Causes of language endangerment:

Current state worldwide: "Globalization"

• shrinking minority-speaking communities
• majority languages and their association with the world economic order
• pressure to participate in the world economic order for survival
• younger generations adopting "major" languages and no longer learning "heritage" languages
• violence, persecution, genocide, invasion, war, exploitation

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Causes of language endangerment - examples from around the world:

• Ainu of Japan
  • From the mid-fifteenth century, the Ainu population in Hokkaido suffered invasion, exploitation, and brutal treatment by non-Ainu Japanese, resulting in considerable decrease in their population.
  • Assimilation policies were imposed by the Japanese government, which included imposition of the Japanese language and the prohibition of the use of the Ainu language.
  • Dispossession of much of their traditional land.
  • Discrimination and humiliation by the non-Ainu Japanese.
  • Government disinterest in the Ainu people, their language, their culture, the inclusion of Ainu as an official language or a language of instruction in education, nor its revitalization efforts.
• Austronesian Languages
  • Arrival of English settlers to New Zealand from 1840 onward
    • In 1867, the Native School Act was passed, which made English the language of literacy in schools in New Zealand.
    • The use of Maaori language in schools was outlawed, and children were punished for speaking it.
    • English became the official language of the government.
    • The Maaori population decreased due to warfare and lack of immunity against western diseases.
  • Hawaiian followed a very similar history to Maaori, Many factors led to the drastic drop in the number of native Hawaiian speakers.
    • Dominance of English
    • Reduction in the Hawaiian population
    • Annexation by the United States
    • Policy designs by the Department of Education

• Languages of Australia
  • Aboriginal Australians were dispossessed of their land
  • Population reduced dramatically due to massacre, forced relocation, and introduced diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza
  • As a result, most of the earlier Aboriginal languages are extinct with only about 100 still spoken, and only about 20 still viable (used as means of communication and transmitted to children), all spoken in northern and central Australia.
  • Astonishing speed of language endangerment caused by contact with Europeans. Example: Wanyjirra people of the Northern Territory first came in contact with Europeans in 1894. By 2002, out of the estimated 100 descendants, fewer than 10 could speak the language.
  • Aboriginal Australians of Tasmania were almost completely wiped out by genocide
• Languages of South America
  • Since Columbus's exploration of what is now the Venezuelan coast in 1498, Native Americans experienced continuous epidemics, violent colonization, slavery, and genocide, causing population collapse and disappearance of languages.
  • Replacement of native languages with European languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, and Dutch)
  • Few native languages remain widely spoken, namely Paraguayan Guarani, Quechua, and Aymara of Bolivia and Peru, but their future is not bright.
• Languages of Central America
  • From 1519 to 1605, the indigenous population of Mexico decreased from 25 million to 1 million.
  • As many as 95 languages are currently found in Mexico, though numbers have severely reduced - a conservative estimate indicates 113 languages have disappeared since the 17th century.
  • Four main factors causing demographic loss and language death/ endangerment:
    • Genocide
    • Loss of will to live. "Their collective frustration expressed itself through sexual abstinence, abortion, and even suicide and the disappearance of entire groups" (Garza and Lastra 1991 : 104).
    • Economic and social reconditioning, such as forced relocation to unproductive and inhospitable lands.
    • Epidemics of smallpox, measles, and common cold
• Languages of North America
  • Language decline occurred as a direct result of population decline. Aboriginal population reduced by diseases and forced relocation, among other detrimental factors.
  • Catastrophic depopulation also caused by the introduction of diseases such as small pox, malaria and measles.
  • Many hundreds of languages are estimated to have been spoken in the US before the 16th century. The current number of languages spoken in the US is estimated to be below 150.
  • At least 60 languages are known to have been spoken in what is now Canada. At least 8 are extinct and fewer than half of the remaining languages are likely to survive for another 50 years.
• Languages of the former USSR
  • Russian expansion into Siberia started in the 16th century
  • There are currently 54 minority languages spoken in Russia.
  • Minority languages continue to be replaced by Russian due to contact with the Russian language and due to assimilation policy.
• Languages of Northern Europe
  • Example of Sami, a member of the Uralic language family, closely related to the Finnic languages.
  • Sami territory is divided by four states: Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia. Consequently, the Sami languages have been influenced by Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish, and Russian.
  • Of the total population of about 50,000, about 70% are considered Sami speakers.
  • Varieties in the north are thriving, while varieties in the east, west, and south are endangered.
  • Recent linguistic and ethnic revitalization efforts are a sign for a brighter future.
• Celtic Languages
  • This branch of the Indo-European language family once covered a vast area from the first millennium BC, from Portugal and Ireland to Poland and Bulgaria, through Bavaria and northern Italy, and with an enclave in central Anatolia.
  • Currently minority languages spoken in France, the UK and Ireland.
  • The Celtic languages studied in the field of language endangerment:
    • Scottish Gaelic (see Watson 1989; Dorian 1973, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1986a, 1986b, 1994a)
    • Irish (see Watson 1989; Maguire 1991)
    • Welsh (see Williams 1992; Jones 1998)
    • Breton (see Dressler 1972; Dressler and Wodak-Leodolter 1977b; Kuter 1989; Denez 1998; Jones 1998)
    • Cornish (see Jones 1998)
• Languages of Africa
  • Spread of European languages, mainly English, French, and Portuguese over the last 200 years, but usually restricted to domains of higher education, business and politics, and to a relatively small number of people.
  • According to Scotton (1982: 68), only 10% or less of the rural African population have substantial competence in European languages.
  • African vernaculars are generally not in danger of being replaced by European languages, but use of these vernaculars are diminishing, with nearly 200 languages currently endangered.
  • In contract with areas such as Australia, Americas and Siberia, it is mostly the more prestigious African languages that are replacing minority African languages.
• Languages of India and neighboring regions
  • The 2,000 languages of India are divided into 4 language groups: Indo-European (54 languages and 27% of languages), Dravidian (20 and 10%), Austro-Asiatic (20 and 10%), and Sino-Tibetan (84 and 42%).
  • Many languages such as Andamese spoken in the Andaman Islands are facing endangerment.
  • For works on language endangerment in Afghanistan, see Kieffer (1977).
• Languages of China and neighboring regions
  • Language endangerment in China is largely due to language policy in China.
  • Mandarin-speaking Han population increased territory. In the process, a substantial number of minorities have amalgamated themselves into the Mandarin-speaking Han population, abandoning their languages in favor of Mandarin.
  • Major changes in language policy on minority languages began after the establishment of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
  • The right of each national minority languages is recognized, but in practice, these rights have not been asserted or implemented. As a result, many of the languages of smaller minorities are dying and many more are endangered.
  • Interesting case of Manchu, an indigenous language of Manchuria, which is considered to be a member of the Tungistic language family and not linguistically related to Chinese:
    • In 1644, the conquerers (the Manchus) took power, but the Manchu ruling elite were massively Sinicized and shifted to Chinese.
    • The Manchu did not protect the territorial integrity of the Manchu-speaking rural population. As a result, the Manchu language is among the most seriously endangered languages in China.

References:

Tsunoda, Tasaku. Language Endangerment and Language Revitalization : An Introduction. Hanover ;: De Gruyter Mouton, 2006. Print.