The Dynamics of Language Endangerment: A Comparative Study

International audience Most languages spoken by the “small-numbered indigenouspeoples of the North” are currently highly endangered orextinct,yet there are big differences in vitality between languagesand even dialects. I here discuss the factors that have shaped thecurrent levels of endangerment of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sibirica
Main Author: Pakendorf, Brigitte
Other Authors: Dynamique Du Langage (DDL), Université Lumière - Lyon 2 (UL2)-Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS)
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: HAL CCSD 2024
Subjects:
demographics
language loss
language vitality
schooling
settlement history
Sovietization
[SCCO.LING]Cognitive science/Linguistics
Sibirica
Online Access:https://hal.univ-lyon2.fr/hal-04609226
https://hal.univ-lyon2.fr/hal-04609226/document
https://hal.univ-lyon2.fr/hal-04609226/file/Pakendorf_2024_Dynamics_Language_Endangerment_SIBIRICA.pdf
https://doi.org/10.3167/sib.2024.230102
Description
Summary:International audience Most languages spoken by the “small-numbered indigenouspeoples of the North” are currently highly endangered orextinct,yet there are big differences in vitality between languagesand even dialects. I here discuss the factors that have shaped thecurrent levels of endangerment of three Northern Tungusic lects: theLamunkhindialect of Even, the Bystraia dialect of Even, and Negidal.All three communities have lived through the sociopolitical changesassociated with the Soviet era, and yet Negidal is nearly extinct,Bystraia Even is spoken only by adults, and Lamunkhin Even is stillbeing passed on to children. The factors favoring language vitalitythat emerge from this study are the maintenance of cohesive andcompact speech communities without forced resettlements and arelative minority of newcomers.

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