Editing Extinct language (section)

{{Short description|Language that no longer has any first-language or second-language speakers}}
{{For|the process of language extinction|Language death}}
{{Redirect|Dead language|the album by The Flatliners|Dead Language (album){{!}}''Dead Language'' (album)}}
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[[File:Eteocypriot writing.jpg|thumb|right|upright=1.1|[[Eteocypriot language|Eteocypriot]] writing, [[Amathous]], [[Cyprus]], 500–300 BC, [[Ashmolean Museum]]]]
An '''extinct language''' or '''dead language''' is a [[language]] with no living [[first-language|native speakers]].<ref>{{Citation|last=Matthews|first=P. H.|title=dead language|date=2007-01-01|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780199202720.001.0001/acref-9780199202720-e-799|work=The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Linguistics|publisher=Oxford University Press|language=en|doi=10.1093/acref/9780199202720.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-920272-0|access-date=2021-11-14|url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>Lenore A. Grenoble, Lindsay J. Whaley, ''Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization'', Cambridge University Press (2006) p.18</ref> 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 [[Language revitalization|revitalisation]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/enterprise-faq/what-difference-between-dormant-language-and-extinct-language|title=What is the difference between a dormant language and an extinct language?|website=www.ethnologue.com|date=15 February 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220102160308/https://www.ethnologue.com/enterprise-faq/what-difference-between-dormant-language-and-extinct-language |access-date=2023-07-29|archive-date=2 January 2022 }}</ref> Languages that have first-language speakers are known as [[Modern language|modern or living languages]] to contrast them with dead languages, especially in educational contexts.

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]]''.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxZbhSsqnUQC&pg=PT739|title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning|last1=Byram|first1=Michael|last2=Hu|first2=Adelheid|date=2013-06-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136235535|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HecNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100|title=Living Through Languages: An African Tribute to René Dirven|last=Walt|first=Christa Van der|date=2007-05-01|publisher=AFRICAN SUN MeDIA|isbn=9781920109707|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sq5pdj2snokC&pg=PA115|title=Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners|last1=Hall|first1=Christopher J.|last2=Smith|first2=Patrick H.|last3=Wicaksono|first3=Rachel|date=2015-05-11|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1136836237|language=en}}</ref>

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.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4387421 |title=Study by language researcher, David Graddol |work=NBC News |date=2004-02-26 |access-date=2012-03-22}}
{{cite web|author=Ian on Friday, January 16, 2009 61 comments |url=http://www.chinasmack.com/stories/90-percent-worlds-languages-extinct-in-41-years/ |title=Research by Southwest University for Nationalities College of Liberal Arts |publisher=Chinasmack.com |date=2009-01-16 |access-date=2012-03-22}}.
[[Ethnologue]] records 7,358 living languages known,{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp |title=Ethnologue |publisher=Ethnologue |access-date=2012-03-22 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011005193846/http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp |archive-date=October 5, 2001 }} 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.
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