Endangered Languages — 2018 Paper II

Approach

• Demand of Question: Explain what endangered languages are, why they decline and why their preservation is anthropologically important.
• Structuring the Response: Define language endangerment, identify major causes and consequences, and suggest community-based preservation measures.
• Key Dimensions to Cover: Language shift, intergenerational transmission, dominant languages, globalization, tribal languages, cultural knowledge and revitalization.

Model Answer

Introduction: An endangered language is one whose continued survival is threatened because its speakers increasingly shift to another language and children cease to acquire it as their mother tongue.

The most important indicator is:

Breakdown of intergenerational transmission → Language endangerment

Causes

Languages become endangered due to:

• migration and urbanization;
• dominance of regional or global languages;
• formal schooling in non-native languages;
• economic pressure;
• stigmatization of minority speech;
• displacement and population decline.

Small indigenous and tribal communities are particularly vulnerable.

Anthropological significance

Language contains culturally specific knowledge concerning:

• kinship;
• ecology;
• medicinal plants;
• oral history;
• ritual;
• cosmology.

Therefore:

Language loss → Loss of cultural memory and indigenous knowledge

The decline of several Andamanese languages illustrates the connection between demographic vulnerability and linguistic loss.

Preservation

Measures include:

• mother-tongue-based education;
• community language transmission;
• dictionaries and grammars;
• digital archives;
• recording oral traditions;
• community-controlled revitalization.

Conclusion: Language endangerment is not merely linguistic decline but a threat to cultural diversity, identity and accumulated indigenous knowledge. Effective revitalization must place the speech community at the centre.