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, introduced diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza

• Languages of South America

• Languages of Central America
• Languages of North America
• Languages of the former USSR
• Languages of Northern Europe
• Celtic Languages
• Languages of Africa
• Languages of India and neighboring regions
• Languages of China and neighboring regions

References:

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