney, Lee. (2013, February 6). Revival of nearly extinct Yurok language is a success story . The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved February 7, 2013
  56. ↑ "Revival of nearly extinct Yurok language is a success story". Los Angeles Times. 6 February 2013. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  57. ↑ Obituary: Robert (Bobby) Hogg, engineer and last speaker of the Cromarty dialect The Scotsman. 15 October 2012.
  58. ↑ Foden-Vencil, Kristian. "Last Fluent Speaker Of Oregon Tribal Language 'Kiksht' Dies". Oregon Public Broadcasting. Archived from the original on 10 October 2019. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  59. ↑ "Alaska Native Language Loses Last Fluent Speaker - Indian Country Media Network". indiancountrymedianetwork.com. Archived from the original on 8 June 2017. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  60. ↑ Ramírez Robledo, Libia Elena; Quintero Arrubla, Sonia Ruth; Jaramillo Valencia, Bairon (2 June 2022). "Formación en el trabajo con familias para la educación de la primera infancia". Zona Próxima (22): 105–115. doi:10.14482/zp.22.5832.
  61. ↑ "ISO 639-3 Registration Authority Request for New Language Code Element in ISO 639-3" (PDF). ISO 639-3. 23 January 2012. Retrieved 29 October 2023.
  62. ↑ Dimas, Dimas. "PUNAHNYA BAHASA KREOL PORTUGIS". LIPI (in Indonesian). Archived from the original on 8 August 2020. Retrieved 10 May 2020.
  63. ↑ "Falecimento - 12/10/2011". Projeto de Documentação de Línguas Indígenas. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  64. ↑ "Another language faces sunset in dead centre". The Australian. ||
  65. 1 2 "An Indian language recently went extinct. Why were we not told about it?". write2kill.in - Select writings of Subir Ghosh. Archived from the original on 18 February 2013.
  66. ↑ "Ancient Indian language dies out". 4 February 2010 – via news.bbc.co.uk.

Bibliography

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