Goals of Revitalization
Language revitalization can happen in many different ways with many different goals in mind. Probably the earliest forms of revitalization have been movements by speakers themselves to get rights to speak their own languages either at home or in public places - often by students or children. Much of activism in the 20th century was focused on creating and developing writing systems and dictionaries, but since the goals have grown more diverse.[1]
Today language standardization is a big question - can smaller languages compete against bigger ones without much written content available, and how should it be done. Availability for different texts, information and technology can face difficulties when smaller, endangered languages are in question. However, revitalization projects are often described as having the goal of achieving speaker fluency within a community.[1]
To respect the community and their wellbeing, and to avoid violating the SDGs, in particular SDG 4 - access to quality education and life long learning, revitalization approaches should take into account what is good for the whole community as well as each individual. It could happen that a revitalization program ensures better education for one generation but leaves out other community members (e.g. a "lost" generation).
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