Extinct language
Encyclopedia
An extinct language is a language
that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages
, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication. However, language extinction and language death are often equated.
while being directly replaced by a different one. For example, Native American languages
were replaced by English
, French
, Portuguese
, or Spanish
as a result of colonization. The Coptic language
, although retained for liturgical
use in Coptic Christian churches, was replaced for the purposes of daily life by Arabic
in its native Egypt.
By contrast to an extinct language which no longer has any speakers, a dead language may remain in use for scientific
, legal
, or ecclesiastical
functions. Old Church Slavonic
, Avestan
, Coptic
, Biblical Hebrew, Ge'ez
, Latin
, and Sanskrit
are among the many dead languages used as sacred language
s.
Sometimes a language that has changed so much that linguists describe it as a different language (or different stage) is called "extinct", as in the case of Old English, a forerunner of Modern English
. But in such cases, the language never ceased to be used by speakers, and as linguist's subdivisions in the process of language change are fairly arbitrary, such forerunner languages are not properly speaking extinct.
A language that currently has living native speakers is called a modern language
. Ethnologue
records 7,358 living languages known.
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). 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 7,000 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.
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
.
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).
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. 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 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 development) and globalization as threats to indigenous cultures and languages throughout the world. He argues that just as the biosphere is being eroded by these forces, so too is the "ethnosphere" - the cultural web of life.
As Davis puts it, language extinction effectively reduces the "entire range of the human imagination... to a more narrow modality of thought", 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. 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."
Language
Language may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
that no longer has any speakers., or that is no longer in current use. Extinct languages are sometimes contrasted with dead languages
Language death
In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
, which are still known and used in special contexts in written form, but not as ordinary spoken languages for everyday communication. However, language extinction and language death are often equated.
Language loss
Normally the transition from a spoken to an extinct language occurs when a language undergoes language deathLanguage death
In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
while being directly replaced by a different one. For example, Native American languages
Indigenous languages of the Americas
Indigenous languages of the Americas are spoken by indigenous peoples from Alaska and Greenland to the southern tip of South America, encompassing the land masses which constitute the Americas. These indigenous languages consist of dozens of distinct language families as well as many language...
were replaced by English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
, or Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
as a result of colonization. The Coptic language
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
, although retained for liturgical
Liturgy
Liturgy is either the customary public worship done by a specific religious group, according to its particular traditions or a more precise term that distinguishes between those religious groups who believe their ritual requires the "people" to do the "work" of responding to the priest, and those...
use in Coptic Christian churches, was replaced for the purposes of daily life by Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
in its native Egypt.
By contrast to an extinct language which no longer has any speakers, a dead language may remain in use for scientific
Science
Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
, legal
Law
Law is a system of rules and guidelines which are enforced through social institutions to govern behavior, wherever possible. It shapes politics, economics and society in numerous ways and serves as a social mediator of relations between people. Contract law regulates everything from buying a bus...
, or ecclesiastical
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
functions. Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic
Old Church Slavonic or Old Church Slavic was the first literary Slavic language, first developed by the 9th century Byzantine Greek missionaries Saints Cyril and Methodius who were credited with standardizing the language and using it for translating the Bible and other Ancient Greek...
, Avestan
Avestan language
Avestan is an East Iranian language known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name...
, Coptic
Coptic language
Coptic or Coptic Egyptian is the current stage of the Egyptian language, a northern Afro-Asiatic language spoken in Egypt until at least the 17th century. Egyptian began to be written using the Greek alphabet in the 1st century...
, Biblical Hebrew, Ge'ez
Ge'ez language
Ge'ez is an ancient South Semitic language that developed in the northern region of Ethiopia and southern Eritrea in the Horn of Africa...
, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
are among the many dead languages used as sacred language
Sacred language
A sacred language, "holy language" , or liturgical language, is a language that is cultivated for religious reasons by people who speak another language in their daily life.-Concept:...
s.
Sometimes a language that has changed so much that linguists describe it as a different language (or different stage) is called "extinct", as in the case of Old English, a forerunner of Modern English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
. But in such cases, the language never ceased to be used by speakers, and as linguist's subdivisions in the process of language change are fairly arbitrary, such forerunner languages are not properly speaking extinct.
A language that currently has living native speakers is called a modern language
Modern language
A modern language is any human language that is currently in use. The term is used in language education to distinguish between languages which are used for day-to-day communication and dead classical languages such as Latin, Attic Greek, Sanskrit, and Classical Chinese, which are studied for...
. Ethnologue
Ethnologue
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a web and print publication of SIL International , a Christian linguistic service organization, which studies lesser-known languages, to provide the speakers with Bibles in their native language and support their efforts in language development.The Ethnologue...
records 7,358 living languages known.
Hebrew
Hebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
is an example of a nearly extinct spoken language (by the first definition above) that became a lingua franca
Lingua franca
A lingua franca is a language systematically used to make communication possible between people not sharing a mother tongue, in particular when it is a third language, distinct from both mother tongues.-Characteristics:"Lingua franca" is a functionally defined term, independent of the linguistic...
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
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
in revived language in Mathoor village
Mattur
Mattur is a small village near the city of Shivamogga in Karnataka, South India, known for the usage of Sanskrit for day-to-day communication....
(India). 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 7,000 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.
Globalization, development, and language extinction
As economic and cultural globalizationGlobalization
Globalization refers to the increasingly global relationships of culture, people and economic activity. Most often, it refers to economics: the global distribution of the production of goods and services, through reduction of barriers to international trade such as tariffs, export fees, and import...
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
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
, and Spanish
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
.
In their study of contact-induced language change, American linguists Sarah Grey Thomason and Terrence Kaufman
Terrence Kaufman
Terrence Kaufman is an American linguist specializing in documentation of unwritten languages, Mesoamerican historical linguistics and language contact phenomena. He is currently a professor at the department of anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh....
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
Language death
In linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
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).
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. 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 official language of the country rather than their native language.
Cultural anthropologist Wade Davis
Wade Davis
Edmund Wade Davis is a Canadian anthropologist, ethnobotanist, author and photographer whose work has focused on worldwide indigenous cultures, especially in North and South America and particularly involving the traditional uses and beliefs associated with psychoactive plants...
points to the dangers of "modernization
Modernization
In the social sciences, modernization or modernisation refers to a model of an evolutionary transition from a 'pre-modern' or 'traditional' to a 'modern' society. The teleology of modernization is described in social evolutionism theories, existing as a template that has been generally followed by...
" (often cited as reason for economic development) and globalization as threats to indigenous cultures and languages throughout the world. He argues that just as the biosphere is being eroded by these forces, so too is the "ethnosphere" - the cultural web of life.
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 years, to 90% by the year 2050. 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.As Davis puts it, language extinction effectively reduces the "entire range of the human imagination... to a more narrow modality of thought", 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. 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
Determinism
Determinism is the general philosophical thesis that states that for everything that happens there are conditions such that, given them, nothing else could happen. There are many versions of this thesis. Each of them rests upon various alleged connections, and interdependencies of things and...
or Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism is a term commonly used for theories of society that emerged in England and the United States in the 1870s, seeking to apply the principles of Darwinian evolution to sociology and politics...
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."
Recently extinct languages
With last known speaker and/or date of death.- Adai: (late 19th century)
- Aka-BoAka-Bo languageThe Bo language, Aka-Bo , is an extinct Great Andamanese language, of the Northern group. It was spoken on the west central coast of North Andaman and on North Reef Island of the Andaman Islands in India...
: Boa Sr (2010) - Akkala SamiAkkala SamiAkkala Sami is a Sami language that was spoken in the Sami villages of A´kkel and Ču´kksuâl, in the inland parts of the Kola Peninsula in Russia...
: Marja Sergina (2003) - entire Alsean familyAlsean languagesAlsea or Alsean was two closely related speech varieties spoken along the central Oregon coast. They are sometimes taken to be different languages, but it is difficult to be sure given the poor state of attestation; Mithun believes they were probably dialects of a single language.-Varieties:#...
- Alsea: John Albert (1942)
- YaquinaYaquina (people)Yaquina originally denoted a tribe of Native Americans, now nearly extinct , along with their language . The remaining Yaquina people live on the Siletz Reservation in Oregon, and are mostly of mixed blood. -External links:*...
: (1884)
- ApalacheeApalacheeThe Apalachee are a Native American people who historically lived in the Florida Panhandle, and now live primarily in the U.S. state of Louisiana. Their historical territory was known to the Spanish colonists as the Apalachee Province...
: (early 18th century) - ArwiArwi languageArwi is a written register of the Tamil language that uses an Arabic alphabet. It typically has extensive lexical influences from the Arabic language. Arwi was used extensively by the Muslim minority of Tamil Nadu state of India and Sri Lanka...
: (Early 19th Century) - Aruá: (1877)
- AtakapaAtakapa languageAtakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern Texas. It was spoken by the Atakapa people .-Geographic variation:There were two varieties of Atakapa Atakapa is an extinct language isolate native to southwestern Louisiana and nearby coastal eastern...
: (early 20th century) - AtsugewiAtsugewi languageAtsugewi is an extinct Palaihnihan language of northeastern California spoken by the Hat Creek and Dixie Valley people. In 1962, there were four speakers out of an ethnic group of 200, all elderly.Astugewi is related to Achumawi...
: (1988) - BeothukBeothuk languageThe Beothuk language , also called Beothukan, was spoken by the indigenous Beothuk people of Newfoundland. The Beothuk have been extinct since 1829 and there are few written accounts of their language, little is known about it. There have been claims of links with the neighbouring Algonquian...
: ShanawdithitShanawdithitShanawdithit , also noted as Shawnadithititis, Shawnawdithit, Nancy April and Nancy Shanawdithit, was the last known living member of the Beothuk people of Newfoundland, Canada. Also remembered for drawings she made towards the end of her life, Shawnawdithit was in her late twenties when she died...
(a.k.a. "Nancy April") (1829) - entire Catawban familyCatawban languagesThe Catawban, or Eastern Siouan, languages form a small language family in east North America. The Catawban family is a branch of the larger Siouan Siouan–Catawban family.-Family division:The Catawban family consists of two languages:...
:- CatawbaCatawba (tribe)The Catawba are a federally recognized tribe of Native Americans, known as the Catawba Indian Nation. They live in the Southeast United States, along the border between North and South Carolina near the city of Rock Hill...
: before 1960 - Woccon
- Catawba
- CayuseCayuseThe Cayuse are a Native American tribe in the state of Oregon in the United States. The Cayuse tribe shares a reservation in northeastern Oregon with the Umatilla and the Walla Walla tribes as part of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation...
: (ca. 1930s) - ChemakumChemakumThe Chemakum language was spoken by the Chemakum, a Native American group that once lived on western Washington state's Olympic Peninsula. The Chemakum language was very similar to the Quileute language...
: (ca. 1940s) - ChicomuceltecChicomuceltecChicomuceltec is a Mayan language formerly spoken in the region defined by the municipios of Chicomuselo, Mazapa de Madero, and Amatenango de la Frontera in Chiapas, Mexico, as well as some nearby areas of Guatemala...
: (late 20th century) - ChimarikoChimarikoThe Chimariko were a Native American group living primarily in a narrow, 20-mile section of canyon on the Trinity River in Trinity County in northwestern California....
: (ca. 1930s) - ChitimachaChitimacha languageThe Chitimacha language is a language isolate historically spoken by the Chitimacha people of Louisiana, United States. It went extinct in 1940 with the death of the last fluent speaker, Delphine Ducloux....
: Benjamin Paul (1934) & Delphine Ducloux (1940) - entire Chumashan familyChumashan languagesChumashan is a family of languages that were spoken on the southern California coast by Native American Chumash people.From the Coastal plains and valleys of San Luis Obispo to Malibu), neighboring inland and Transverse Ranges valleys and canyons east to bordering the San Joaquin Valley; and on...
: Barbareño language was last to become extinct.- Barbareño: Mary Yee (1965)
- Ineseño
- Island Chumash
- Obispeño
- Purisimeño
- Ventureño
- Coahuilteco: (18th century)
- CochimíCochimiThe Cochimí are the aboriginal inhabitants of the central part of the Baja California peninsula, from El Rosario in the north to San Javier in the south....
(a Yuman language): (early 19th century) - entire Comecrudan familyComecrudan languagesComecrudan refers to a group of possibly related languages spoken in the southernmost part of Texas and in northern Mexico along the Rio Grande. Comecrudo is the most well-known.Very little is known about these languages or the people who spoke them...
- Comecrudo: recorded from children (Andrade, Emiterio, Joaquin, & others) of last speakers in 1886
- GarzaComecrudan languagesComecrudan refers to a group of possibly related languages spoken in the southernmost part of Texas and in northern Mexico along the Rio Grande. Comecrudo is the most well-known.Very little is known about these languages or the people who spoke them...
: last recorded in 1828 - Mamulique: last recorded in 1828
- entire Coosan familyCoosan languagesThe Coosan language family consists of two languages spoken along the southern Oregon coast. Both languages are now extinct.-Classification:* Hanis* Miluk...
- Hanis: Martha Johnson (1972)
- Miluk: Annie Miner Peterson (1939)
- all CostanoanOhloneThe Ohlone people, also known as the Costanoan, are a Native American people of the central California coast. When Spanish explorers and missionaries arrived in the late 18th century, the Ohlone inhabited the area along the coast from San Francisco Bay through Monterey Bay to the lower Salinas Valley...
languages (which make up a subfamily of the Utian language familyUtian languagesUtian is a family of indigenous languages spoken in the central and north portion of California, United States. The Miwok and Ohlone peoples both spoke languages in the Utian linguistic group...
): (ca. 1940s)- KarkinKarkin languageKarkin is a name of one sub-group of the indigenous Ohlone people of California, as well as the name of the language they spoke....
- Mutsun
- Northern Costanoan:
- RamaytushRamaytushThe Ramaytush are one of the linguistic subdivisions of the Ohlone Native Americans of Northern California. Historically, the Ramaytush inhabited the San Francisco Peninsula between San Francisco Bay and the Pacific Ocean in the area which is now San Francisco and San Mateo Counties.The Ramaytush...
- ChochenyoChochenyoThe Chochenyo are one of the divisions of the indigenous Ohlone people of Northern California...
- TamyenTamyenThe Tamyen are one of eight linguistic divisions of the Ohlone people groups of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. The Tamyen lived throughout the Santa Clara Valley...
- AwaswasAwaswasThe Awaswas people are one of eight divisions of the Ohlone Native Americans of Northern California...
- Ramaytush
- RumsenRumsenRumsen is one of eight language divisions of the Ohlone Native American people of Northern California...
: last recorded speaker died 1939 in Monterey, California. - ChalonChalonThe Chalon are one of eight divisions of the Ohlone people of Native Americans who lived in Northern California. Chalon is also the name of their spoken language, listed as one of the Ohlone languages of the Utian family...
- Karkin
- Cotoname: last recorded from Santos Cavázos and Emiterio in 1886
- Crimean GothicCrimean GothicCrimean Gothic was a Gothic dialect spoken by the Crimean Goths in some isolated locations in Crimea until the late 18th century....
: language vanished by the 1800s - CumanCuman languageCuman was a Kipchak Turkic language spoken by the Cumans and Kipchaks; the language was similar to the today's Crimean Tatar language...
: (early 17th century) - DalmatianDalmatian languageDalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
: Tuone UdainaTuone UdainaTuone Udaina was the last speaker of the Dalmatian language. He was the main source of knowledge about his parents' dialect, that of the island of Veglia , for the linguist Matteo Bartoli, who recorded it in 1897...
, (June 10, 1898) - EsselenEsselenThe Esselen were a Native American linguistic group in the hypothetical Hokan language family, who resided on the Central California coast and the coastal mountains, including what is now known as the Big Sur region in Monterey County, California...
: report of few speakers left in 1833, extinct before end 19th century - EyakEyak languageEyak is an extinct Na-Dené language that was historically spoken by the Eyak people, indigenous to southcentral Alaska, near the mouth of the Copper River.The closest relatives of Eyak are the Athabaskan languages...
(a Na-Dené languageNa-Dené languagesNa-Dene is a Native American language family which includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. An inclusion of Haida is controversial....
): Marie Smith Jones, January 21, 2008 - GabrielinoTongva language-Collected by C. Hart Merriam :Numbers# Po-koo /bo'kʰøː/# Wěh-hā /ʋɛj'χɒː/# Pah-hā /pa'χɒː/# Wah-chah /ʋa'ʃɒχ/# Mah-har /ma'χɒʁ/# Pah-vah-hā /pa'va'χɒː/# Wah-chah-kav-e-ah /ʋa'ʃa'kʰav̥eʲa/...
(an Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language): elderly speakers last recorded in 1933 - Galice-Applegate (an AthabaskanAthabaskan languagesAthabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
language):- Galice dialect: Hoxie Simmons (1963)
- Greenlandic NorseGreenlandic NorseGreenlandic Norse is an extinct North Germanic language that was spoken in the Norse settlements of Greenland until their demise in the late 15th century...
: (by the late 15th century (16th century at the latest)) - Modern GutnishModern GutnishModern Gutnish is the native language of the Gotlandic people on the island of Gotland in present-day Sweden. It was both a spoken and written language until late medieval times. Today it exists as a spoken language, but is to some degree mixed with Swedish, Danish and German. It is an open issue...
(by the 18th century) - JassicJassic dialectJassic is a dialect of the Ossetian language and the name of a nomadic tribe settled in Hungary in the 13th century.The Jassic people came to Hungary together with the Cumanians, chased by the Mongol-Tatars. They were admitted by the Hungarian king Béla IV, hoping that they would assist in...
(17th century) - JuaneñoJuaneñoThe Juaneño or Acagchemem are a Native American group from Southern California. The Juaneño lived in what is now part of Orange and San Diego Counties and received their Spanish name from the priests of the California mission chain due to their proximity to Mission San Juan Capistrano...
(an Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language): last recorded in 1934 - Kakadu (Gagadju): Big Bill NeidjieBig Bill NeidjieBig Bill Neidjie was the last surviving speaker of the Gaagudju language, an indigenous language from northern Kakadu after which the World Heritage-listed Kakadu National Park is named. He was a senior elder of Kakadu National Park and a traditional owner of the Bunitj estate in northern Kakadu,...
(July 2002) - entire Kalapuyan familyKalapuyan languagesKalapuyan is a small extinct language family that was spoken in the Willamette Valley of Western Oregon, United States. It consists of three languages.-Family division:Kalapuyan consists of...
:- Central KalapuyaCentral Kalapuya languageCentral Kalapuyan was a Kalapuyan language indigenous to the central and southern Willamette Valley in Oregon in the United States. It was spoken by various bands of the Kalapuya peoples who inhabited the valley up through the middle of the 19th century. The language is closely related to Northern...
:- 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 KalapuyaNorthern Kalapuya languageNorthern Kalapuyan is a Kalapuyan language indigenous to northwestern Oregon in the United States. It was spoken by Kalapuya groups in the northern Willamette Valley southwest of present-day Portland....
:- Tualatin dialect: Louis Kenoyer (1937)
- Yamhill dialect: Louisa Selky (1915)
- YonkallaYoncalla languageYoncalla is a Kalapuyan language once spoken in southwest Oregon in the United States. In the 19th century it was spoken by the Yoncalla band of the Kalapuya people in the Umpqua River valley...
: last recorded in 1937 from Laura Blackery Albertson who only partly remembered it.
- Central Kalapuya
- Kamassian: last native speaker, Klavdiya PlotnikovaKlavdiya PlotnikovaKlavdiya Zakharovna Plotnikova-Andzhighatova was the last living speaker of the Kamassian language . Her father was a Russian named Zakhar Perov and her mother was a Kamassian named Afanasiya Andzhighatova...
died in (1989) - KarankawaKarankawa languageKarankawa is the extinct, unclassified language of the Texan coast, where the Karankawa people migrated between the mainland and the barrier islands. It was not closely related to other known languages in the area, much of which are also poorly attested, and may have been a language isolate...
: (1858) - Kathlamet (a ChinookChinookan languagesChinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.-Family division:Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: and...
an language): (ca. 1930s) - KitanemukKitanemukThe Kitanemuk were a Native American tribe and people who lived in the Tehachapi Mountains and the Antelope Valley area of the western Mojave Desert of southern California, United States.-Language:...
(an Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language): Marcelino Rivera, Isabella Gonzales, Refugia Duran (last recorded 1937) - KitsaiKitsai languageThe Kitsai language is an extinct member of the Caddoan language family. It was spoken in Oklahoma by the Kichai tribe and became extinct in the 1930s. It is thought to be related to Wichita but more closely to Pawnee...
(a CaddoanCaddoan languagesThe Caddoan languages are a family of Native American languages. They are spoken by Native Americans in parts of the Great Plains of the central United States, from North Dakota south to Oklahoma.-Family division:...
language): Kai Kai (ca. 1940) - Kwalhioqua-Clatskanie (an AthabaskanAthabaskan languagesAthabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
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 ChinookLower ChinookLower Chinook, also simple Chinook or Chinook proper, is a highly endangered language of the US Pacific Northwest.-Dialects:* Clatsop was spoken in northwestern Oregon around the mouth of the Columbia River and the Clatsop Plains .* Shoalwater , now extinct ...
(a ChinookChinookan languagesChinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.-Family division:Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: and...
an language): (ca. 1930s) - MahicanMahicanThe Mahican are an Eastern Algonquian Native American tribe, originally settling in the Hudson River Valley . After 1680, many moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts. During the early 1820s and 1830s, most of the Mahican descendants migrated westward to northeastern Wisconsin...
: last spoken in Wisconsin (ca. 1930s) - ManxManx languageManx , also known as Manx Gaelic, and as the Manks language, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, historically spoken by the Manx people. Only a small minority of the Island's population is fluent in the language, but a larger minority has some knowledge of it...
: Ned MaddrellNed MaddrellEdward "Ned" Maddrell was a fisherman from the Isle of Man who was the last surviving native speaker of the Manx language.Following the death of Mrs. Sage Kinvig Edward "Ned" Maddrell (1877 – December 27, 1974) was a fisherman from the Isle of Man who was the last surviving native speaker of the...
(December 1974) (but is being revivedLanguage revivalLanguage revitalization, language revival or reversing language shift is the attempt by interested parties, including individuals, cultural or community groups, governments, or political authorities, to reverse the decline of a language. If the decline is severe, the language may be endangered,...
as a second languageSecond languageA second language or L2 is any language learned after the first language or mother tongue. Some languages, often called auxiliary languages, are used primarily as second languages or lingua francas ....
) - Mattole-Bear River (an AthabaskanAthabaskan languagesAthabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
language):- Bear River dialect: material from last elderly speaker recorded (ca. 1929)
- Mattole dialect: material recorded (ca. 1930)
- Mbabaram: Albert Bennett (1972)
- Miami-IllinoisIllinois languageThe Miami-Illinois language is a Native American Algonquian language formerly spoken in the United States, primarily in Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, western Ohio and adjacent areas along the Mississippi River by the tribes of the Inoca or Illinois Confederacy, including the Kaskaskia, Peoria,...
: (1989) - MochicaMochica languageMochica is a Chimuan language formerly spoken along the northwest coast of Peru and in an inland village. First documented in 1607, the language was widely spoken in the area during the 17th and early 18th century...
: ca. 1950s - MoheganMoheganThe Mohegan tribe is an Algonquian-speaking tribe that lives in the eastern upper Thames River valley of Connecticut. Mohegan translates to "People of the Wolf". At the time of European contact, the Mohegan and Pequot were one people, historically living in the lower Connecticut region...
: Fidelia Fielding (1908) - MolalaMolala languageMolala is the extinct and poorly attested Plateau Penutian language of the Molala people. It is first attested along the Deschutes River, and later moved to the Molalla and Santiam rivers, and to the headwaters of the Umpqua and Rogue rivers. It was once thought to be close to Cayuse...
: Fred Yelkes (1958) - Munichi: Victoria Huancho Icahuate (late 1990s)
- Natchez: Watt Sam & Nancy Raven (early 1930s)
- NegerhollandsNegerhollandsNegerhollands is a Dutch-based creole language that was once spoken in the Danish West Indies, now known as the U.S. Virgin Islands. Dutch is its superstrate language with Danish, English, French, Spanish, and African elements incorporated...
: Alice Stevenson (1987) - Nooksack: Sindick Jimmy (1977)
- Northern PomoNorthern PomoNorthern Pomo is an extinct Pomoan language formerly spoken around Clear Lake in Lake County, California by the Habematolel Pomo of Upper Lake, one of the several Pomo peoples....
: (1994) - Nottoway (an IroquoianIroquoian languagesThe Iroquoian languages are a First Nation and Native American language family.-Family division:*Ruttenber, Edward Manning. 1992 [1872]. History of the Indian tribes of Hudson's River. Hope Farm Press....
language): last recorded before 1836 - Pentlatch (a SalishanSalishan languagesThe Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
language): Joe Nimnim (1940) - Pánobo (a Pano–Tacanan language): 1991
- PochutecPochutecPochutec is an extinct Uto-Aztecan language of the Nahuan branch which was spoken in and around the town of Pochutla on the Pacific coast of Oaxaca, Mexico. In 1917 it was documented in a monograph by Franz Boas, who considered the language nearly extinct...
(Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
last documented 1917 by Franz BoasFranz BoasFranz Boas was a German-American anthropologist and a pioneer of modern anthropology who has been called the "Father of American Anthropology" and "the Father of Modern Anthropology." Like many such pioneers, he trained in other disciplines; he received his doctorate in physics, and did... - PolabianPolabian languageThe Polabian language is an extinct West Slavic language that was spoken by the Polabian Slavs in present-day North-Eastern Germany around the Elbe river, from which derives its name...
(a SlavicSlavic languagesThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
language): (late 18th century) - SadlermiutSadlermiutThe Sadlermiut were an Eskimo group living in near isolation mainly on and around Coats Island, Walrus Island, and Southampton Island in Hudson Bay...
Died by disease in 1902. - SalinanSalinanThe Salinan Native Americans lived in what is now the Central Coast of California, in the Salinas Valley. Said to have gone extinct by the Census of 1930, the Salinan Native Americans survived and are now in the process of applying for tribal recognition from the Bureau of Indian Affairs.There...
: (ca. 1960) - entire Shastan familyShastan languagesThe Shastan family consisted of four languages, spoken in present-day northern California and southern Oregon.-Family division:# Konomihu # New River Shasta # Okwanuchu # Shasta ...
- Konomihu
- New River Shasta
- OkwanuchuOkwanuchuThe Okwanuchu were one of a number of small Shastan-speaking tribes of Native Americans in Northern California, who were closely related to the adjacent larger Shasta tribe...
- ShastaShasta language-External links:* overview at the Survey of California and Other Indian Languages*...
: 3 elderly speakers in 1980, extinct by 1990
- Sirenik Last speaker died of old age in 1997.
- SiuslawSiuslaw (tribe)Siuslaw is one of the three Confederated Tribes of Coos, Lower Umpqua and Siuslaw Indians located on the southwest Oregon Pacific coast in the United States. The Siuslaw language is extinct.-External links:***...
: (ca. 1970s) - Slovincian (a SlavicSlavic languagesThe Slavic languages , a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup of Indo-European languages, have speakers in most of Eastern Europe, in much of the Balkans, in parts of Central Europe, and in the northern part of Asia.-Branches:Scholars traditionally divide Slavic...
language): (20th century) - SowaSowa languageSowa was the original language of south-central Pentecost island in Vanuatu. In recent times it has been totally displaced by Apma, a neighbouring language. Sowa is very closely related to Ske, another south Pentecost language....
(a language of VanuatuVanuatuVanuatu , officially the Republic of Vanuatu , is an island nation located in the South Pacific Ocean. The archipelago, which is of volcanic origin, is some east of northern Australia, northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and southeast of the Solomon Islands, near New Guinea.Vanuatu was...
): last fluent speaker died in 2000 - SusquehannockSusquehannockThe Susquehannock people were Iroquoian-speaking Native Americans who lived in areas adjacent to the Susquehanna River and its tributaries from the southern part of what is now New York, through Pennsylvania, to the mouth of the Susquehanna in Maryland at the north end of the Chesapeake Bay...
: all last speakers murdered in 1763 - TakelmaTakelma languageTakelma was the language spoken by the Takelma people. It was first extensively described by Edward Sapir in his graduate thesis, The Takelma Language of Southwestern Oregon...
: Molly Orton (or Molly Orcutt) & Willie Simmons (both not fully fluent) last recorded in 1934 - Tasmanian: (late 19th century)
- TataviamTataviam languageThe Tataviam language was spoken by the Tataviam people of the upper Santa Clara River basin, Santa Susana Mountains, and Sierra Pelona Mountains in southern California. It had become extinct by 1916 and is known only from a few early records, notably a word list collected by the linguist John P...
(an Uto-AztecanUto-Aztecan languagesUto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family consisting of over 30 languages. Uto-Aztecan languages are found from the Great Basin of the Western United States , through western, central and southern Mexico Uto-Aztecan or Uto-Aztekan is a Native American language family...
language): Juan José Fustero who remembered only a few words of his grandparents' language (recorded 1913) - Teteté (a Tucanoan language)
- TillamookTillamook languageTillamook is an extinct Salishan language, formerly spoken by the Tillamook people in northwestern Oregon, United States. The last fluent speaker is believed to have died in the 1970s; between 1965 and 1972, in an effort to prevent the language being destroyed, a group of researchers from the...
(a SalishanSalishan languagesThe Salishan languages are a group of languages of the Pacific Northwest...
language): (1970) - TonkawaTonkawa languageThe Tonkawa language was spoken in Oklahoma, Texas, and New Mexico by the Tonkawa people. A language isolate, with no known related languages, Tonkawa is now extinct...
: 6 elderly people in 1931 - Tsetsaut (an AthabaskanAthabaskan languagesAthabaskan or Athabascan is a large group of indigenous peoples of North America, located in two main Southern and Northern groups in western North America, and of their language family...
language): last fluent speaker was elderly man recorded in 1894 - Tunica: Sesostrie YouchigantSesostrie YouchigantSesostrie Youchigant was the last native speaker of the Tunica language. He worked with linguist Mary Haas to describe what he remembered of the language, and the description was published in A Grammar of the Tunica Language in 1939.-External links:...
(ca. mid 20th century) - UbykhUbykh languageUbykh or Ubyx is an extinct language of the Northwestern Caucasian group, spoken by the Ubykh people...
: Tevfik EsençTevfik EsençTevfik Esenç was a Circassian exile in Turkey and the last known fully competent speaker of the Ubykh language.Esenç was raised by his Ubykh-speaking grandparents for a time in the village of Hacı Osman in Turkey, and he served a term as the muhtar of that village, before receiving a post in the...
(October 1992) - Most dialects of Upper Chinook (a ChinookChinookan languagesChinookan is a small family of languages spoken in Oregon and Washington along the Columbia River by Chinook peoples.-Family division:Chinookan languages consists of three languages with multiple varieties. There is some dispute over classification, and there are two ISO 639-3 codes assigned: and...
an language) are extinct, except for the Wasco-Wishram dialect. The ClackamasClackamas IndiansThe Clackamas Indians are a tribe of Native Americans of the U.S. state of Oregon who traditionally lived along the Clackamas River in the Willamette Valley. Lewis and Clark estimated their population at 1800 in 1806...
dialect became extinct in the 1930s, other dialects have little documentation. (The Wasco-Wishram languageWasco-Wishram languageUpper Chinook, also known as Kiksht, Columbia Chinook, and Wasco-Wishram after its only living dialect, is a highly endangered language of the US Pacific Northwest. It had 69 speakers as of 1990, of which 7 were monolingual: five Wasco and two Wishram...
is still spoken by five elders.) - Upper UmpquaUpper UmpquaUpper Umpqua is an extinct Athabascan language once spoken along the south fork of the Umpqua River near the Oregon coast. It has been extinct for at least fifty years and little is known about it. Some data was collected by Melville Jacobs...
: Wolverton Orton, last recorded in 1942 - Vegliot DalmatianDalmatian languageDalmatian was a Romance language spoken in the Dalmatia region of Croatia, and as far south as Kotor in Montenegro. The name refers to a pre-Roman tribe of the Illyrian linguistic group, Dalmatae...
: Tuone UdainaTuone UdainaTuone Udaina was the last speaker of the Dalmatian language. He was the main source of knowledge about his parents' dialect, that of the island of Veglia , for the linguist Matteo Bartoli, who recorded it in 1897...
(Italian: Antonio Udina) (10 June 1898) - WappoWappo languageWappo is an extinct language that was spoken in the Alexander Valley north of San Francisco by the Wappo Native Americans. The last fluent speaker, Laura Fish Somersal, died in 1990. Wappo's language death is attributed to the use of English in schools and economic situations such as the workplace...
: Laura Fish Somersal 1990 - WiyotWiyot languageWiyot is an extinct Algic language, formerly spoken by the Wiyot people of Humboldt Bay, California. The language's last native speaker, Della Prince, died in 1962...
: Della Prince (1962) - YanaYana peopleThe Yana people were a group of Native Americans indigenous to Northern California in the central Sierra Nevada Mountains, on the western side of the range. The Yana-speaking people comprised four groups: the Northern Yana, the Central Yana, the Southern Yana, and the Yahi...
: IshiIshiIshi was the last member of the Yahi, the last surviving group of the Yana people of the U.S. state of California. Ishi is believed to have been the last Native American in Northern California to have lived most of his life completely outside the European American culture...
(1916) - YolaYola languageYola is an extinct West Germanic language formerly spoken in Ireland. A branch of Middle English, it evolved separately among the English who followed the Norman barons Strongbow and Robert Fitzstephen to eastern Ireland in 1169....
related to English (mid-19th century)
See also
- Endangered languageEndangered languageAn endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use. If it loses all its native speakers, it becomes a dead language. If eventually no one speaks the language at all it becomes an "extinct language"....
- Language deathLanguage deathIn linguistics, language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of linguistic competence that speakers possess of a given language variety is decreased, eventually resulting in no native and/or fluent speakers of the variety...
- List of endangered languages
- List of languages by time of extinction
- Language revivalLanguage revivalLanguage revitalization, language revival or reversing language shift is the attempt by interested parties, including individuals, cultural or community groups, governments, or political authorities, to reverse the decline of a language. If the decline is severe, the language may be endangered,...
- :Category:Extinct languages
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