Language Death: How do languages die?

Summary

This video by Langfocus, hosted by Paul, discusses language death, which occurs when languages lose native speakers or become extinct. Paul explains different types of language death, including gradual, sudden, radical, and bottom-to-top. Examples include Latin, Cornish, Hebrew, and Native American languages like Mandan. He emphasizes that when a language dies, a part of the culture and knowledge it carries is also lost. The video also highlights language revitalization efforts and encourages viewers to reflect on endangered languages in their regions and their cultural importance.

Takeaways

• 🗣️ Language death occurs when a language is no longer spoken natively, but it may still be used in specific contexts.
• 💀 Dead languages, like Latin and Hebrew, continue to exist in religious or ceremonial settings, but they are not passed down as native languages.
• ⚰️ Extinct languages are those with no living speakers, such as Sumerian or certain Native American languages after the last speaker passes.
• ⏳ Gradual language death happens when a community slowly abandons their language for a more prestigious one, as seen with Cornish and Gaulish.
• 📜 Bottom-to-top language death occurs when a language is no longer used in casual contexts but continues to exist in formal or ceremonial ones, like Latin.
• ⚡ Sudden language death occurs when most or all speakers die suddenly, such as with Tasmania's indigenous languages due to colonization.
• 🚨 Radical language death involves communities quickly abandoning their language under threat of violence, like in El Salvador with Lenca and Cacaopera.
• 📚 Case studies of language death include Old Church Slavonic (used in liturgy), Mandan (due to smallpox), and Ajawa (replaced by Hausa).
• 🌍 Language death reduces cultural diversity, and with it, unique worldviews and knowledge, such as with the medicinal Kallawaya language of Bolivia.
• 📉 Of nearly 7,000 languages worldwide, around half are endangered, with revitalization efforts being key to their survival.

Q & A

What is the difference between a dead language and an extinct language?

A dead language has no native speakers but may still be used in specific contexts, like Latin for religious purposes. An extinct language has no living speakers at all, such as Sumerian.

Can you give an example of a language that was dead but later revived?

Yes, Hebrew was a dead language used for religious and literary purposes before being revived as modern Hebrew, which is now spoken natively.

What is gradual language death?

Gradual language death occurs when a language slowly disappears over generations, often because younger people adopt a more prestigious language instead of their traditional one.

How does bottom-to-top language death differ from gradual language death?

In bottom-to-top language death, a language stops being used in casual everyday contexts but continues in formal or religious contexts. Gradual language death usually starts with the language disappearing from formal contexts and later from casual use.

What is an example of sudden language death?

Sudden language death can occur when most of a language's speakers die due to disasters or violence. A historical example is the Tasmanian languages after the Black War in the 1830s.

What is radical language death, and how does it differ from sudden language death?

Radical language death happens quickly, like sudden language death, but the speakers stop using the language to avoid persecution rather than being wiped out. For instance, in El Salvador during the 1930s, some native languages died because speakers stopped using them to avoid being targeted.

What happened to the Mandan language?

The Mandan language faced sudden death when much of its population was killed by smallpox in the 18th and 19th centuries, and it later experienced gradual death as survivors adopted English. The last native speaker died in 2016.

Why did the Gaulish language die out?

Gaulish died gradually as the people in what is now France shifted to Latin, the language of prestige under Roman rule, in pursuit of social and economic benefits.

Why should people care about language death?

Language death can result in the loss of cultural knowledge and unique worldviews. For example, the endangered Kallawaya language holds important medicinal knowledge that could disappear if the language dies.

What are revitalization efforts, and how do they help endangered languages?

Revitalization efforts involve recording and documenting a language, teaching it to new speakers, and fostering a motivated community to use it. These efforts help bring endangered languages back into use.