Alternatively a language is said to be extinct if although it is known to have been spoken by people in the past modern scholarship cannot reconstruct it to the point that it is possible to write in it or translate into it with confidence (say a simple dialogue or a short tale written in a modern language); whereas a language is referred to as dead but not extinct if it is sufficiently known at present to permit such routine use even though it has no modern speakers. By these definitions Proto-Indo-European (of which only conjectural reconstructions of lexicon and grammar exist) is an extinct language and Classical Latin and Old Tupi are dead but not extinct languages.

A language that has living native speakers is called a modern language. Ethnologue records 6912 living languages known.3

Hebrew is an example of a nearly extinct spoken language (by the first definition above) that became a lingua franca and a liturgical language that has been revived to become a living spoken language. There are other attempts at language revival. For example young school children use Sanskrit in revived language in Mathoor village (India).4 In general 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.

It is believed that 90% of the circa 7000 languages currently spoken in the world will have become extinct by 2050 as the world's language system has reached a crisis and is dramatically restructuring.56 Globalization development and language extinction

As economic and cultural globalization and development continue to push forward growing numbers of languages will become endangered and eventually extinct. With increasing economic integration on national and regional scales people find it easier to communicate and conduct business in the dominant languages of world commerce: English Chinese and Spanish.7 In their study of contact-induced language change American linguists Sarah Grey Thomason and Terrence Kaufman state that in situations of cultural pressure (where populations must speak a dominant language) three linguistic outcomes may occur: first - and most commonly - a subordinate population may shift abruptly to the dominant language leaving the native language to a sudden linguistic death. Second the more gradual process of language death may occur over several generations. The third and most rare outcome is for the pressured group to maintain as much of its native language as possible while borrowing elements of the dominant language's grammar (replacing all or portions of the grammar of the original language).8 Institutions such as the education system as well as (often global) forms of media such as the Internet television and print media play a significant role in the process of language loss.7 For example immigrants from one country come to another their kids go to school in the country and the schools may teach them in the language in the official language of the country rather than their native language. Cultural anthropologist Wade Davis points to the dangers of "modernization" (often cited as reason for economic development9) and globalization as threats to indigenous cultures and languages throughout the world.10 He argues that just as the biosphere is being eroded by these forces so too is the "ethnosphere" - the cultural web of life.11 Implications of language extinction Estimates of future language loss range from half of more than 6000 currently spoken languages being lost in the next 200 years12 to 90% by the year 2050.6 Wade Davis states that languages - as not simply bodies of vocabulary or sets of grammatical rules but "old growth forests of the mind" - for the many and unique cultures of the world reflect different ways of being thinking and knowing.11 As Davis puts it language extinction effectively reduces the "entire range of the human imagination... to a more narrow modality of thought"11 and thus privileges the ways of knowing in dominant (and overwhelmingly European) languages such as English. Foucauldian ideas of power and knowledge as both inseparable and symbiotic are implicated in the universalizing of European knowledge as truth and the rendering of other forms as less valid or false: mere superstition folklore or mythology.13 In the case of language extinction those "voices" which are deemed to be inferior or secondary by colonizing globalizing or developing forces are literally silenced. Davis also illustrates that languages are lost not because cultures are destined to fade away (as proponents of environmental or cultural determinism or Social Darwinism may contend) but rather that they are "driven out of existence by identifiable forces that are beyond their capacity to adapt to"; he further remonstrates that "genocide the physical extinction of a people is universally condemned but ethnocide the destruction of peoples' way of life is not only not condemned it's universally - in many quarters - celebrated as part of a development strategy."11 Recently extinct languages Main article: List of extinct languages See also Extinct Languages of North America With last known speaker and/or date of death. Adai: (late 19th century) Aka-Bo: Boa Sr (2010) Akkala Sami: Marja Sergina (2003) entire Alsean family Alsea: John Albert (1942) Yaquina: (1884) Apalachee: (early 18th century) Arwi: (Early 19th Century) Aru: (1877) Atakapa: (early 20th century) Atsugewi: (1988) Beothuk: Shanawdithit (a.k.a. "Nancy April") (1829) entire Catawban family: Catawba: before 1960 Woccon Cayuse: (ca. 1930s) Chemakum: (ca. 1940s) Chicomuceltec: (late 20th century) Chimariko: (ca. 1930s) Chitimacha: Benjamin Paul (1934) & Delphine Ducloux (1940) entire Chumashan family: Barbareo language was last to become extinct. Barbareo: Mary Yee (1965) Ineseo Island Chumash Obispeo Purisimeo Ventureo Coahuilteco: (18th century) Cochim (a Yuman language): (early 19th century) entire Comecrudan family Comecrudo: recorded from children (Andrade Emiterio Joaquin & others) of last speakers in 1886 Garza: last recorded in 1828 Mamulique: last recorded in 1828 entire Coosan family Hanis: Martha Johnson (1972) Miluk: Annie Miner Peterson (1939) all Costanoan languages (which make up a subfamily of the Utian language family): (ca. 1940s) Karkin Mutsun Northern Costanoan: Ramaytush Chochenyo Tamyen Awaswas Rumsen: last recorded speaker died 1939 in Monterey California. Chalon Cotoname: last recorded from Santos Cavzos and Emiterio in 1886 Crimean Gothic: language vanished by the 1800s Cuman: (early 17th century) Dalmatian: Tuone Udaina (June 10 1898) Esselen: report of few speakers left in 1833 extinct before end 19th century Eyak (a Na-Den language): Marie Smith Jones January 21 200814 Gabrielino (an Uto-Aztecan language): elderly speakers last recorded in 1933 Galice-Applegate (an Athabaskan language): Galice dialect: Hoxie Simmons (1963) Greenlandic Norse: (by the late 15th century (16th century at the latest)) Modern Gutnish (by the 18th century) Jassic (17th century) Juaneo (an Uto-Aztecan language): last recorded in 1934 Kakadu (Gagadju): Big Bill Neidjie (July 2002) entire Kalapuyan family: 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: Tualatin dialect: Louis Kenoyer (1937) Yamhill dialect: Louisa Selky (1915) Yonkalla: last recorded in 1937 from Laura Blackery Albertson who only partly remembered it. Kamassian: (1989) Karankawa: (1858) Kathlamet (a Chinookan language): (ca. 1930s) Kitanemuk (an Uto-Aztecan language): Marcelino Rivera Isabella Gonzales Refugia Duran (last recorded 1937) Kitsai (a Caddoan language): Kai Kai (ca. 1940)15 Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie (an 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 Chinookan language): (ca. 1930s) Mahican: last spoken in Wisconsin (ca. 1930s) Manx: Ned Maddrell (December 1974) (but is being revived as a second language) Mattole-Bear River (an Athabaskan language): Bear River dialect: material from last elderly speaker recorded (ca. 1929) Mattole dialect: material recorded (ca. 1930) Mbabaram: Albert Bennett (1972) Miami-Illinois: (1989) Mochica: ca. 1950s Mohegan: Fidelia Fielding (1908) Molala: Fred Yelkes (1958) Munichi: Victoria Huancho Icahuate (late 1990s) Natchez: Watt Sam & Nancy Raven (early 1930s) Negerhollands: Alice Stevenson (1987) Nooksack: Sindick Jimmy (1977) Northern Pomo: (1994) Nottoway (an Iroquoian language): last recorded before 1836 Pentlatch (a Salishan language): Joe Nimnim (1940) Pnobo (a Pano-Tacanan language): 1991 Pochutec (Uto-Aztecan last documented 1917 by Franz Boas Polabian (a Slavic language): (late 18th century) Salinan: (ca. 1960) entire Shastan family Konomihu New River Shasta Okwanuchu Shasta: 3 elderly speakers in 1980 extinct by 1990 Siuslaw: (ca. 1970s) Slovincian (a Slavic language): (20th century) Susquehannock: all last speakers murdered in 1763 Takelma: Molly Orton (or Molly Orcutt) & Willie Simmons (both not fully fluent) last recorded in 1934 Tasmanian: (late 19th century) Tataviam (an Uto-Aztecan language): Juan Jos Fustero who remembered only a few words of his grandparents' language (recorded 1913) Tetet (a Tucanoan language) Tillamook (a Salishan language): (1970) Tonkawa: 6 elderly people in 1931 Tsetsaut (an Athabaskan language): last fluent speaker was elderly man recorded in 1894 Tunica: Sesostrie Youchigant (ca. mid 20th century) Ubykh: Tevfik Esen (October 1992) Most dialects of Upper Chinook (a Chinookan language) are extinct except for the Wasco-Wishram dialect. The Clackamas dialect became extinct in the 1930s other dialects have little documentation. (The Wasco-Wishram language is still spoken by five elders.16) Upper Umpqua: Wolverton Orton last recorded in 1942 Vegliot Dalmatian: Tuone Udaina (Italian: Antonio Udina) (10 June 1898) Wappo Wiyot: Della Prince (1962) Yana: Ishi (1916) Yola related to English (mid-19th century) See also Endangered language Language death List of endangered languages List of extinct languages List of languages by time of extinction Language revival Category:Extinct languages References Lenore A. Grenoble Lindsay J. Whaley Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization Cambridge University Press (2006) p.18 Dead language Ethnologue Times of India. Study by language researcher David Graddol a b Research by Southwest University for Nationalities College of Liberal Arts a b Malone Elizabeth. "Language and Linguistics: Endangered Language." National Science Foundation. 28 Jul 2008. National Science Foundation Web. 23 Oct 2009. <http://www.nsf.gov/news/specialreports/linguistics/endangered.jsp>. Thomason Sarah Grey & Kaufman Terrence. Language contact creolization and genetic linguistics University of California Press (1991) p. 100. Timmons Roberts J. & Hite Amy. From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change Wiley-Blackwell (2000) Davis Wade. The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World House of Anansi Press (2009). a b c d Davis Wade. ""On endangered cultures"." TED Talks. Monterey CA. Feb 2003. Lecture. 22 Oct 2009. <http://www.ted.com/talks/wadedavisonendangeredcultures.html> "Linguistic Expert Warns of Language Extinction." Science Daily 4 Mar 2007: n. pag. Web. 23 Oct 2009. <http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/02/070218140348.htm>. Sharp Joanne. Geographies of Postcolonialism chapter 6: Can the Subaltern Speak. SAGE Publications 2008. "When nobody understands". The Economist. October 23 2008. http://www.economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfmstoryid12483451&fsrcrss. Retrieved 2008-10-25. "The electronic age drives some languages out of existence but can help save others"  Science: Last of the Kitsai. Time. 27 June 1932 (retrieved 6 Sept 2009) Culture: Language. The Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs Reservation of Oregon. 2009 (retrieved 9 April 2009) Bibliography Adelaar Willem F. H.; & Muysken Pieter C. (2004). The languages of the Andes. Cambridge language surveys. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 9780521362757. Brenzinger Matthias (ed.) (1992) Language Death: Factual and Theoretical Explorations with Special Reference to East Africa. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-11-013404-9. Campbell Lyle; & Mithun Marianne (Eds.). (1979). The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment. Austin: University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292746245. Davis Wade. (2009). The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World. House of Anansi Press. ISBN 0887847668. 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. ISBN 0812277856. 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). Harrison K. David. (2007) When Languages Die: The Extinction of the World's Languages and the Erosion of Human Knowledge. New York and London: Oxford University Press. ISBN 9780195181920. 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-Jrgen (1992) 'Theory of language death' in Brenzinger (ed.) Language Death pp. 730. 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). Sharp Joanne. (2008). Chapter 6: Can the Subaltern Speak in Geographies of Postcolonialism. Glasgow UK: SAGE Publications Ltd. ISBN 9781412907798. 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. Thomason Sarah Grey & Kaufman Terrence. (1991). Language contact creolization and genetic linguistics. University of California Press. ISBN 0520078934. Timmons Roberts J. & Hite Amy. (2000). From Modernization to Globalization: Perspectives on Development and Social Change. Wiley-Blackwell. ISBN 9780631210979. External links The Dodo's Fate: How languages become extinct Linguist List - List of Ancient and Extinct Languages&A list of ancient and extinct languages with temporary codes The Foundation of Endangered Languages Endangered Languages Photos of letters/characters from ancient and living languages featured on exterior walls of Library of Alexandria