Survival of Languages (original) (raw)

There are about 6,700 languages spoken on Earth today. To consider the future survival of these languages I will take as my starting point a provocative quotation on the back cover of a recent book by Andrew Dalby: "a language dies every two weeks: what are we going to do about it?" Are languages indeed disappearing and, if so, how and why? Where do suggestions come from of language loss at the rate of one language per fortnight, and what are some possible responses to what looks like an impending crisis for the survival of the world's languages? Are all smaller languages doomed to extinction, or are there signs that loss of languages can be reversed?