Endangered languages resources and links
In the world today there are roughly 6500 languages, of which less than 30 will have more than 2000 speakers. The reason we say roughly is because it is very difficult to classify what is a distinct language. There is a fine line between when a language is the same language with a different dialect or should be considered a completely new language. After a quick search of the internet this discrepancy is very obvious. Some of the numbers that I came across were, 6500, 6912, 6,809. The final number is from a source called ethnologue.com which is one of the most comprehensive sources for language classification which we have.
It is important to take the numbers associated with languages and language loss with a grain of salt. The numbers should be used to give an overall sense of trends and not as accurate representations of the actual number of languages.
Of the 6809 languages which Ethnologue lists they label 750 of them as extinct or nearly extinct. Of the 300 indigenous languages to North America it is estimated that by 2050 that there will be less then 30 languages. It is estimated that overall there are 3000 endangered languages (classified as less then 2000 speakers or with a significant portion of the speakers being over 50 years old). As is evident from these numbers languages loss is very prevalent. You might be thinking at this point, I understand languages are dying but so what?
To understand the importance of the loss it is important to understand what language does for a community. A language is developed by a community over hundreds of years. Over this time the knowledge and culture is stored in the language. Every time a language is lost so is a perspective of the world. Oftentimes there are words in a language which not be translated to any other language. Whether it is a word for a plant which has yet to be classified or for a specific emotion which others could not express as well. The more perspectives we have on the world the better we can hope to understand it.
In order to understand whether a language is being or will be lost, we must assess various factors. Is the language being used in new domains such as the media, and what are governmental and institutional language policies, including official status and use? Are there materials for language education and literacy? Most importantly, what are the attitudes of the community members and outsiders toward the language?
A language is considered safe or stable if it is learned as a mother-tongue by children as a norm and is used at home. Signs that a language is endangered include aging speakers and limited domains of use, as well as limited intergenerational transmission. The initial cause of diminishing use of a language is the attitudes of community members or the attitudes of outsiders. For example, if a community feels that their native language will not help them achieve success, they will try to adopt a different language. On the other hand, if an outside group, typically in control, looks down on a language, they will try to push it to extinction. Lastly, a language is considered extinct if there are no more speakers of that language and there is no documentation or record of it.