Editing Language death (section)

==Consequences on grammar==
During language loss—sometimes referred to as ''obsolescence'' in the linguistic literature—the language that is being lost generally undergoes changes as speakers make their language more similar to the language to which they are shifting. This process of change has been described by Appel (1983) in two categories, though they are not mutually exclusive. Often speakers replace elements of their own language with something from the language they are shifting toward. Also, if their heritage language has an element that the new language does not, speakers may drop it.
* overgeneralization;
* undergeneralization;
* loss of [[phonological]] contrasts;
* variability;
* changes in [[word order]];
* [[morphology (linguistics)|morphological]] loss, such as was seen in [[Scottish Gaelic]] in East Sutherland, Scotland (Dorian: 1978) as fluent speakers still used the historic plural formation, whereas [[speaker types|semi-speaker]]s used simple suffixation or did not include any plural formation at all;
* [[Synthetic language|synthetic]] [[morphosyntax]] may become increasingly [[Analytic language|analytic]];
* [[syntactic]] loss (i.e. [[lexical categories]], complex constructions);
* [[relexification]];
* loss of word-formation [[Productivity (linguistics)|productivity]];
* style loss, such as the loss of ritual speech;<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Knowles-Berry|first=Susan|date=Winter 1987|title= Linguistic decay in Chontal Mayan: the speech of semi-speakers|journal=Anthropological Linguistics|volume=29|number=4|pages= 332–341|jstor=30028108}}</ref>
* [[morphological leveling]];<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dorian|first=Nancy C.|date=September 1978|title=Fate of morphological complexity in language death: Evidence from East Sutherland Gaelic|journal=Language|volume=54|number=3|pages= 590–609|jstor=412788|doi=10.1353/lan.1978.0024|s2cid=143011686}}</ref>
* analogical leveling.