SIR FILEMON REVIEWER

Types of Language Death

1 Sudden language death

Sudden language death occurs when a language abruptly disappears because its speakers die
or are killed. In such cases (e.g., Tasmanian; Nicoleño, a Native American Indian language in
California), the transitional phase is so abrupt that there are few if any structural consequences
as the language dies.

It is, of course, possible for an already-dying language to suddenly become extinct, so that this
type of death is not necessarily mutually exclusive with other types, but it is also possible for
sudden language death to affect a monolingual group of speakers.

2 Radical language death

This process resembles sudden language death in terms of the abruptness of the process but is
distinguished by the shift to another language rather than the complete disappearance of the
speakers of a language. In radical language death, speakers simply stop speaking the language
as a matter of survival in the face of political repression and genocide.

Radical language death occurred for several Native American languages in El Salvador after an
Indian uprising in the 1930s. Those thought to be Indian by appearance, including language
use, were rounded up and killed in wanton acts of genocide.

3 Gradual language death

The most common type of language death is the case of language loss due to “the gradual
shift to the dominant language in a contact situation”. In such cases, there is often a continuum
of language proficiency that correlates with different generations of speakers.

For example, fewer younger speakers use the dying language variety and with less proficiency
in more restricted contexts than their older cohorts within the community; speakers who do not
have a full range of functional or structural competency in the language have often been labeled
semi-speakers though the label obviously covers a wide range of proficiency levels.

4 Bottom-to-top language death

The distinguishing feature of bottom-to-top language death is the way in which the situational
contraction of language use takes place. In many cases, a dying language will be retained in
more casual and informal contexts while it is not used in more formal settings.

In the case of bottom-to-top language death, the language loss takes place in everyday
conversation and casual settings while the language is retained in more formal, ritualistic
contexts. This contraction follows the Latinate pattern where the language was used in formal
ecclesiastical contexts long after it died in everyday conversation.
Causes of Language Death

Factors responsible for language death:

Discrimination, repression, rapid population collapse, lack of economic opportunities, on-going
industrialization, rapid economic transformation, work patterns, migrant labor, communication
with outside regions, resettlement, dispersion, migration, literacy, compulsory education, official
language policies, military service, marriage patterns, acculturation, cultural destruction, war,
slavery, famine, epidemics, religious proselytizing, resource depletion and forced changes in
subsistence patterns, lack of social cohesion, lack of physical proximity among speakers,
symbolism of the dominant language . . . , stigmatization, low prestige of the dying variety,
absence of institutions that establish norms (schools, academics, texts) and particular historical
events.

Structural Levels in Language Death

Language death may affect all levels of language organization:
Phonology
Morphology
Syntax
Lexicon
Language use

Why Do We Revive Languages?

Ethical reasons
Language is a vehicle for expressing values, ideas and experience. Your mother tongue
defines who you are, and where you are from in contrast with, and in relation to, others.

Aesthetic motivations
To quote Ken Hale, a well-known linguist, who worked with several threatened languages and
noticed the impact of loss of language: „When you lose a language, you lose a culture,
intellectual wealth, work of art. It is like dropping a bomb on a museum, the Louvre.‟

Economic justifications
In regard to economic justifications, language revival has a number of utilitarian benefits. To
begin with, it aims to provide the speakers involved with the opportunities to improve their
wellbeing and mental health.

Cognitive benefits
Language revival has a number of cognitive benefits related to multilingualism. It is generally
agreed that bilingual individuals have demonstrated to have better cognitive processes, such
as mental flexibility, problem solving, task switching and inhibitory control,
compared to monolingual individuals.
METHODS FOR LANGUAGE REVIVAL

Total-immersion method
In terms of language revitalisation, total-immersion method can be defined as exposing
learners to only hear and speak the endangered
language. The threatened language is used as a main vehicle for content instruction. The total
immersion method provides learners with the opportunity to use language in real communication
that assist in producing fluency.

Partial-immersion or bilingual method

The bilingual method can be defined as the use of both the
local language (endangered language) and the language of wider communication (dominant
language) as media of instruction.

Language reclamation method

Language reclamation is mainly concerned with extinct languages. It refers to the revival of a
language that is no longer spoken by utilizing its recorded materials

Language revival is different from language reclamation because language revival relies on
native speakers as consultants while language reclamation is based on documentation of the
language.

PROBLEMS OF LANGUAGE REVIVAL

Complexity of the language

Complex grammatical system has been seen as the most serious problem that might render any
language difficult to be learned.

Existence of other languages to revive

The presence of more than one language to maintain hinders the task of renewal. The way to
overcome this problem is to geographically separate speakers of various languages.

Government support
Government support plays a leading role in enhancing the likelihood of success of language
revival activities. It can be provided in different ways such as recognition of people‟s language
and culture, and this can be done through encouraging the use of minority languages in
government offices, schools and mass media.