Why Do Languages Die, and Haw?

Document Type : Research Paper

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Abstract

Nowadays, sociolinguists are of the opimon that languages are organic entities, which go through a predictable life cycle of birth, infancy, maturation, then gradual decay and death. On the other hand, the current age is, undoubtedly, the age of great transformations, rapid developments and extreme dynamism. The effects of such radical changes are evident in the constant shifting of technology, material culture, ecosystems and even moral attitudes. One particularly striking feature of this transformation is the number of languages, which will simply cease to be spoken. This phenomenon- language death - and the factors and conditions, which give rise to it, are the subject of the present paper.

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