Dictionary of Meaning

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Extinct language

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An '''extinct language''' (also called a '''dead language''') is a language which no longer has any First language native speakers. Normally this occurs when a language undergoes language death while being directly replaced by a different one, for example, Coptic language Coptic, which was replaced by Arabic language Arabic, and many Indigenous languages of the Americas Native American languages, whose languages were replaced by English language English, French language French, Spanish language Spanish, or Portuguese language Portuguese. Language extinction also occurs when a language undergoes a rapid evolution or assimilation until it eventually gives birth to an offspring, yet, dissimilar language (or family of languages). Such is the case with Latin language Latin; an extinct (dead) language but the parent of the modern Romance languages. Likewise Sanskrit is the parent of the modern Indo-Aryan languages and Old English language Old English is the parent of English language Modern English. There are apparently children using Sanskrit as a language revival revived language in Mattur Mathoor village (India) [http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1199965,curpg-1.cms]. In some cases, an extinct language remains in use for science scientific, law legal, or religion ecclesiastical functions. Sanskrit, Latin, Old Church Slavonic, Avestan language Avestan, Coptic language Coptic, Old Tibetan and Ge'ez language Ge'ez are among the many extinct languages used as sacred languages. A language that does have living native speakers is called a '''living language'''. Ethnologue claims there are 6,912 living languages known.[http://www.ethnologue.com/web.asp] In at least one case, Hebrew language Hebrew, an extinct Liturgy liturgical language has been language revival revived to become a living language. There have been other attempts at language revival (such as Manx language Manx and Cornish language Cornish), but the success of these attempts has been subject to debate, as it is not clear they will ever become the common native language of a community of speakers.

Recently extinct languages
''Main article: list of extinct languages'' With last known speaker and/or date of death: # entire ''Alsean languages Alsean family'' ## ''Alsea'': John Albert (1942) ## ''Yaquina'': (1884) # ''Apalachee'': (early 18th century) # ''Atakapa language Atakapa'': (early 20th century) # ''Atsugewi language Atsugewi'': (1988) # ''Beothuk language Beothuk'': Shanawdithit (white person name: "Nancy April") (1829) # entire ''Catawban languages Catawban family'': ## ''Catawba (tribe) Catawba'': before 1960 ## ''Woccon'' # ''Cayuse'': (ca. 1930s) # ''Chemakum'': (ca. 1940s) # ''Chimariko'': (ca. 1930s) # ''Chitimacha'': Benjamin Paul (1934) & Delphine Ducloux (1940) # entire ''Chumashan languages Chumashan family'': Barbareño language was last to become extinct. ## ''Barbareño'': Mary Yee (1965) ## ''Ineseño'' ## ''Island Chumash'' ## ''Obispeño'' ## ''Purisimeño'' ## ''Ventureño'' # ''Coahuilteco'': (18th century) # ''Cochimí'' (a Yuman-Cochimí languages Yuman-Cochimí language): (early 19th century) # entire ''Comecrudan languages Comecrudan family'' ## ''Comecrudo'': recorded from children (Andrade, Emiterio, Joaquin, & others) of last speakers in 1886 ## ''Comecrudan languages Garza'': last recorded in 1828 ## ''Mamulique'': last recorded in 1828 # entire ''Coosan languages Coosan family'' ## ''Hanis'': Martha Johnson (1972) ## ''Miluk'': Annie Miner Peterson (1939) # ''Cornish language Cornish'': (1777) (undergoing attempts at revival) # all ''Costanoan'' languages (which make up a subfamily of the Utian languages Utian language family): (ca. 1940s) ## ''Karkin'' ## ''Mutsun'' ## ''Northern Costanoan'' ## ''Rumsen'' ## ''Soledad'' # ''Cotoname'': last recorded from Santos Cavázos and Emiterio in 1886 # ''Esselen'': report of few speakers left in 1833, extinct before end 19th century # ''Gabrielino'' (an Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan language): elderly speakers last recorded in 1933 # ''Galice-Applegate'' (an Athabaskan languages Athabaskan language): ## ''Galice dialect'': Hoxie Simmons (1963) # ''Juaneño'' (an Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan language): last recorded in 1934 # ''Kakadu language Kakadu (Gagadju)'': Big Bill Neidjie (July 2002) # entire ''Kalapuyan languages Kalapuyan family'': ## ''Central Kalapuya language Central Kalapuya'': ### ''Ahantchuyuk'', ''Luckimute'', ''Mary's River'', and ''Lower McKenzie River dialects'': last speakers were about 6 persons who were all over 60 in 1937 ### ''Santiam dialect'': (ca. 1950s) ## ''Northern Kalapuya language Northern Kalapuya'': ### ''Tualatin dialect'': Louis Kenoyer (1937) ### ''Yamhill dialect'': Louisa Selky (1915) ## ''Yoncalla language Yonkalla'': last recorded in 1937 from Laura Blackery Albertson who only partly remembered it. # ''Kamassian'': (1989) # ''Karankawa'': (1858) # ''Kathlamet'' (a Chinook Chinookan language): (ca. 1930s) # ''Kitanemuk'' (an Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan language): Marcelino Rivera, Isabella Gonzales, Refugia Duran (last recorded 1937) # ''Kitsai'' (a Caddoan languages Caddoan language): (ca. 1940) # ''Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie'' (an Athabaskan languages Athabaskan language): children of the last speakers remembered a few words, recorded in 1935 & 1942 ## ''Clatskanie dialect'': father of Willie Andrew (ca. 1870) ## ''Kwalhioqua dialect'': mother of Lizzie Johnson (1910) # ''Lower Chinook'' (a Chinook Chinookan language): (ca. 1930s) # ''Mahican'': last spoken in Wisconsin (ca. 1930s) # ''Manx language Manx'': Ned Maddrell (December 1974) (but is being language revival revived as a second language) # ''Mattole-Bear River'' (an Athabaskan languages Athabaskan language): ## ''Bear River dialect'': material from last elderly speaker recorded (ca. 1929) ## ''Mattole dialect'': material recorded (ca. 1930) # ''Miami language Miami-Illinois language Illinois'': (1989) # ''Mohegan'': Fidelia Fielding (1908) # ''Molala'': Fred Yelkes (1958) # ''Munichi'': Victoria Huancho Icahuate (late 1990s) # ''Natchez (people) Natchez'': Watt Sam & Nancy Raven (early 1930s) # ''Negerhollands'': Alice Stevenson (1987) # ''Nooksack (tribe) Nooksack'': Sindick Jimmy (1977) # ''Northern Pomo'': (1994) # ''Nottoway'' (an Iroquoian languages Iroquoian language): last recorded before 1836 # ''Pentlatch'' (a Salishan languages Salishan language): Joe Nimnim (1940) # ''Salinan'': (ca. 1960) # entire ''Shastan languages Shastan family'' ## ''Konomihu'' ## ''New River Shasta'' ## ''Okwanuchu'' ## ''Shasta language Shasta'': 3 elderly speakers in 1980, extinct by 1990 # ''Siuslaw (tribe) Siuslaw'': (ca. 1970s) # ''Susquehannock'': all last speakers murdered in 1763 # ''Takelma language Takelma'': Molly Orton (or Molly Orcutt) & Willie Simmons (both not fully fluent) last recorded in 1934 # ''Tasmanian language Tasmanian'': (late 19th century) # ''Tataviam'' (an Uto-Aztecan languages Uto-Aztecan language): Juan José Fustero who remembered only a few words of his grandparents' language (recorded 1913) # ''Tetete an Ecuadorian language. # ''Tillamook'' (a Salishan languages Salishan language): (1970) # ''Tonkawa language Tonkawa'': 6 elderly people in 1931 # ''Tsetsaut'' (an Athabaskan languages Athabaskan language): last fluent speaker was elderly man recorded in 1894 # ''Tunica (language) Tunica'': Sesostrie Youchigant (ca. mid 20th century) # ''Ubykh language Ubykh'': Tevfik Esenç (October 1992) # all dialects of ''Upper Chinook'' (a Chinook Chinookan language) are extinct, except for the Wasco-Wishram dialect. The ''Clackamas Indians Clackamas dialect'' began extinct in the 1930s, other dialects have little documentation. (The Wasco Wasco-Wishram dialect is still spoken by 6 elders.) # ''Upper Umpqua'': Wolverton Orton, last recorded in 1942 # ''Vegliot Dalmatian language Dalmatian'': Tuone Udaina (Italian: Antonio Udina) (10 June 1898 # ''Wappo'' # ''Wiyot language Wiyot'': Della Prince (1962) # ''Yahi Yana'': Ishi (1916)

See also
*:Category:Last native speakers *Endangered language *List of extinct languages *Linguicide *Language revival

External links

- The Dodo's Fate: How languages become extinct

Notes/References

Bibliography
* Brenzinger, Matthias (ed.) (1992) ''Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa''. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. * Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne (Eds.). (1979). ''The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment''. Austin: University of Texas Press. * Dorian, Nancy C. (1978). Fate of morphological complexity in language death: Evidence from East Sutherland Gaelic. ''Language'', ''54'' (3), 590-609. * Dorian, Nancy C. (1981). ''Language death: The life cycle of a Scottish Gaelic dialect''. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press. * Dressler, Wolfgand & Wodak-Leodolter, Ruth (eds.) (1977) ''Language death'' (International Journal of the Sociology of Language vol. 12). The Hague: Mouton. * Gordon, Raymond G., Jr. (Ed.). (2005). ''Ethnologue: Languages of the world'' (15th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671-159-X. (Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com). * Mithun, Marianne. (1999). ''The languages of Native North America''. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-23228-7 (hbk); ISBN 0-521-29875-X. * Mohan, Peggy; & Zador, Paul. (1986). Discontinuity in a life cycle: The death of Trinidad Bhojpuri. ''Language'', ''62'' (2), 291-319. * Sasse, Hans-Jürgen (1992) 'Theory of language death', in Brenzinger (ed.) ''Language Death'', pp. 7–30. * Schilling-Estes, Natalie; & Wolfram, Walt. (1999). Alternative models of dialect death: Dissipation vs. concentration. ''Language'', ''75'' (3), 486-521. * Sebeok, Thomas A. (Ed.). (1973). ''Linguistics in North America'' (parts 1 & 2). Current trends in linguistics (Vol. 10). The Hauge: Mouton. (Reprinted as Sebeok 1976). * Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove. (2000). ''Linguistic genocide in education or worldwide diversity and human rights?'' Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. ISBN 0-8058-3468-0. Category:Extinct languages * de:Sprachtod es:Lengua muerta fr:Langue morte id:Bahasa mati lt:Mirusi kalba nl:Dode taal ja:死語 pl:Język martwy sl:Izumrli jezik fi:Kuollut kieli zh:死語

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