language endangerment
LANG-gwij en-DAYN-jer-munt
ˈlæŋɡwɪdʒ ɪnˈdeɪndʒərməntListen
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Dictionary meaning
the condition of a language whose speaker community is declining rapidly in size or intergenerational transmission, placing the language at risk of ceasing to be spoken within a few generations; UNESCO estimates that approximately half of the world's 7,000 languages are endangered; causes include the dominance of national or global languages in education and media, urbanisation, economic marginalisation of minority communities, and policy suppression; language revitalisation efforts seek to reverse this trend through documentation, education, and community engagement
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