Definitions Week 9 Flashcards
Language death/loss
When a language is no longer being used and the last native speaker is lost
Language endangerment
When a language is at risk of dying/ceasing to exist
Safe
Language spoken by all generations (not included in the Atlas)
Vulnerable
Most children speak the language, but it may be restricted to certain domains eg. the home
Definitely endangered
Children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home
Severely endangered
Spoken by grandparents and older generation, parents may understand but don’t speak it to children
Critically endangered
The youngest speakers are the older generation, spoken partially and infrequently
Extinct
There are no speakers left (included in Atlas if extinct since 1950s)
Language shift
When speakers shift to another language
Language maintenance
Policies and practice put in place to maintain the vitality of a language
Ethnolinuistic vitality
A model describing and comparing the relative vitality or strength of languages, used to determined kinds of intervention for maintenance
Language planning
A deliberate effort to influence the behaviour of others, in terms of acquisition, structure or allocation of their language codes - Cooper 1989
Language revitalisation
Reversing the decline of a language
Language documentation
Recording languages to formulate linguistic theories and map the worlds languages
National language
The language of a political, social and cultural unit; a symbol of national unity
