LIN 2300 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Endangered Language, Critically Endangered, Kayardild Language
28 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
8 languages have less than 100 million speakers: mandarin, spanish, english, bengali, hindi. Top 20 languages: 3. 2 billion speakers. Papa new guinea is the most multilingual country: also the most diverse. North korea is the world"s least diverse country: and least multilingual. This indicates a correlation between the two measures ^ Another way to classify languages: which are most likely to live or die. Unesco: absolute number of speakers, community member"s attitudes towards their own language. If these are not all working together, language is more likely to die. 6 levels of danger and extinction (intergenerational language. Language spoken by all generations; intergenerational transmission uninterrupted: vulnerable. Language spoken by most children, but restricted to certain domains: definitely endangered. Children no longer learn the language as mother tongue in the home: severely endangered. Language spoken by grandparents and older generations; parent and generation may understand it, but do not speak it to children or among themselves: critically endangered.
