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Languages are alive and change with time, but when the native population no longer speaks it, the language becomes extinct. Some languages like Latin and Coptic are still used for ceremonial purposes. Language extinction can occur due to natural disasters, genocide, or forced assimilation. Efforts can be made to revive dying languages. Many languages have become extinct due to rapid changes or being replaced by other languages.
Most of the languages spoken in the world today are not static in the sense that they change with the times, they can incorporate new words and steal words from other languages. The language is alive and thriving when the population that speaks it remains as the primary means of communication. When there is no native population of language speakers left, the language is often referred to as a dead or extinct language. Though there are few speakers left, but most of the younger population no longer speak a language, can be described as extinct or moribund.
The extinct language etiquette does not mean that there is no one left who can speak the language. Several languages like Latin and Coptic are used for ceremonial purposes and people can still learn these languages in school. Typically, no one except Latin students spent much time communicating exclusively in it. It’s really like the ancient poem many Latin students were taught:
Latin is a language
Dead as dead can be.
First he killed the Romans
And now it’s killing me.
There are many situations that can make a language extinct. In the case of Latin, it quickly transformed into the many Romance languages spoken today. English comes from its extinct language, Anglo-Saxon, and an infusion of French words. Sometimes a language can change so much and so fast, that even though you can see some commonalities between the extinct language and the new one, it’s mostly unrecognizable.
Language extinction can also occur if a natural disaster or genocide destroys an entire population of speakers. Alternatively, people may live in areas where two languages are spoken. Gradually one becomes the preferred language as the other dies. Additionally, an extinct language can occur when people are forced to give up their native language, as is the case with many Native American languages. When tribes were forcibly relocated or where English-language curricula became mandatory for Native American children, several important languages were completely killed off.
When a language is dying or endangered, or even sometimes when it is an extinct language, efforts can be made to revive it. The most successful rescue of a nearly extinct language is the one carried out by the state of Israel to intentionally create Hebrew as its national language. Sometimes the linguistic awakening comes from outside the speaking population. The use of Navajo Code Talkers during World War II effectively revived Navajo, even though its speaking population remains small.
If you are looking for lists of extinct languages, you will find numerous on the Internet. The numbers are staggering. As mentioned above, some of these extinctions resulted from the rapid change of the language into a now different form such as modern English, Irish (or Gaelic as it is sometimes called), German or French. Others died because other languages were used by choice, or by force, and in rare cases as a result of natural disasters or genocide.
