Extinct language

An extinct language (also called a dead language) is a language which no longer has any native speakers. Normally this occurs when a language undergoes language death while being directly replaced by a different one (often through linguicide), for example, Coptic, which was replaced by Arabic, and many Native American languages, which were replaced by English, French, Spanish, or Portuguese.

Related Topics:
Language - Native speaker - Language death - Linguicide - Coptic - Arabic - Native American languages - English - French - Spanish - Portuguese

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A more controversial usage of the term dead language, is to refer to an older language which changed significantly and evolved into a new language group. Latin, for example, is a dead language as it has no native speakers, but it is the base of the modern Romance languages. Likewise Sanskrit is the base of the modern Indo-Aryan languages and Old English is the base of Modern English. There are apparently children using Sanskrit as a revived language in Mathoor village (India) http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/msid-1199965,curpg-1.cms.

Related Topics:
Latin - Romance languages - Sanskrit - Indo-Aryan languages - Old English - Modern English - Revived language

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In some cases, an extinct language remains in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Latin, Old Church Slavonic, Avestan, Coptic, Old Tibetan and Ge'ez are among the many extinct languages used as sacred languages.

Related Topics:
Scientific - Legal - Ecclesiastical - Latin - Old Church Slavonic - Avestan - Coptic - Old Tibetan - Ge'ez - Sacred language

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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

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In at least one case, Hebrew, an extinct liturgical language has been revived to become a living language. There have been other attempts at language revival (such as Manx and 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.

Related Topics:
Hebrew - Liturgical - Revived - Manx - Cornish

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