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Language revitalization is the attempt by interested parties--including individuals, cultural or community groups, governments, or political authorities--to recover the spoken use of a language that is endangered, moribund, or no longer spoken. An endangered language is a Language that it is at risk of falling out of use generally because it has few surviving speakers In Linguistics, language death (also language extinction, linguistic extinction, and sometimes pejoratively as linguicide) is a process Language death is the process by which a language ceases to be used by the people who formerly spoke it. In Linguistics, language death (also language extinction, linguistic extinction, and sometimes pejoratively as linguicide) is a process Although the goals of language revitalization vary by community and situation, a goal of many communities is to return a language that is dead or endangered to daily use.

Perhaps the most celebrated example of successful language revival is the Hebrew language, which now exists as a living tongue in daily use in the state of Israel. For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic Israel topics. Other official attempts to revive endangered languages, such as the promotion of the Irish language in the Ireland (see Gaelic Revival), Welsh in Wales and Catalan in Catalonia, Spain, have met with mixed success. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Ireland (pronounced /ˈaɾlənd/ Éire) is the third largest island in Europe, and the twentieth-largest island in the world For the Gaelic resurgence to overthrow English supremacy in the 14th-16th century see Gaelic resurgence. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Catalonia (Cataluña Catalunya Aranese: Catalonha) is an Autonomous Community in the northeast part of Spain. Spain () or the Kingdom of Spain (Reino de España is a country located mostly in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Some other endangered languages that have been the subject of revivalist campaigns by enthusiasts or governments include:

  • Ainu
  • Belarusian
  • Breton
  • Basque
  • Catalan
  • Chinuk Wawa
  • Cocama, revival efforts in Peruvian Amazonia
  • Comanche
  • Coptic
  • Cornish
  • Faroese
  • Galician, with some criticism from reintegrationist groups. The Ainu language (Ainu ain アイヌ イタク aynu itak; Japanese: ja アイヌ語 ainu-go) is spoken by the Ainu The Belarusian language, or Belorussian,(беларуская мова BGN/PCGN: byelaruskaya mova, Scientific: belaruskaja mova The Breton language ( Brezhoneg) formerly often called Armoric or Armorican, is a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany Basque ( native name: euskara) is the Language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain Catalan ˈkætəˌlæn ( català kətəˈla or) is a Romance language, the national and official language of Andorra, and a co-official Chinook Jargon originated as a Pidgin trade language of the Pacific Northwest, and spread quickly up the West Coast from modern Oregon to the regions now Cocama-Cocamilla is an indigenous Language spoken by thousands of native people in western South America. The Amazon Rainforest (Brazilian Portuguese: Floresta Amazônica or Amazônia; Spanish: Selva Amazónica or Amazonía Comanche is a Uto-Aztecan language spoken by the Comanche people. Coptic or Coptic Egyptian ( MetRemenkīmi) is the final stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words. Faroese ( føroyskt ˈføːɹɪst or) often also spelled Faeroese (cf The term reintegrationism ( reintegracionismo) refers to the linguistic and cultural movement in Galicia which defends the unity of Galician and
  • Irish

Often the organization reviving the language chooses a particular dialect, even standardizes one from several variants, and adds new forms, mainly modern vocabulary, through neologisms, extensions of meaning for old words, calques from sibling languages (Arabic for Modern Hebrew, Welsh for Manx), or plain borrowings from the modern international languages. For the Gaelic resurgence to overthrow English supremacy in the 14th-16th century see Gaelic resurgence. The Hawaiian language (Hawaiian ‘Ōlelo Hawai‘i) is an Austronesian language that takes its name from Hawai'i, the largest island in the tropical Manx ( Gaelg or Gailck, ɡilk or) also known as Manx Gaelic, is a Goidelic language once spoken on the Isle The Mirandese language (autonym mirandés or lhéngua mirandesa; Portuguese: mirandês or língua mirandesa) is a Romance language Sami or Saami is a general name for a group of Finnic languages spoken by the Sami people in parts of northern Finland, Norway Sanskrit (sa संस्कृता वाक् saṃskṛtā vāk, for short sa संस्कृतम् saṃskṛtam) is a historical Scots ( The Scots leid) refers to Anglic varieties derived from early northern Middle English spoken in parts of Scotland and Northern Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. The Tlingit language (ˈklɪŋkɪt in English Lingít ɬɪŋkɪ́t in Tlingit is spoken by the Tlingit people of Southeast Alaska and Western Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic West Frisian ( Frysk) is a Language spoken mostly in the province of Friesland ( Fryslân) in the north of the Netherlands. Yiddish (yi [[wiktייִדיש ייִדיש]] yidish or yi [[wiktאידיש אידיש]] idish, literally "Jewish" is a nonterritorial High This article is about the field of language planning & policy A neologism (from Greek neo = "new" + logos = "word" is a word that although devised relatively recently in a specific time period has been In Linguistics, a calque (kælk or loan translation is a Word or Phrase borrowed from another Language by Literal, word-for-word Supporters of other variants can feel that the chosen form is not "the real one", and that the original purpose of the revival has been defeated.

Europe

In Europe, in the 19th and early 20th century, the use of both local and learned languages declined as the central governments of the different states imposed their vernacular language as the standard throughout education and official use (this was the case in France and Italy). The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar The twentieth century of the Common Era began on This article is about the country For a topic outline on this subject see List of basic France topics. Italy (Italia officially the Italian Republic, (Repubblica Italiana is located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe, and on the two largest

In the last few decades, local nationalism and human rights movements have made a more multicultural policy standard in European states; sharp condemnation of the earlier practices of suppressing regional languges was expressed in the use of such terms as "Linguicide". The term nationalism can refer to an Ideology, a sentiment, a form of Culture, or a Social movement that focuses on the Nation Human rights refers to the "basic Rights and freedoms to which all humans are entitled The term multiculturalism generally refers to a state of racial, cultural and ethnic diversity within the Demographics of a specified In Linguistics, language death (also language extinction, linguistic extinction, and sometimes pejoratively as linguicide) is a process Campaigns have raised the profiles of local languages to such an extent that in some European regions, the local languages have acquired the status of official languages, along with the national language. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory The Council of Europe's action in this area (see European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages) is in contrast to the European Union's granting of official status to a restricted number of official languages (see Languages of the European Union). The Council of Europe (Conseil de l'Europe is the oldest International organisation working towards European integration, being founded in 1949 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe The European Union ( EU) is a political and economic union of twenty-seven member states, located primarily in The languages of the European Union are Languages used by people within the member states of the European Union.

On the other end of the spectrum, Latin, the learned language in which higher education and academic communication was carried out in Europe for many centuries, thus providing a cultural link to the continent across all of its universities until the aforementioned period, has also been the object of a language revival movement and is precariously growing in number of speakers (cf. Latin ( lingua Latīna, laˈtiːna is an Italic language, historically spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. Living Latin), although, as a language which is native to no people, this movement hasn't received support from any governments, national or supranational.

Worldwide

In recent times only, more than 750 languages have already become extinct around the world. According to some definitions an extinct language is a Language which no longer has any speakers, whereas a dead language is a language which is no longer spoken Still others have only a few known speakers; these languages are called endangered languages. An endangered language is a Language that it is at risk of falling out of use generally because it has few surviving speakers

The UN estimates that more than half of the languages spoken today have fewer than 10,000 speakers and that a quarter have fewer than 1,000 speakers and that, unless there are some efforts to maintain them, over the next hundred years most of these will become extinct.

The Endangered Language Fund is a fund dedicated to the preservation and revival of endangered languages.

Reversing language shift

Reversing language shift has been an area of study among sociolinguists, including Joshua Fishman, in recent decades. Language shift, sometimes referred to as language transfer or language replacement or assimilation, is the progressive process whereby a speech community Joshua Aaron Fishman (born 1926 is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking work in the Sociology of language, Language planning, Bilingual education Reversing language shift involves establishing the degree to which a particular language has been 'dislocated' in order to determine the best way to assist or revive the language.

Steps in reversing language shift

Joshua Fishman's model for reviving threatened (or dead) languages, or for making them sustainable, consists of an eight-stage process. Joshua Aaron Fishman (born 1926 is internationally renowned for his groundbreaking work in the Sociology of language, Language planning, Bilingual education Efforts should be concentrated on the earlier stages of restoration until they have been consolidated before proceeding to the later stages. The eight stages are as follows:

  1. Acquisition of the language by adults, who in effect act as language apprentices (recommended where most of the remaining speakers of the language are elderly and socially isolated from other speakers of the language).
  2. Create a socially integrated population of active speakers (or users) of the language (at this stage it is usually best to concentrate mainly on the spoken language rather than the written language).
  3. In localities where there are a reasonable number of people habitually using the language, encourage the informal use of the language among people of all age groups and within families and bolster its daily use through the establishment of local neighbourhood institutions in which the language is encouraged, protected and (in certain contexts at least) used exclusively.
  4. In areas where oral competence in the language has been achieved in all age groups encourage literacy in the language but in a way that does not depend upon assistance from (or goodwill of) the state education system.
  5. Where the state permits it, and where numbers warrant, encourage the use of the language in lieu of compulsory state education.
  6. Where the above stages have been achieved and consolidated, encourage the use of the language in the workplace (lower worksphere).
  7. Where the above stages have been achieved and consolidated encourage the use of the language in local government services and mass media.
  8. Where the above stages have been achieved and consolidated encourage use of the language in higher education, government etc.

This model of language revival is intended to direct efforts to where they are most effective and to avoid wasting energy trying to achieve the later stages of recovery when the earlier stages have not been achieved. For instance it is probably wasteful of effort to campaign for the use of the language on television or in government services if hardly any families are in the habit of using the language.

Factors which help an endangered language to progress

David Crystal, in his book 'Language Death', proposes six factors which may help a language to progress. He postulates that an endangered language will progress if its speakers:

  1. increase their prestige within the dominant community
  2. increase their wealth
  3. increase their legitimate power in the eyes of the dominant community
  4. have a strong presence in the education system
  5. can write down the language
  6. can make use of electronic technology

See also

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External links

References

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