Editing Language death (section)

{{short description|Process in which a language eventually loses its last native speaker}}
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In [[linguistics]], '''language death''' occurs when a [[language]] loses its [[terminal speaker|last]] [[First language|native speaker]]. By extension, '''language extinction''' is when the language is no longer known, including by [[Second language|second-language]] speakers, when it becomes known as an [[extinct language]]. A related term is '''linguicide''',<ref name="Stop, revive and survive">{{Cite web |last=Zuckermann |first=Ghil'ad |date=2012-06-06 |title=Stop, revive and survive |url=http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/opinion/stop-revive-and-survive/story-e6frgcko-1226385194433 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120607055835/http://www.theaustralian.com.au/higher-education/opinion/stop-revive-and-survive/story-e6frgcko-1226385194433 |archive-date=2012-06-07 |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=[[The Australian]]}}</ref> the death of a language from natural or political causes.

The disappearance of a minor language as a result of the absorption or replacement by a major language is sometimes called "glottophagy".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Calvet |first=Louis-Jean |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9YpsAAAAIAAJ&q=Langue%20et%20colonialisme:%20petit%20trait%C3%A9%20de%20glottophagie |title=Linguistique et colonialisme: petit traité de glottophagie |publisher=Payot |year=1974 |isbn=978-2-228-33520-1 |location=Paris |language=fr}}</ref> 

Language death is a process in which the level of a [[speech community]]'s [[linguistic competence]] in their [[Variety (linguistics)| language variety]] decreases, eventually resulting in no native or fluent speakers of the variety. Language death can affect any language form, including [[dialect]]s. Language death should not be confused with [[language attrition]] (also called language loss), which describes the loss of proficiency in a [[first language]] of an individual.<ref name="Crystal, David 2000">{{Cite book |last=Crystal |first=David |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_8K0BAAAQBAJ |title=Language Death |date=2014-11-06 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-43181-2 |language=en}}</ref>

In the [[modern period]] ({{circa|1500 CE}}–present; following the rise of [[colonialism]]), language death has typically resulted from the process of [[cultural assimilation]] leading to [[language shift]] and the gradual abandonment of a native language in favour of a foreign [[lingua franca]], largely those of [[European colonialism|European countries]].<ref>{{Cite book |last1= |first1= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XxZbhSsqnUQC&pg=PT739 |title=Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning |last2= |first2= |date=2013-06-26 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1136235535 |editor-last=Byram |editor-first=Michael |location=Abingdon |language=en |editor-last2=Hu |editor-first2=Adelheid}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last= |first= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HecNAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA100 |title=Living Through Languages: An African Tribute to René Dirven |date=2007-05-01 |publisher=SUN PReSS |isbn=9781920109707 |editor-last=Van der Walt |editor-first=Christa |location=Stellenbosch |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Hall |first1=Christopher J. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sq5pdj2snokC&pg=PA115 |title=Mapping Applied Linguistics: A Guide for Students and Practitioners |last2=Smith |first2=Patrick H. |last3=Wicaksono |first3=Rachel |date=2015-05-11 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-1136836237 |location=Abingdon |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 currently spoken languages will have become extinct by 2050.<ref>{{cite web |date=2004-02-26 |title=English won't dominate as world language |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna4387421 |access-date=2024-11-13 |website=[[NBC News]] |publisher= |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |author=Bilbo Baggins |title=90% Of World's Languages Extinct In 41 Years |url=https://www.chinasmack.com/90-percent-worlds-languages-extinct-in-41-years |date=2009-01-16 |website=[[chinaSMACK]] |access-date=2023-05-29}}</ref> [[Ethnologue]] recorded 7,358 living languages known in 2001,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp|title=Ethnologue|publisher=Ethnologue|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20011005193846/http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp|archive-date=October 5, 2001|url-status=dead|access-date=2012-03-22}}</ref> but on 20 May 2015, Ethnologue reported only 7,102 known living languages; and on 23 February 2016, Ethnologue reported only 7,097 known living languages.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Graddol|first=D.|date=2004-02-27|title=The Future of Language|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1096546|journal=Science|volume=303|issue=5662|pages=1329–1331|doi=10.1126/science.1096546|pmid=14988552|bibcode=2004Sci...303.1329G|s2cid=35904484|issn=0036-8075|url-access=subscription}}</ref>