1. Matt Billas CLCS 1103W

2.  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

3.  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

4.  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

5.  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)

6.  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)

7.  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?

8. Anderson, Gregory and K. David Harrison. “Global Language Hotspots.” Swarthmore.edu. 22 Oct. 2011. http://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/langhotspots/index.html. Campbell, Lyle and Martha C. Muntzel. “The Structural Consequences of Language Death.” Investigating Obsolescence: Studies in Language Contraction and Death. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 1989. University of Hawaii. Web. 22 Sept. 2011. 181-195.. Crystal, David. “Millennium Briefing: The Death of Language.” Prospect Nov. 1999: 56-59. DavidCrystal.com. Web. 28 Oct. 2011.. Janse, Mark. “Introduction.” Language Death and Language Maintenance. Philadelphia: John Benjamins Publishing Company, 2003. Academia.edu. McWhorter, John C. “Most of the World’s Languages Went Extinct.” Making Sense of Language. Ed. Susan D. Blum. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009. 192-205. Mufwene, Salikoko S. "Language Birth and Death." Annual Review of Anthropology. 33 (2004): 201-222. University of Chicago Humanities. Web. 22 Sept. 2011..