Lists of extinct languages

Last updated

Contents

Language Endangerment Status
Extinct (EX)
Endangered
Safe

Other categories

Related topics

Lang Status 00-All.svg
UNESCO Atlas of the World's
Languages in Danger categories

This is a list of lists of extinct languages.

By group

By continent

By time of extinction

By language family

By region

See also

Related Research Articles

Knaanic is a tentative name for a number of West Slavic dialects or registers formerly spoken by the Jews in the lands of the Western Slavs, notably the Czech lands, but also the lands of modern Poland, Lusatia, and other Sorbian regions. They became extinct in the Late Middle Ages. Very little is known about their difference from the surrounding Slavic languages. The largest number of samples of Knaanic written in Hebrew script are in Czech; therefore, most commonly Knaanic is associated with Old Czech.

This is a partial index of Wikipedia articles treating natural languages, arranged alphabetically and with (sub-) families mentioned. The list also includes extinct languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Extinct language</span> Language that no longer has any first-language or second-language speakers

An extinct language is a language that no longer has any first-language or second-language speakers, especially if the language also has no living descendants. In contrast, a dead language is a language that no longer has any first-language speakers, but does have second-language speakers, such as Latin. 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. Languages that have first-language speakers are known as modern or living languages to contrast them with dead languages, especially in educational contexts.

Lists of endangered languages are mainly based on the definitions used by UNESCO. In order to be listed, a language must be classified as "endangered" in a cited academic source. Researchers have concluded that in less than one hundred years, almost half of the languages known today will be lost forever. The lists are organized by region.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lists of extinct species</span> List of extinct species

This page features lists of species and organisms that have become extinct. The reasons for extinction range from natural occurrences, such as shifts in the Earth's ecosystem or natural disasters, to human influences on nature by the overuse of natural resources, hunting and destruction of natural habitats.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cariban languages</span> Group of languages

The Cariban languages are a family of languages indigenous to north-eastern South America. They are widespread across northernmost South America, from the mouth of the Amazon River to the Colombian Andes, and they are also spoken in small pockets of central Brazil. The languages of the Cariban family are relatively closely related. There are about three dozen, but most are spoken only by a few hundred people. Macushi is the only language among them with numerous speakers, estimated at 30,000. The Cariban family is well known among linguists partly because one language in the family—Hixkaryana—has a default word order of object–verb–subject. Prior to their discovery of this, linguists believed that this order did not exist in any spoken natural language.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chapacuran languages</span> Endangered language family of indigenous South Americans

The Chapacuran languages are a nearly extinct Native American language family of South America. Almost all Chapacuran languages are extinct, and the four that are extant are moribund. They are spoken in Rondônia in the southern Amazon Basin of Brazil and in northern Bolivia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Choco languages</span> Language family of Colombia and Panama

The Choco languages are a small family of Native American languages spread across Colombia and Panama.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Classification of the Indigenous languages of the Americas</span>

This is a list of different language classification proposals developed for the Indigenous languages of the Americas. The article is divided into North, Central, and South America sections; however, the classifications do not correspond to these divisions.

The Peba–Yaguan language family is located in the northwestern Amazon, but today Yagua is the only remaining spoken language of the family.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maxakalían languages</span> Language family of eastern Brazil

The Maxakalían languages were first classified into the Jê languages. It was only in 1931 that Čestmír Loukotka separated them from the Jê family. Alfred Métraux and Curt Nimuendajú considered the Maxakalían family isolated from others. John Alden Mason suggests a connection with the Macro-Jê stock, confirmed by Aryon Rodrigues.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Xincan languages</span> Extinct language family of Guatemala

Xinca is a small extinct family of Mesoamerican languages, formerly regarded as a single language isolate, once spoken by the indigenous Xinca people in southeastern Guatemala, much of El Salvador, and parts of Honduras.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chicham languages</span> Language family spoken in Peru and Ecuador

The Chicham languages, also known as Jivaroan is a small language family of northern Peru and eastern Ecuador.

This page is a list of lists of languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Languages of Nicaragua</span> Languages of the country and its peoples

The official language of Nicaragua is Spanish; however, Nicaraguans on the Caribbean coast speak indigenous languages and also English. The communities located on the Caribbean coast also have access to education in their native languages. Additionally, Nicaragua has four extinct indigenous languages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krenak languages</span> Macro-Jê language branch of Brazil

The Aimoré, Botocudoan or Borum languages, now sometimes known as Krenakan after the last one remaining, are a branch of the Macro-Jê languages – spoken mainly in Brazil – including moribund Krenak and extinct languages such as Guerén and Nakrehé. Loukotka (1968) considered them dialects of a single language, but more recent treatments describe at least some of them as separate languages.

The Otí language, also known as Chavante or Euchavante, is a language isolate once spoken in the state of São Paulo, Brazil, between the Peixe and Pardo rivers. The language became extinct at the beginning of the 20th century, and the last ethnic Oti died in 1988. Only a few word lists are preserved.

Taruma (Taruamá) is a divergent language of northeastern South America. It has been reported to be extinct several times since as far back as 1770, but Eithne Carlin discovered the last three speakers living in Maruranau among the Wapishana, and is documenting the language. The people and language are known as Saluma in Suriname.

Kambiwá is an extinct unclassified language of Brazil. A couple dozen words were collected by Wilbur Pickering during the 1960s from two people living in Barreira, Petrolândia, Pernambuco. However, by that time the language had become extinct.