Language Death DAVID CRYSTAL Saar) SE euen IU ene Cne sete rN 5} cs Ej rs a i) S ES ES CAMBRIDG Eeenrintsyx Preface lobe raise suficiontly to enable somet tisalcady too late for hundreds of tall these supports I could not have contemplate kind; and that ie why Ihave made copious use to give due acknowle ao are doin would like to think that have developed both intallctall nd emotionally real sense of the ies, (One ofthese issues (eo often David Crystal Holyhead 1 What is language death? ‘The phrase ‘erguage death sounds a stark and final a any other in which 3 word makes its unwelcome appearance, And it has ievions and resonances. To say hata anguage is dead tata person is dead It could be no other way for languages haven existence without people. ‘A langusge dies when nobody speaks speakers ofthe’ any column, And th reality is unequivocal. On 4 November 1995, Kasabe existed on 3 Novernber,a LANGUAGE DEATH Edinburgh in 1998 by Ole Stig This time, 8 Oct 1982 fact, Kasabe and Ubykh (a widely used alternative had effectively died long before Bogon and Tevfk Beng Sava. I you are the last speaker of language your lng = viewed a tool of cormmunication =i already de For a len guage seal alive only a long as there is some ‘When you ate the only one is dead, the mom written or unrecorded language d ‘ver, When language dies which has Whar a 3 figures about the percentage f languages dying onlybegintomake sense if they ea be 14 figure out of the suggestol 1.0004 One language popu ine, Fredorce Umer, proposed 1,500; another, Matio Pei, opted for 2,796 surveys to be established, Enolague the lrgest present-day pred @ worldwide review only in 1974, an tied around 4.500 living languages? Since the ion has changed dramatically, with the improve n-guthering techniques. The thirteenth edition ns 9s wena Te fete