REVITALIZE OR NOT? MINORITY COMMUNITIES AND ENDANGERED LANGUAGES IN A GLOBALIZING WORLD

摘要

According to the statistics regarding the endangerment of languages, a very high percent ofudthe languages of the world are in danger of extinction. Some estimations state that approximately 90%udof the 6,000-7,000 languages spoken today will be extinct in 100 years if the processes of languageudchange and language loss continue at the present pace. According to others, this rate is around 50%.udThis raises the question of language revitalization and of reversing language shift. My paper aims toudpresent the newest trends in language revitalization theory and practices with a special regard toudglobalization and linguistic human rights from the sociolinguistic and ecolinguistic perspective. Theudpaper also aims to give an overview of the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scaleudwhich provides a more detailed description of the level of endangerment of the particular languages.ud