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An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language". If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". Although languages have always become extinct throughout human history, they are currently disappearing at an accelerated rate due to the processes of globalization and neocolonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages. More commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages and therefore, the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear. The total number of languages in the world is not known. Estimates vary depending on many factors. The general consensus is that there are between 6000〔 and 7000 languages currently spoken, and that between 50–90% of those will have become extinct by the year 2100.〔 The top 20 languages, spoken by more than 50 million speakers each, are spoken by 50% of the world's population, whereas many of the other languages are spoken by small communities, most of them with fewer than 10,000 speakers.〔 UNESCO operates with four levels of language endangerment beyond "safe" (not endangered), based on intergenerational transfer: "vulnerable" (not spoken by children outside the home), "definitely endangered" (children not speaking), "severely endangered" (only spoken by the oldest generations), and "critically endangered" (spoken by few members of the oldest generation, often semi-speakers). Using an alternative scheme of classification, linguist Michael E. Krauss defines languages as "safe" if it is considered that children will probably be speaking them in 100 years; "endangered" if children will probably not be speaking them in 100 years (approximately 60–80% of languages fall into this category); and "moribund" if children are not speaking them now. There is a general consensus that the loss of languages harms the cultural diversity of the world. Many projects are under way aimed at preventing or slowing this loss by revitalizing endangered languages and promoting education and literacy in minority languages. Across the world many countries have enacted specific legislation aimed at protecting and stabilizing the language of indigenous speech communities. A minority of linguists have argued that language loss is a natural process that should not be counteracted, and that recording endangered languages for posterity is sufficient. Only a small number of speakers of endangered languages consider it a good thing that their indigenous language might be lost, although many consider that switching to a majority language is likely to alleviate social stigma and increase economic opportunities. However the vast majority of speakers of endangered languages consider the loss of their language to be a vital break with their cultural identity and tradition, and many work actively to counteract the impending language loss, often working closely with linguists in revitalization projects.〔Grinevald, Collette & Michel Bert. 2011. "Speakers and Communities" in Austin, Peter K; Sallabank, Julia, eds. (2011). Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88215-6. p.50〕 Recognizing that most of the world's endangered languages are unlikely to be revitalized, many linguists are working on documenting the thousands of languages of the world about which little or nothing is known. Their work may prove helpful both for the science of linguistics and in the future for the descendants of the speech communities, should they wish to learn about their ancestral language after it has become extinct. ==Number of languages== The total number of contemporary languages in the world is not known, and it is not well defined what constitutes a separate language as opposed to a dialect. Estimates vary depending on the extent and means of the research undertaken, and the definition of a distinct language and the current state of knowledge of remote and isolated language communities. The number of known languages varies over time as some of them become extinct and others are newly discovered. One of the most active research agencies is SIL International, which maintains a database, Ethnologue, kept up to date by the contributions of linguists globally. Ethnologue's 2005 count of languages in its database, excluding duplicates in different countries, was 6,912, of which 32.8% (2,269) were in Asia, and 30.3% (2,092) in Africa. This contemporary tally must be regarded as a variable number within a range. Areas with a particularly large number of languages that are nearing extinction include: Eastern Siberia, Central Siberia, Northern Australia, Central America, and the Northwest Pacific Plateau. Other hotspots are Oklahoma and the Southern Cone of South America. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「endangered language」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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