Extinct language

An extinct language or dead language is a <a href="/facts/Language/IRcTok2q">language</a> with no living <a href="/facts/First-language/1yK3tnLb">native speakers</a>. A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a symbol of ethnic identity to an <a href="/facts/Ethnic_group/XSp5l24t">ethnic group</a>; these languages are often undergoing a process of <a href="/facts/Language_revitalization/71shdxj2">revitalisation</a>. Languages that have first-language speakers are known as <a href="/facts/Modern_language/35mR8FFU">modern or living languages</a> to contrast them with dead languages, especially in educational contexts.
Languages have typically become extinct as a result of the process of <a href="/facts/Cultural_assimilation/hwrCtR9q">cultural assimilation</a> leading to <a href="/facts/Language_shift/KdY9f9ov">language shift</a>, and the gradual abandonment of a native language in favor of a foreign <a href="/facts/Lingua_franca/dlGrD7ra">lingua franca</a>.
As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the languages spoken at that time will have become extinct by 2050.

Extinct language open-in-new

Extinct language