There are around 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but that number is shrinking. Unesco estimates that half could disappear by the end of the century. So how are languages lost, and what does that mean for the people who speak them?
There are around 7,000 languages spoken in the world, but that number is shrinking. Unesco estimates that half could disappear by the end of the century. So how are languages lost, and what does that mean for the people who speak them?
This is a completely different process than what’s outlined in the article. The article is about outright language death, like if Old English had died so that it never became Modern English.
Language change is normal. Language death is, in our world, largely a result of colonialism, racism, and anti-Indigenous policies.