The Dynamics of Language Endangerment: A Comparative Study

• 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

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.