Language Death, Shift, and maintenance

Language shift

-occurs when speakers abandon their language (L1) voluntarily or under pressure

-rate of shift depend on external pressure and speaker resistance

Language death

-a language becomes extinct

-no longer has native speakers or used for communication

2 major forms of language death

-sudden

-gradual

Causes for sudden language death

-genocide

-epidemics

2 major theoretical perspectives

-causality based

-process based

causality based model

-focused on external pressures and social factors that contribute to language death

-3 phenomena:

• external setting

• speech behavior

• structural consequences

process based perspective

-explains progressive stages toward language shift

-has 5 stages

process phased model 5 stages

1. relative monolingualism

2. bilingualism with L1 predominance

3. bilingualism with L2 predominance

4. restricted use/competence of L1

5. L1 as substratum

coordinate language contact

-occurs when two languages have equal status

-neither language dominates

-unmarked bilingualism

superordinate language contact

-occurs when languages have different statuses

-The dominant language gradually takes over

-marked bilingualism

external setting: factors

-demographic pressure

-socioeconomic pressure

-cultural pressure

-political pressure

-sociolinguistic

-historical

language decay

-structural consequence

-result of not transmitting the language to children

-results in a state of semi speakers

characteristics of language decay

-defective morphology

-loss of structural complexity

-phonological reduction

-lexical reduction

language suicide

-speakers willingly give up their language

-ex) Indigenous languages in south africa and afrikaans

gradual language death factors

-absorption: L1 is absorbed into the dominant L2

-suffocation: L1 is restricted by L2

• massai restricted the aasax, akie, sonjo, and kwavi from speaking their language

-erosion

• certain features of the language (like morphology or phonology) become simplified

-contraction

• complete loss of functionality in the language because it has been so reduced