Extinct language

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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, for example, Coptic, which was replaced by Arabic, and many Native American languages, whose languages were replaced by English, French, Spanish, or 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; 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 is the parent of Modern English. There are apparently children using Sanskrit as a revived language in Mathoor village (India) [1].

In some cases, an extinct language remains in use for scientific, legal, or ecclesiastical functions. Sanskrit, Latin, Old Church Slavonic, Avestan, Coptic, Old Tibetan and 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.[2]

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.

1 Recently extinct languages
2 See also
3 External links
4 Notes/References
5 Bibliography

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Recently extinct languages

Main article: list of extinct languages

With last known speaker and/or date of death:

entire Alsean family
1. Alsea: John Albert (1942)
2. Yaquina: (1884)
Apalachee: (early 18th century)
Atakapa: (early 20th century)
Atsugewi: (1988)
Beothuk: Shanawdithit (white person name: "Nancy April") (1829)
entire Catawban family:
1. Catawba: before 1960
2. Woccon
Cayuse: (ca. 1930s)
Chemakum: (ca. 1940s)
Chimariko: (ca. 1930s)
Chitimacha: Benjamin Paul (1934) & Delphine Ducloux (1940)
entire Chumashan family: Barbareño language was last to become extinct.
1. Barbareño: Mary Yee (1965)
2. Ineseño
3. Island Chumash
4. Obispeño
5. Purisimeño
6. Ventureño
Coahuilteco: (18th century)
Cochimí (a Yuman-Cochimí language): (early 19th century)
entire Comecrudan family
1. Comecrudo: recorded from children (Andrade, Emiterio, Joaquin, & others) of last speakers in 1886
2. Garza: last recorded in 1828
3. Mamulique: last recorded in 1828
entire Coosan family
1. Hanis: Martha Johnson (1972)
2. Miluk: Annie Miner Peterson (1939)
Cornish: (1777) (undergoing attempts at revival)
all Costanoan languages (which make up a subfamily of the Utian language family): (ca. 1940s)
1. Karkin
2. Mutsun
3. Northern Costanoan
4. Rumsen
5. 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 language): elderly speakers last recorded in 1933
Galice-Applegate (an Athabaskan language):
1. Galice dialect: Hoxie Simmons (1963)
Juaneño (an Uto-Aztecan language): last recorded in 1934
Kakadu (Gagadju): Big Bill Neidjie (July 2002)
entire Kalapuyan family:
1. Central Kalapuya:
  1. Ahantchuyuk, Luckimute, Mary's River, and Lower McKenzie River dialects: last speakers were about 6 persons who were all over 60 in 1937
  2. Santiam dialect: (ca. 1950s)
2. Northern Kalapuya:
  1. Tualatin dialect: Louis Kenoyer (1937)
  2. Yamhill dialect: Louisa Selky (1915)
3. 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): (ca. 1940)
Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie (an Athabaskan language): children of the last speakers remembered a few words, recorded in 1935 & 1942
1. Clatskanie dialect: father of Willie Andrew (ca. 1870)
2. 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):
1. Bear River dialect: material from last elderly speaker recorded (ca. 1929)
2. Mattole dialect: material recorded (ca. 1930)
Miami-Illinois: (1989)
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)
Salinan: (ca. 1960)
entire Shastan family
1. Konomihu
2. New River Shasta
3. Okwanuchu
4. Shasta: 3 elderly speakers in 1980, extinct by 1990
Siuslaw: (ca. 1970s)
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 José Fustero who remembered only a few words of his grandparents' language (recorded 1913)
Tetete an Ecuadorian 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 Esenç (October 1992)
all dialects of Upper Chinook (a Chinookan language) are extinct, except for the Wasco-Wishram dialect. The Clackamas dialect began extinct in the 1930s, other dialects have little documentation. (The Wasco-Wishram dialect is still spoken by 6 elders.)
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)

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External links

The Dodo's Fate: How languages become extinct

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Notes/References

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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.de:Sprachtod