Language Vitality and Endangerment
UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on
Endangered Languages
Document adopted by the International Expert Meeting on UNESCO
Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages
Paris, 10–12 March 2003
CLT/CEI/DCE/ELP/PI/2003/1
UNESCO Document ii Language Vitality & Endangerment
Table of Contents
Language Vitality and Endangerment --------------------------------------------------- 1
I. Preamble ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2
II. Background ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 3
III. Supporting Endangered Languages ------------------------------------------------- 4
3.1 The Role of the Speech Community ---------------------------------------- 4
3.2 External Specialists and Speech Communities ---------------------------- 4
3.3 What Can Be Done? ---------------------------------------------------------- 5
3.4 Linguistic Diversity and Ecodiversity -------------------------------------- 6
3.5 Salvage Documentation ------------------------------------------------------ 6
IV. Assessing Language Endangerment and
Urgency of the Need for Documentation---------------------- 7
4.1 A Caveat ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 7
4.2 Language Vitality Assessment ---------------------------------------------- 7
4.2.1 Major Evaluative Factors of Language Vitality ------------------------- 7
Factor 1. Intergenerational Language Transmission -------------------------- 7
Factor 2. Absolute Number of Speakers ---------------------------------------- 8
Factor 3. Proportion of Speakers within the Total Population --------------- 9
Factor 4. Shifts in Domains of Language Use --------------------------------- 9
Factor 5. Response to New Domains and Media ------------------------------ 11
Factor 6. Availability of Materials for Language Education and Literacy-- 12
4.2.2 Language Attitudes and Policies ------------------------------------------ 12
4.2.2.1 Language Attitudes and Policies: Dominant and
Non-dominant Language Communities ----------------------- 13
Factor 7. Governmental and Institutional Language Attitudes And Policies
Including Official Status and Use ------------------------------------13
Factor 8. Community Members’ Attitudes towards their
Own Language ---------------------------------------------------------- 14
4.2.2.2 Language Attitudes and Policies: Interaction and
Social Effects ---------------------------------------------------- 15
4.2.3 Urgency of the Need for Documentation -------------------------------- 16
Factor 9. Type and Quality of Documentation ----------------------------- 16
4.3 Language Vitality Index: Evaluating the Significance of Factors ------ 17
Example 1. Self-assessment by a speech community ---------------- 17
Example 2. External evaluation ----------------------------------------- 18
V. Concluding Remarks -------------------------------------------------------------------- 18
References ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 20
Appendix 1. Language Vitality Assessment: An example from Venezuela
(prepared by María E. Villalón) -------------------------------------------------- 22
Appendix 2. Acknowledgments ---------------------------------------------------------- 24
Appendix 3. UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group Members ----------------------------- 25
UNESCO Document 1 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Language Vitality and Endangerment
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Section’s Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered
Languages1
Language diversity is essential to the human heritage. Each and every language2
embodies the unique cultural wisdom of a people. The loss of any language is thus a loss
for all humanity.
Though approximately six thousand languages still exist, many are under threat. There is
an imperative need for language documentation, new policy initiatives and new materials
to enhance the vitality of these languages.
The cooperative efforts of language communities, language professionals, NGOs and
governments will be indispensable in countering this threat. There is a pressing need to
build support for language communities in their efforts to establish meaningful new roles
for their endangered languages.
I speak my favourite language
because
that’s who I am.
We teach our children our favourite language,
because
we want them to know who they are.
(Christine Johnson, Tohono O’odham elder, American
Indian Language Development Institute, June 2002)
1
This document was prepared by the UNESCO Ad hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages (see
Appendix 3 for the list of members who contributed to this paper). This document results from the work of
many people (listed in Appendix 2) and has undergone many revisions. We acknowledge the support of the
Japanese Education Ministry’s (MEXT, Monbu-kagaku-sho) Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on
Priority Areas Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim (Osahito Miyaoka, director) which was essential
to the present document.
2
Throughout this document, the term language includes sign languages, and speech and endangeredlanguage
communities also refer to sign language communities.
UNESCO Document 2 Language Vitality & Endangerment
I. Preamble
A language is endangered when it is on a path toward extinction. Without adequate
documentation, a language that is extinct can never be revived.
A language is in danger when its speakers cease to use it, use it in an increasingly
reduced number of communicative domains, and cease to pass it on from one generation
to the next. That is, there are no new speakers, adults or children.
About 97% of the world’s people speak about 4% of the world’s languages; conversely,
about 96% of the world’s languages are spoken by about 3% of the world’s people
(Bernard 1996: 142). Most of the world’s language heterogeneity, then, is under the
stewardship of a very small number of people.
Even languages with many thousands of speakers are no longer being acquired by
children; at least 50% of the world’s more than six thousand languages are losing
speakers. We estimate that about 90% of all languages may be replaced by dominant
languages by the end of the 21st century.
Language endangerment may be the result of external forces such as military, economic,
religious, cultural or educational subjugation, or it may be caused by internal forces, such
as a community’s negative attitude towards its own language. Internal pressures often
have their source in external ones, and both halt the intergenerational transmission of
linguistic and cultural traditions. Many indigenous peoples, associating their
disadvantaged social position with their culture, have come to believe that their languages
are not worth retaining. They abandon their languages and cultures in hopes of
overcoming discrimination, to secure a livelihood and enhance social mobility or to
assimilate to the global marketplace.
The extinction of any language results in the irrecoverable loss of unique cultural,
historical and ecological knowledge. Each language is a unique expression of the human
experience of the world. Thus, the knowledge of any single language may be the key to
answering fundamental questions in the future. Every time a language dies, we have less
evidence for understanding patterns in the structure and function of human language,
human prehistory and the maintenance of the world’s diverse ecosystems. Above all,
speakers of these languages may experience the loss of their language as a loss of their
original ethnic and cultural identity (Bernard 1992, Hale 1998).
Raising awareness about language loss and language diversity will only be successful
when meaningful contemporary roles for minority languages can be established for the
requirements of modern life within the community as well as in national and international
contexts. Meaningful contemporary roles include the use of these languages in everyday
life, commerce, education, writing, the arts and/or the media. Economic and political
support by both local communities and national governments are needed to establish such
roles.
UNESCO Document 3 Language Vitality & Endangerment
There is an urgent need in almost all countries for more reliable information about the
situation of the minority languages as a basis for language support efforts at all levels.
II. Background
UNESCO’s Constitution includes the maintenance and perpetuation of language diversity
as a basic principle:
to contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the
nations through education, science and culture in order to further universal
respect for justice, for the rule of law and for human rights and
fundamental freedoms which are affirmed for the peoples of the world
without distinction of race, sex, language or religion, by the Charter of the
United Nations. (UNESCO Constitution Article 1)
‘Based on this principle, UNESCO has developed programs aimed at promoting
languages as instruments of education and culture, and as significant means through
which to participate in national life’ (Noriko Aikawa, 2001: 13).
Among these programs was the project The Red Book of Languages in Danger of
Disappearing. The purpose of that project was:
1. to systematically gather information on endangered languages (including their
status and the degree of urgency for undertaking research);
2. to strengthen research and the collection of materials relating to endangered
languages for which little or no such activity has been undertaken to date, that
belong to language families of special interest for historical and comparative
linguistics, or that are in imminent danger of extinction;
3. to undertake activities aiming to establish a world-wide project committee and a
network of regional centres as focal points for large areas on the basis of existing
contacts; and
4. to encourage publication of materials and the results of studies on endangered
languages.
One crucial goal, however, was missing from the Red Book project – that is, to work with
the endangered-language communities toward language maintenance, development,
revitalization and perpetuation. Any research in endangered language communities must
be reciprocal and collaborative. Reciprocity here entails researchers’ not only offering
their services as a quid pro quo for what they receive from the speech community, but
also being more actively involved with the community in designing, implementing and
evaluating their research projects.
At the 31st
Session of the UNESCO General Conference (October 2001), the
unanimously-adopted Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity recognized a
relationship between biodiversity, cultural diversity and linguistic diversity. UNESCO’s
UNESCO Document 4 Language Vitality & Endangerment
action plan recommends that Member States, in conjunction with speaker communities,
undertake steps towards:
1. sustaining the linguistic diversity of humanity and giving support to expression,
creation and dissemination of the greatest possible number of languages;
2. encouraging linguistic diversity at all levels of education, wherever possible, and
fostering the learning of several languages from the youngest age;
3. incorporating, where appropriate, traditional pedagogies into the educational
process with a view to preserving and making full use of culturally-appropriate
methods of communication and transmission of knowledge, and, where permitted
by speaker communities, encouraging universal access to information in the
public domain through the global network, including the promotion of linguistic
diversity in cyberspace.
III. Supporting Endangered Languages
3.1 The Role of the Speech Community
In all parts of the world, members of ethnolinguistic minorities are increasingly abandoning
their native language in favour of another language, including in childrearing and formal
education.
Among ethnolinguistic communities, a variety of opinions on the future prospects of their
languages can be observed. Some speakers of endangered languages come to consider their
own language backward and impractical. Such negative views are often directly related to
the socioeconomic pressure of a dominant speech community. Other speakers of
endangered languages, however, attempt to directly counter these threats to their language,
and commit themselves to language stabilization and revitalization activities. These
communities may establish environments such as daycare centers, schools or at least
classes in which their languages are exclusively spoken.
In the end, it is the speakers, not outsiders, who maintain or abandon languages. Still, if
communities ask for support to reinforce their threatened languages, language specialists
should make their skills available to and work with these ethnolinguistic minorities.
3.2 External Specialists and Speech Communities
External language specialists, primarily linguists, educators and activists, see their first
task as documentation. This includes the collection, annotation and analysis of data from
endangered languages. The second task entails their active participation in educational
programs. Speakers increasingly demand control over the terms and conditions that
govern research; furthermore, they claim rights to the outcomes and future uses of the
research. They want, for example, the right to informed consent and to veto power, they
want to know how results will benefit them, and they want to be able to determine how
research results will be disseminated. Above all, they want an equal relationship with
outside researchers and want to be actors in a process that is theirs, not someone else’s.
UNESCO Document 5 Language Vitality & Endangerment
3.3 What Can Be Done?
Just as speech community members react differently to language endangerment, so do
linguists, educators and activists to requests for assistance by speech communities. Such
requests relate mainly to five essential areas for sustaining endangered languages:
1. Basic linguistic and pedagogical training: providing language teachers with
training in basic linguistics, language teaching methods and techniques,
curriculum development and teaching materials development.
2. Sustainable development in literacy and local documentation skills: training
local language workers to develop orthographies if needed, to read, write, and
analyse their own languages, and to produce pedagogical materials. One of the
effective strategies here is the establishment of local research centres, where
speakers of endangered languages will be trained to study, document and archive
their own language materials. Literacy is useful to the teaching and learning of
such languages.
3. Supporting and developing national language policy: National language
policies must support diversity, including the preservation of endangered
languages. More social scientists and humanists--and speakers of endangered
languages themselves--should be actively involved in the formulation of national
language policies.
4. Supporting and developing educational policy: In the educational sector, a
number of linguists are engaged in implementing increasingly popular mother
tongue education programs. Since 1953 and especially in the past fifteen years,
UNESCO has been instrumental in this development through its policy
statements. So-called mother tongue education, however, often does not refer to
education in the ancestral languages of ethnolinguistic minorities (in most cases
endangered languages), but rather to the teaching of these languages as school
subjects. The most common educational model for teaching ethnolinguistic
minority children in schools still uses locally or nationally dominant languages as
media of instruction. Teaching exclusively in these languages supports their
spread, at the expense of endangered languages. For example, fewer than 10% of
the approximately 2000 African languages are currently used in teaching, and
none of these 10% is an endangered language. We favour the inclusion of regional
languages in formal education, but not at the expense of ethnolinguistic minorities
(The Hague Recommendations on the Educational Rights of National Minorities,
1996; Skutnabb-Kangas, 2000). It has been demonstrated convincingly that
acquiring bilingual capability need in no way diminish competence in the official
language.
5. Improving living conditions and respect for the human rights of speaker
communities: Language documenters, though not directly involved in economic
UNESCO Document 6 Language Vitality & Endangerment
and social development, can help governments identify overlooked populations.
For example, national HIV/AIDS awareness or poverty-alleviation programs
often do not consider minority communities, especially if they are illiterate.
Linguists and educators can be vital mediators by supporting these communities
in formulating claims about their linguistic and other human rights. Conversely,
materials such as those on health care, community development or language
education produced for these marginalized communities require specialist input.
Concepts and content need to be conveyed in a culturally meaningful way.
3.4 Linguistic Diversity and Ecodiversity
Among the 900 eco-regions of the world that WWF has mapped out, 238 (referred to as
the Global 200 Ecoregions) are found to be of the utmost importance for the maintenance
of the world’s ecological viability. Within these Global 200 Ecoregions, we find a vast
number of ethnolinguistic groups. These peoples have accumulated rich ecological
knowledge in their long history of living in their environment.
Conservation biology needs to be supplemented by conservation linguistics. Researchers
are exploring not just the parallels but the links between the world's biodiversity and
linguistic/cultural diversity, as well as the causes and consequences of diversity loss at all
levels. This connection is significant in itself, because it suggests that the diversity of life
is made up of diversity in nature, culture and language. This has been called biocultural
diversity by Luisa Maffi, and Michael Krauss has introduced the term logosphere to
describe the web linking the world's languages (analogous to biosphere, the web linking
the world’s ecosystems; Maffi, Krauss, and Yamamoto, 2001: 74).
3.5 Salvage Documentation
A language that can no longer be maintained, perpetuated or revitalized still merits the
most complete documentation possible. This is because each language embodies unique
cultural and ecological knowledge. It is also because languages are diverse.
Documentation of such a language is important for several reasons: 1) it enriches human
intellectual property, 2) it presents a cultural perspective that may be new to our current
knowledge and 3) the process of documentation often helps the language speaker reactivate
linguistic and cultural knowledge.
UNESCO Document 7 Language Vitality & Endangerment
IV. Assessing Language Endangerment and Urgency of the Need for Documentation
4.1 A Caveat
No single factor alone can be used to assess a language’s vitality or its need for
documentation. Language communities are complex and diverse; even assessing the
number of actual speakers of a language is difficult. We identify six factors to evaluate a
language’s vitality and state of endangerment, two factors to assess language attitudes
and one factor to evaluate the urgency of the need for documentation. Taken together,
these nine factors are especially useful for characterizing a language’s overall
sociolinguistic situation.
4.2 Language Vitality Assessment
4.2.1 Major Evaluative Factors of Language Vitality
Below we explain the six major factors identified: 1) Intergenerational Language
Transmission; 2) Absolute Number of Speakers; 3) Proportion of Speakers within the
Total Population; 4) Shifts in Domains of Language Use; 5) Response to New Domains
and Media; and 6) Availability of Materials for Language Education and Literacy. Note
that none of these factors should be used alone. A language that is ranked highly
according to one criterion may deserve immediate and urgent attention due to other
factors.
Factor 1: Intergenerational Language Transmission
The most commonly used factor in evaluating the vitality of a language is whether or not
it is being transmitted from one generation to the next (Fishman 1991). Endangerment
can be ranked on a continuum from stability to extinction. Even a rating of ‘safe’
(below), however, does not guarantee language vitality, because at any time speakers
may cease to pass on their language to the next generation. Six degrees of endangerment
may be distinguished with regard to Intergenerational Language Transmission:
Safe (5): The language is spoken by all generations. There is no sign of linguistic
threat from any other language, and the intergenerational transmission of the
language seems uninterrupted.
Stable yet threatened (5-): The language is spoken in most contexts by
all generations with unbroken intergenerational transmission, yet
multilingualism in the native language and one or more dominant
language(s) has usurped certain important communication contexts.
Note that multilingualism alone is not necessarily a threat to languages.
Unsafe (4): Most but not all children or families of a particular community speak
the language as their first language, but it may be restricted to specific social
UNESCO Document 8 Language Vitality & Endangerment
domains (such as at home, where children interact with their parents and
grandparents).
Definitively endangered (3): The language is no longer being learned as the
mother tongue by children in the home. The youngest speakers are thus of the
parental generation. At this stage, parents may still speak the language to their
children, but their children do not typically respond in the language.
Severely endangered (2): The language is spoken only by grandparents and
older generations; while the parent generation may still understand the language,
they typically do not speak it to their children.
Critically endangered (1): The youngest speakers are in the great-grandparental
generation, and the language is not used for everyday interactions. These older
people often remember only part of the language but do not use it, since there may
not be anyone to speak with.
Extinct (0): There is no one who can speak or remember the language.
Degree of
Endangerment Grade Speaker Population
safe 5
The language is used by all ages, from
children up.
unsafe 4
The language is used by some children in all
domains; it is used by all children in limited
domains.
definitively
endangered 3
The language is used mostly by the parental
generation and up.
severely endangered 2
The language is used mostly by the
grandparental generation and up.
critically endangered 1
The language is used by very few speakers,
mostly of great-grandparental generation.
extinct 0
There are no speakers.
Factor 2: Absolute Number of Speakers
It is impossible to establish a hard and fast rule for interpreting absolute numbers, but a
small speech community is always at risk. A small population is much more vulnerable to
decimation (e.g. by disease, warfare or natural disaster) than a larger one. A small
UNESCO Document 9 Language Vitality & Endangerment
language group may also merge with a neighbouring group, losing its own language and
culture.
Factor 3: Proportion of Speakers within the Total Population
The number of speakers in relation to the total population of a group is a significant
indicator of language vitality, where ‘group’ may refer to the ethnic, religious, regional or
national group with which the speaker community identifies. The following scale can be
used to appraise degrees of endangerment.
Degree of
Endangerment Grade
Proportion of Speakers Within the Total
Reference Population
safe 5 All speak the language.
unsafe 4 Nearly all speak the language.
definitively
endangered
3 A majority speak the language.
severely endangered 2 A minority speak the language.
critically endangered 1 Very few speak the language.
extinct 0 None speak the language.
Factor 4: Shifts in Domains of Language Use
Where, with whom, and the range of topics for which a language is used directly affects
whether or not it will be transmitted to the next generation.
Universal use (5): The language of the ethnolinguistic group is the language of
interaction, identity, thinking, creativity and entertainment, and is actively used in
all discourse domains for all purposes.
Multilingual parity (4): One or more dominant languages, rather than the
language of the ethnolinguistic group, is/are the primary language(s) in most
official domains: government, public offices and educational institutions. The
language in question, however, may well continue to be integral to a number of
public domains, especially in traditional religious institutions, local stores and
those places where members of the community socialize. The coexistence of the
dominant and non-dominant languages results in speakers’ using each language
for a different function (diglossia), whereby the non-dominant language is used in
informal and home contexts and the dominant language is used in official and
public contexts. Speakers may consider the dominant language to be the language
of social and economic opportunity. However, older members of the community
UNESCO Document 10 Language Vitality & Endangerment
may continue to use only their own minority language. Note that multilingualism,
common throughout the world, does not necessarily lead to language loss.
Dwindling domains (3): The non-dominant language loses ground, parents begin
to use the dominant language at home in their everyday interactions with their
children and children become semi-speakers of their own language (receptive
bilinguals). Parents and older members of the community tend to be productively
bilingual in the dominant and indigenous languages: they understand and speak
both. Bilingual children may exist in families where the indigenous language is
actively used.
Limited or formal domains (2): The non-dominant language is used only in
highly formal domains, as especially in ritual and administration. The language
may also still be used at the community centre, at festivals and at ceremonial
occasions where older members of the community have a chance to meet. The
limited domain may also include homes where grandparents and other older
extended family members reside and other traditional gathering places of the
elderly. Many people can understand the language but cannot speak it.
Highly limited domain (1): The non-dominant language is used in very restricted
domains at special occasions, usually by very few individuals in a community,
e.g. ritual leaders on ceremonial occasions. Some other individuals may
remember at least some of the language (rememberers).
Extinct (0): The language is not spoken at any place at any time.
Degree of
Endangerment Grade Domains and Functions
universal use 5
The language is used in all domains and for all
functions.
multilingual parity 4
Two or more languages may be used in most social
domains and for most functions.
dwindling
domains 3
The language is used in home domains and for many
functions, but the dominant language begins to
penetrate even home domains.
limited or formal
domains 2
The language is used in limited social domains and
for several functions.
highly limited
domains 1
The language is used only in a very restricted number
of domains and for very few functions.
extinct 0
The language is not used in any domain for any
function.
UNESCO Document 11 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Note that multilingualism is a fact of life in most areas of the world. Speakers do not have
to be monolingual for their language to be vital. However, it is crucial that the indigenous
language serve a meaningful function in culturally important domains.
Factor 5: Response to New Domains and Media
New areas for language use may emerge as community living conditions change. While
some language communities do succeed in expanding their own language into new
domains, most do not. Schools, new work environments and new media, including
broadcast media and the Internet, usually serve only to expand the scope and power of a
dominant language at the expense of endangered languages. Although no existing
domains of the endangered language may be lost, the use of the dominant language in
new domains may have mesmerizing power, as with television.
If the communities do not meet the challenges of modernity with their language, it
becomes increasingly irrelevant and stigmatized.
Degree of
Endangerment Grade
New Domains and Media Accepted by the
Endangered Language
dynamic 5 The language is used in all new domains.
robust/active 4 The language is used in most new domains.
receptive 3 The language is used in many new domains.
coping 2 The language is used in some new domains.
minimal 1 The language is used only in a few new
domains.
inactive 0 The language is not used in any new
domains.
The type and use of these new domains will vary according to the local context. For
example, an endangered language may be used in one new domain, perhaps broadcast
media including radio and television, but only for a half-hour a week. Though the
availability of these media gives the language a potentially high ranking, the extreme
time limitation results in limited exposure to the language, which thus would rank only a
2 or 3. Inevitably, there will be different levels of achievement in different media.
In education, assigning criteria can be based on two dimensions: up to what level and
how broadly across the curriculum the endangered language is used. An endangered
language which is the medium of instruction for all courses and at all levels will rank
much higher than an endangered language that is taught only one hour per week.
UNESCO Document 12 Language Vitality & Endangerment
All new domains, be they in employment, education or the media, must be considered
together when assessing an endangered language community’s response.
Factor 6: Availability of Materials for Language Education and Literacy
Education in the language is essential for language vitality. There are language
communities that maintain strong oral traditions, and some do not wish their language to
be written. In other communities, literacy in their language is a source of pride. In
general, however, literacy is directly linked with social and economic development.
Books and materials on all topics for various ages and language abilities are needed.
Grade Availability of Written Materials
5
There is an established orthography and a literacy tradition with
grammars, dictionaries, texts, literature and everyday media. Writing in
the language is used in administration and education.
4
Written materials exist, and at school, children are developing literacy in
the language. Writing in the language is not used in administration.
3
Written materials exist and children may be exposed to the written form
at school. Literacy is not promoted through print media.
2
Written materials exist, but they may only be useful for some members of
the community; for others, they may have a symbolic significance.
Literacy education in the language is not a part of the school curriculum.
1
A practical orthography is known to the community and some material is
being written.
0
No orthography is available to the community.
4.2.2 Language Attitudes and Policies
The maintenance, promotion or abandonment of non-dominant languages may be
dictated by the dominant linguistic culture, be it regional or national. The linguistic
ideology of a state may inspire linguistic minorities to mobilize their populations towards
the maintenance of their languages, or may force them to abandon them. These linguistic
attitudes can be a powerful force either for promotion or for loss of a language.
Members of the dominant culture shape the ideological environment, propagating a value
system in which their own language is seen as a positive asset and believed to be a
unifying symbol for the region or state. When several larger linguistic communities
compete for the same political or social space, they may each have their own conflicting
linguistic attitudes. This leads to the general perception that multiple languages cause
divisiveness and are a threat to national unity. The fostering of a single dominant
UNESCO Document 13 Language Vitality & Endangerment
language is one attempt to deal with this real or merely perceived threat. In doing so, the
governing body may legislate the use of language. Accordingly, policies may discourage
or even prohibit the use of other languages. National policy, including the lack of overt
policy, has in any case a direct impact on the language attitude of the community itself.
4.2.2.1 Language Attitudes and Policies: Dominant and Non-dominant Language
Communities
A country's government may have an explicit language use policy for its multiple
languages. At one extreme, one language may be designated as the sole official language
of the country while all others are condemned. At the other extreme, all languages of a
nation may receive equal official status. Equal legal status, however, does not guarantee
language maintenance and long-term vitality of a language.
Factor 7: Governmental and Institutional Language Attitudes and Policies,
Including Official Status and Use
Governments and institutions have explicit policies and/or implicit attitudes towards the
dominant and subordinate languages.
Equal support (5): All of a country’s languages are valued as assets. All
languages are protected by law, and the government encourages the maintenance
of all languages by implementing explicit policies.
Differentiated support (4): Non-dominant languages are explicitly protected by
the government, but there are clear differences in the contexts in which the
dominant/official language(s) and non-dominant (protected) language(s) are used.
The government encourages ethnolinguistic groups to maintain and use their
languages, most often in private domains (as the home language) rather than in
public domains (e.g. in schools). Some of the domains of non-dominant language
use enjoy high prestige (e.g. at ceremonial occasions).
Passive assimilation (3): The dominant group is indifferent as to whether or not
minority languages are spoken, as long as the dominant group’s language is the
language of interaction. Though this is not an explicit language policy, the
dominant group’s language is the de facto official language. Most domains of
non-dominant language use do not enjoy high prestige.
Active assimilation (2): The government encourages minority groups to abandon
their own languages by providing education for the minority group members in
the dominant language. Speaking and/or writing in non-dominant languages is not
encouraged.
Forced assimilation (1): The government has an explicit language policy
declaring the dominant group’s language to be the only official national language,
while the languages of subordinate groups are neither recognized nor supported.
UNESCO Document 14 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Prohibition (0): Minority languages are prohibited from use in any domain. They
may be tolerated in private domains.
Degree of
Support Grade Official Attitudes towards Language
equal support 5
All languages are protected.
differentiated
support 4
Minority languages are protected primarily as the
language of private domains. The use of the
language is prestigious.
passive
assimilation 3
No explicit policy exists for minority languages; the
dominant language prevails in the public domain.
active
assimilation 2
Government encourages assimilation to the
dominant language. There is no protection for
minority languages.
forced
assimilation 1
The dominant language is the sole official language,
while non-dominant languages are neither
recognized nor protected.
prohibition 0
Minority languages are prohibited.
Factor 8: Community Members’ Attitudes towards Their Own Language
Members of a speech community are not usually neutral towards their own language.
They may see it as essential to their community and identity and promote it; they may use
it without promoting it; they may be ashamed of it and, therefore, not promote it; or they
may see it as a nuisance and actively avoid using it.
When members’ attitudes towards their language are very positive, the language may be
seen as a key symbol of group identity. Just as people value family traditions, festivals
and community events, members of the community may see their language as a cultural
core value, vital to their community and ethnic identity. If members view their language
as a hindrance to economic mobility and integration into mainstream society, they may
develop negative attitudes towards their language.
UNESCO Document 15 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Grade Community Members’ Attitudes towards Language
5 All members value their language and wish to see it promoted.
4 Most members support language maintenance.
3 Many members support language maintenance; others are
indifferent or may even support language loss.
2 Some members support language maintenance; others are
indifferent or may even support language loss.
1 Only a few members support language maintenance; others are
indifferent or may even support language loss.
0 No one cares if the language is lost; all prefer to use a dominant
language.
4.2.2.2 Language Attitudes and Policies: Interaction and Social Effects
Attitudes towards a language, be they positive, indifferent or negative, interact with
governmental policy and societal pressures to result in increased or decreased language
use in different domains.
In many cases, community members abandon their language because they believe they
have no alternative or because they do not have enough knowledge about the long-term
consequences of the choices they make. People in such situations have often been
presented with an either/or choice (’either you cling to your mother-tongue and identity
but don’t get a job or you leave your language and have better chances in life’). Actually,
maintaining and using both languages will allow even better chances in life.
When languages have an unequal power relationship, members of the subordinate group
usually speak both their native language and the dominant language. Speakers may
gradually come to use only the dominant language. On the other hand, the subordinate
group may resist linguistic domination and mobilize its members to revitalize or fortify
their language. Strategies for such linguistic activism must be tailored to the particular
sociolinguistic situation, which generally is one of three types:
a. Language Revival: re-introducing a language that has been in limited use for
some time, such as Hebrew after the creation of the state of Israel or Gaelic in
Ireland;
b. Language Fortification: increasing the presence of the non-dominant language
to counterbalance a perceived linguistic threat from a dominant language,
such as Welsh to counterbalance English;
c. Language Maintenance: supporting the stable use, in speaking and in writing
(where orthographies exist), of the non-dominant language in a region or state
UNESCO Document 16 Language Vitality & Endangerment
with both multilingualism and a dominant language (lingua franca), such as
Maori in New Zealand.
For language vitality, speakers ideally would not only strongly value their language, but
also know in which social domains their language is to be supported. A positive attitude
is critical for the long-term stability of a language.
4.2.3 Urgency of the Need for Documentation
Factor 9: Type and Quality of Documentation
As a guide for assessing the urgency of the need for documenting a language, the type
and quality of existing language materials must be identified. Of central importance are
written texts, including transcribed, translated and annotated audiovisual recordings of
natural speech. Such information is important in helping members of the language
community formulate specific tasks and enables linguists to design research projects
together with members of the language community.
Nature of
Documentation Grade Language Documentation
superlative 5
There are comprehensive grammars and
dictionaries, extensive texts, and a constant flow
of language materials. Abundant annotated highquality
audio and video recordings exist.
good 4
There is one good grammar and a number of
adequate grammars, dictionaries, texts, literature
and occasionally updated everyday media;
adequate annotated high-quality audio and video
recordings exist.
fair 3
There may be an adequate grammar or sufficient
numbers of grammars, dictionaries and texts but
no everyday media; audio and video recordings
of varying quality or degree of annotation may
exist.
fragmentary 2
There are some grammatical sketches, word-lists
and texts useful for limited linguistic research but
with inadequate coverage. Audio and video
recordings of varying quality, with or without
any annotation, may exist.
inadequate 1
There are only a few grammatical sketches, short
word-lists and fragmentary texts. Audio and
video recordings do not exist, are of unusable
quality or are completely un-annotated.
UNESCO Document 17 Language Vitality & Endangerment
undocumented 0
No material exists.
4.3 Language Vitality Index: Evaluating the Significance of Factors
This section describes how the above nine factors may be used. Taken together, the tables
are a useful instrument for assessing the situation of a community’s language and the type
of support needed for language maintenance, revitalization, perpetuation and
documentation.
The vitality of languages varies widely depending on the different situations of speech
communities. The need for documentation also differs under varying conditions.
Languages cannot be assessed simply by adding the numbers; we therefore suggest
such simple addition not be done. Instead, the language vitality factors given above must
be examined according to the purpose of the assessment.
Above we have explored the following factors:
Factor 1. Intergenerational Language Transmission (scale)
Factor 2. Absolute Number of Speakers (real numbers)
Factor 3. Proportion of Speakers within the Total Population (scale)
Factor 4. Shifts in Domains of Language Use (scale)
Factor 5. Response to New Domains and Media (scale)
Factor 6. Availability of Materials for Language Education and Literacy (scale)
Factor 7. Governmental and Institutional Language Attitudes
and Policies, Including Official Status and Use: (scale)
Factor 8. Community Members’ Attitudes towards Their Own Language (scale)
Factor 9. Type and Quality of Documentation (scale)
The Factor descriptions given above are offered as guidelines. Each user should adapt
these guidelines to the local context and to the specific purpose of the project.
Example 1. Self-assessment by a speech community
A speech community may examine these factors first to assess their language situation
and to determine whether action is needed and, if so, what to do next. For this purpose,
although all factors are important, the first six are especially useful. The community may
find that the language is mostly being spoken by grandparents and the older generation,
so their language could be characterized as ‘severely endangered’ (Grade 2) with regard
to Factor 1, ‘Intergenerational Language Transmission’. In addition, the community may
find that the language is used mainly on ceremonial occasions and at community
festivals. In terms of Factor 4, ‘Shifts in Domains of Language Use,’ then, the language
use can be assessed at the level of ’limited or formal domains’ (Grade 2). On the other
hand, the community may find that ‘most members of the community support language
UNESCO Document 18 Language Vitality & Endangerment
maintenance’ (Grade 4, Factor 8, ‘Community Members’ Attitudes towards Their Own
Language’). At this point, the community members may conclude that their language is
in extreme danger of being lost in a short period of time if nothing is done about the
situation. They have also found that the community is very much interested in reversing
language shift and has expressed its support for language revitalization efforts. Once the
community considers the full range of factors and completes its self-assessment, it will
have a well-founded basis on which to seek support from relevant agencies.
Example 2. External evaluation
The guidelines could also be utilized as a policy tool by other bodies, of an official or
voluntary nature, concerned with language maintenance, revitalization, literacy
development or documentation.
When more than one language is being considered, each of the above factors may
become an important point of comparison. The result of such comparison has a wide
range of possibilities for fortifying language diversity in a particular region. It may be
useful in ranking the severity of language endangerment for the purpose of support; in
educating the public on the importance of language diversity; in formulating a language
policy for the purpose of maintaining language diversity; in mobilizing language
specialists to counter language shift; or in alerting national and international
organizations to the diminishing human intellectual resources. (See Appendix 1 for an
example of comparison of languages in Venezuela.)
V. Concluding Remarks
The world faces new challenges in keeping its languages alive and well. It is time for the
peoples of the world to pool their resources and build on the strengths of their linguistic
and cultural diversity. This entails pooling resources at all levels: individual language
specialists, local speaker community, NGOs, and governmental and institutional
organizations.
At the local community level and over the past several decades, for example, many
people have been working to develop language education programs, usually with
extremely limited technical resources. Unlike teachers of major languages of the world,
they lack not only formal training in language teaching, now often required by local
governments for certification as a teacher, but also language curricula and, even more
crucially, usable basic language descriptions. These language teachers require a variety of
skills: some are pedagogical in nature (e.g. curriculum and materials development and
language teaching techniques and methods); some are sociolinguistic (e.g. analysis of
ongoing language contact processes and of past and present ancestral language
functions); and some are linguistic (e.g. data collection, analysis and description).
Similarly, linguists, language activists and policy makers have a long-term task to
compile and disseminate the most effective and viable mechanisms for sustaining and
revitalizing the world’s endangered languages. Most importantly, they have a
UNESCO Document 19 Language Vitality & Endangerment
responsibility to work collaboratively with endangered language communities, which
should enjoy an equal partnership in these projects.
We all share a responsibility to ensure that our languages are maintained and perpetuated
into future generations. The reason why we must fortify the diversity of language is
captured by a Navajo elder:
If you don't breathe,
there is no air.
If you don't walk,
there is no earth.
If you don't speak,
there is no world.
(Paraphrased by Yamamoto from a Navajo elder's words, PBS-TV
Millennium Series Tribal Wisdom and the Modern World, hosted by
David Maybury-Lewis, aired on 24 May 1992)
UNESCO Document 20 Language Vitality & Endangerment
References
Aikawa, Noriko
2001 UNESCO’s Programme on Languages. Conference Handbook on
Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim, pp. 13-24. Osaka: Endangered
Languages of the Pacific Rim Project.
Bernard, H. Russell
1992 Preserving Language Diversity: Human Organization 51 (1),
82-89.
1996 Language Preservation and Publishing. In Indigenous Literacies in the
Americas: Language Planning from the Bottom up, ed. by Nancy H.
Hornberger. Pp. 139-156. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter.
Brenzinger, Matthias
2000 The Endangered Languages of the World. Presented at the Colloquium:
Language Endangerment, Research and Documentation – Setting
Priorities for the 21st
Century (organized by Matthias Brenzinger and
supported by Volkswagen Foundation). 12-17 February 2000. KarlArnold-Akademie,
Bad Godesberg, Germany.
Fishman, Joshua A.
1991 Reversing Language Shift: Theoretical and Empirical Foundations of
Assistance to Threatened Languages. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Hague Recommendations, The
1996/1997 The Hague Recommendations Regarding the Education Rights of
National Minorities. International Journal on Minority and Group Rights.
Special Issue on the Education Rights of National Minorities 4.2.
http://www.osce.org/hcnm/.
Hale, Ken
1998 On endangered languages and the importance of linguistic diversity. In
Endangered Languages; Language Loss and Community Response, ed. by
Lenore A. Grenoble and Lindsay J. Whaley. Pp. 192-216. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Krauss, Michael
2000 Preliminary Suggestions for Classification and Terminology for Degrees
of Language Endangerment. (See Brenzinger 2000.)
Maffi, Luisa, Michael Krauss, and Akira Yamamoto
2001 The World Languages in Crisis: Questions, Challenges, and a Call for
Action. Presented for discussion with participants at the 2nd
International
Conference on Endangered Languages of the Pacific Rim, Kyoto, Japan.
UNESCO Document 21 Language Vitality & Endangerment
November 30 – December 2, 2001. Conference Handbook on Endangered
Languages of the Pacific Rim, pp. 75-78. Osaka: Endangered Languages
of the Pacific Rim Project.
Skutnabb-Kangas, Tove
2000 Linguistic genocide in education - or worldwide diversity and human
rights? Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates.
Wurm, Stephen A.
2000 Threatened languages in the Western Pacific area from Taiwan to, and
including, Papua New Guinea. (See Brenzinger 2000.)
WWF International and Terralingua
2000 Indigenous and Traditional Peoples of the World and Ecoregion
Conservation: An Integrated Approach to Conserving the World’s
Biological and Cultural Diversity. 1196 Gland, Switzerland: WWF-World
Wide Fund for Nature [formerly World Wildlife Fund].
UNESCO Document 22 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Appendix 1. Language Vitality Assessment: An example from Venezuela (prepared
by María E. Villalón)
In this document nine factors have been proposed to assess language vitality and the need
for documentation. These can be applied simultaneously to several languages in order to
obtain a comparative picture of their relative strength, appraise their contrasting
sociolinguistic situation and establish priorities for action. The following example
illustrates the comparative application of the factors across three indigenous languages of
Venezuela, a country that recognizes and protects its minority languages. Mapoyo is a
Cariban language no longer spontaneously spoken, but remembered by a handful of
elders in a multi-ethnic community all of whose members communicate in Spanish,
which is also the first language learned by all the Mapoyo children. Kari’ña is a Cariban
language as well but has many more speakers, most of whom are bilingual. Some elders
learned Kari’ña as their first language and can speak it fluently, although nowadays
Spanish is the preferred language of communication for most Kari’ña, who number more
than eight thousand. Sanima, related to Yanomami, has over two thousand speakers, yet
very few of them are bilingual in the dominant Spanish language.
The ‘number of speakers’ row in the table below refers to the number of fully competent
speakers. In the case of Kari’ña and Sanima, the figures given are estimates because no
recent, reliable statistics are available. The Mapoyo ciphers, based on relatively recent
fieldwork, are more precise.3
They are placed in parentheses to indicate that they quantify
’rememberers’ rather than speakers. With regard to ‘Availability of Materials for
Language Education and Literacy’, I have given Mapoyo a 1, because a practical
orthography has been developed for the first time and will be presented shortly to the
community, along with audiovisual learning materials.4
Finally, although Venezuelan
Sanima is basically undocumented, unannotated recordings of varying quality exist, as
does a grammatical sketch of the closely related and better-documented Brazilian
variety.5
Thus, it may be ranked as a 1 on ‘Type and Quality of Documentation’.
3
Villalón, María Eugenia & Tania Granadillo. Los marcadores de Persona de la Lengua Mapoyo. In Hein
van der Voort and Simon van de Kerke (eds.), Indigenous Languages of Lowland South America. CNWS
Publications Vol. 90, (ILLA) Vol. 1. Leiden: Leiden University, 2000, p. 197-211.
4
María Eugenia Villalón. Registro y Documentación de las Lenguas Indígenas Mapoyo y Kari’ña del
Estado Bolívar. Parte I: Mapoyo. Caracas: Instituto del Patrimonio Cultural, 1999.
5
By Donald M. Borgman. Sanuma. In Desmond C. Derbyshire and Geoffrey K. Pullum (eds.) Handbook of
Amazonian Languages, Vol. 2. New York: Mouton de Gruyter, 1990, p. 16-248.
UNESCO Document 23 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Estimated Degree of Endangerment and Urgency of the Need for Documentation:
The Case of Three Venezuelan Indigenous Languages
Languages
Factors
Mapoyo Kari’ña Sanima
Intergenerational Language
Transmission
0 2 5
Absolute Number of Speakers (7) 650 2500
Proportion of Speakers within
the Total Population
1 2 5
Shifts in Domains of Language
Use
0 2 5
Response to New Domains and
Media
0 1 ---
Availability of Materials for
Language Education and
Literacy
1 3 0
Governmental & Institutional
Language Attitudes and Policies
Including Official Status & Use
5 5 5
Community Members’ Attitudes
towards Their Own Language
2 3 5
Type and Quality of
Documentation
1 3 1
UNESCO Document 24 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Appendix 2. Acknowledgments
An intensive working symposium was held to further refine this document in Kyoto,
Japan, from 22 to 25 November 2002, attended by Alexandra Aikhenvald, Matthias
Brenzinger, Arienne Dwyer, Tjeerd de Graaf, Shigeki Kaji, Michael Krauss, Osahito
Miyaoka, Nicholas Ostler, Hinako Sakamoto, Fumiko Sasama, Suzuko Tamura, Tasaku
Tsunoda, María E. Villalón, Kimiko Yasaka and Akira Yamamoto. On 23 November, at
the simultaneous 4th
International Conference on Endangered Languages of the Pacific
Rim, many conference participants contributed valuable suggestions, including Sachiko
Ide, Oscar E. Aguilera F., Hinako Sakamoto, and Yukio Uemura.
We also acknowledge the teachers of Oklahoma and Kansas Native American languages
representing fourteen different language communities for their contribution to our
formulation of recommendations in this document. These language teachers were
participants in a series of two-day training seminars during 2002, supported by the Ford
Foundation, the Oklahoma Native Language Association and the Indigenous Language
Institute.
During the several months of the preparatory period, a number of specialists contributed
comments on earlier versions of this document: Alexandra Aikhenvald, Deborah
Anderson, Marcellino Berardo, H. Russell Bernard, Steven Bird, Sebastian Drude, Nick
Evans, Bernard Comrie, Bruce Connell, Östen Dahl, Bruna Franchetto, Raquel
Guirardello, K. David Harrison, Tracy Hirata-Edds, Mary Linn, Luisa Maffi, Doug
Marmion, Jack Martin, Mike Maxwell, Steve Moran, Gabas Nilson, Jr., Lizette Peter,
Nathan Poell, Margaret Reynolds, Hinako Sakamoto, Gunter Senft, Tove SkutnabbKangas,
Peter Wittenburg and Kimiko Yasaka. At the International Expert Meeting on
UNESCO Programme Safeguarding of Endangered Languages (Paris, UNESCO
Headquarters, 10-12 March 2003), many useful comments and suggestions were offered
by participants. Our heartfelt thanks go to them, and, especially, to H. E. Mr. Olabiyi
Babalola Joseph Yai.
UNESCO Document 25 Language Vitality & Endangerment
Appendix 3. UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group Members Who Contributed to the
Language Vitality and Endangerment Paper
Matthias Brenzinger matthias.brenzinger@uni-koeln.de
Arienne M. Dwyer anthlinguist@ku.edu
Tjeerd de Graaf degraaf@let.rug.nl, tdegraaf@fa.knaw.nl
Colette Grinevald Colette.Grinevald@univ-lyon2.fr
Michael Krauss ffmek@uaf.edu
Osahito Miyaoka omiyaoka@utc.osaka-gu.ac.jp
Nicholas Ostler nostler@chibcha.demon.co.uk
Osamu Sakiyama sakiyama@shc.usp.ac.jp
María E. Villalón atchim@etheron.net
Akira Y. Yamamoto akira@ku.edu
Ofelia Zepeda ofelia@u.arizona.edu