Language Maintenance and Shift

Language Maintenance and Shift

Language maintenance generally refers to the effort to maintain or to defend a language from the extinction.

Language shift generally refers to the process by which one language displaces another in the linguistic repertoire.

Language shift happen commonly in three major areas:

1.      Migrant minorities

2.      Non-Migrant communities

3.      Migrant majorities

 

Language Death and Loss

Language death has occurred when a language is no longer spoken naturally anywhere in the world. The process of language death for the language comes about through the kind of gradual loss of fluency and competence by its speaker.

 

Factors Contributing to Language Shift

v  Economic, Social and Political Factors

v  Demographic Factors

 

Language Revival

Generally, language revival is the result of the efforts of maintaining the language, which has been death or loss.