Extinct language

"Dead language" redirects here. For the process of language extinction, see Language death. For the album by The Flatliners, see Dead Language (album).

An extinct language (or dead language) is a language that failed to recover from language death and is therefore no longer naturally spoken by anyone as a first language nor as an additional language. A dormant language is a dead language that still serves as a core component of an existing ethnic or religious group's identity—such languages are often undergoing revitalization. By contrast, a language that is still naturally spoken as a first language is classified as a modern or living language. Once a living language enters the process of language death, it is classified as an endangered language and remains in this state until extinction or revitalization.

Languages have typically become extinct as a result of the process of cultural assimilation leading to language shift, and the gradual abandonment of a native language in favor of a foreign lingua franca.

As of the 2000s, a total of roughly 7,000 natively spoken languages existed worldwide. Most of these are minor languages in danger of extinction; one estimate published in 2004 expected that some 90% of the languages spoken at that time will have become extinct by 2050.

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