Matt Billas CLCS 1103W

 Over Past 500 Years: ◦ ½ of the world’s languages have disappeared (Janse)  Of 7,000 Languages that Remain: ◦ ½ in danger of disappearing within this century (Janse)  Bottom Line: ◦ Language death demands attention

 What is Language Death? ◦ -Not a simple dictionary definition ◦ -Understanding of all aspects  How Does it Occur? ◦ Process/Mechanisms ◦ Contributing Factors  What if anything should be done about it? ◦ Revitalization and preservation efforts ◦ Potential impact and consequences  Goal: ◦ Synthesize the works of experts in the field to create a detailed solution

 Gradual Process Assumption ◦ Similarities to biological processes  Evolution, Adaptation ◦ Native Language  Bilingualism  Foreign Language  Why? (Dominance, Mobility) ◦ Seen in many publications (Mufwene, McWhorter, Janse)  Multi-Process Model (Muntzel and Campbell) ◦ Sudden Death ◦ Radical Death ◦ Gradual Death ◦ Bottom-to-Top Death

 Historical Events (McWhorter) ◦ Neolithic Revolution ◦ European Colonization ◦ Imperialism, Nationalism, Capitalism  Socioeconomic (Mufwene, Janse) ◦ Economic opportunities, migration, economic transformations, industrialization  Sociopolitical (Janse) ◦ Government policies, repression, discrimination, war  Genocide, Natural Disasters (Crystal)

 Consequences ◦ Loss of unique expression of oneself and soul (McWhorter) ◦ Conservation of cultural heritage, oral history (Janse, Anderson, Harrison) ◦ Linguistic diversity (Crystal) ◦ Loss of knowledge (human mind, natural world) (Crystal, Anderson, Harrison)  Revitalization Efforts ◦ Education, Media, Govt. (McWhorter, Janse) ◦ Role of linguists, Research (McWhorter, Janse, Crystal) ◦ Hotspots and technology (Anderson, Harrison)

 Multi-Process Model vs. Gradual Death ◦ More encompassing ◦ Supported by historical examples  Factors ◦ All of those mentioned by authors ◦ Historical Events, Socioeconomic, Sociopolitical  Revitalization and Consequences ◦ Education, Media, Technology, Govt., Linguists ◦ Question: Are these efforts necessary?  If Language death is natural…Should it be stopped?

Anderson, Gregory and K. David Harrison. “Global Language Hotspots.” Swarthmore.edu. 22 Oct Campbell, Lyle and Martha C. Muntzel. “The Structural Consequences of Language Death.” Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, University of Hawaii. Web. 22 Sept Crystal, David. “Millennium Briefing: The Death of Language.” Prospect Nov. 1999: DavidCrystal.com. Web. 28 Oct Janse, Mark. “Introduction.” Language Death and Language Maintenance. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, Academia.edu. McWhorter, John C. “Most of the World’s Languages Went Extinct.” Making Sense of Language. Ed. Susan D. Blum. Oxford: Oxford UP, Mufwene, Salikoko S. "Language Birth and Death." Annual Review of Anthropology. 33 (2004): University of Chicago Humanities. Web. 22 Sept