Dalam linguistik, kematian bahasa terjadi ketika suatu bahasa kehilangan penutur jatiterakhir. Lebih lanjut lagi, kepunahan bahasa terjadi ketika bahasa itu tidak lagi diketahui, termasuk oleh penutur bahasa kedua. Istilah serupa yang lain termasuk pembunuhan bahasa atau linguisida,[1] yang merupakan kematian bahasa dari sebab-sebab alamiah atau politik dan sebab glotofagi yang jarang,[2] yang merupakan penyerapan atau penggantian bahasa kecil dengan bahasa utama.
Kematian bahasa adalah suatu proses ketika tingkat kecakapan bahasa komunitas tutur dalam ragam bahasa mereka menurun, yang akhirnya mengakibatkan tidak adanya penutur jati atau fasih dari ragam bahasa tersebut. Kematian bahasa dapat memengaruhi bentuk bahasa apa pun, termasuk dialek-dialek. Kematian bahasa tidak seharusnya disamakan dengan penggerusan bahasa (juga disebut kehilangan bahasa), yang menggambarkan hilangnya kemahiran bahasa ibu seorang individu.[3]
Pada tahun 2000-an, sejumlah lebih kurang 7.000 bahasa penutur jati ada di seluruh dunia. Sebagian besarnya adalah bahasa-bahasa kecil yang terancam punah. Satu perhitungan yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2004 memperkirakan bahwa sekitar 90% dari bahasa-bahasa yang dituturkan pada saat ini akan punah pada tahun 2050.[7][8]
↑"Study by language researcher, David Graddol". NBC News. 2004-02-26. Diakses tanggal 2012-03-22. Ian on Friday, January 16, 2009 61 comments (2009-01-16). "Research by Southwest University for Nationalities College of Liberal Arts". Chinasmack.com. Diakses tanggal 2012-03-22. Pemeliharaan CS1: Banyak nama: authors list (link) Pemeliharaan CS1: Nama numerik: authors list (link). Ethnologue records 7,358 living languages known,"Ethnologue". Ethnologue. Diarsipkan dari asli tanggal October 5, 2001. Diakses tanggal 2012-03-22. but on 2015-05-20, Ethnologue reported only 7,102 known living languages; and on 2015-02-23, Ethnologue already reported only 7,097 known living languages.
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