Languages also go through an extinction process if the number of their potential speakers, keeps on decreasing. A language that no longer has any speakers or has no living descendants – is classified as an extinct language. While we often confuse an “extinct language” with a “dead language”, a language is called dead – when it is no longer the native language of any community, even if it in use. Latin can be an example of a dead language. A language is called extinct when it no longer has any speakers and is devoid of any written use. The answer, to the question of any language becoming extinct could be colonization, language shift or cultural assimilation. Let’s take a look at some extinct languages! Why they vanished without trace is something we might not be able to rightfully answer. Here we have a mention of some languages that lost to time and transformation.
#1 Hattic
This language is so obscure that none of us know what the ‘Hattians’ actually called it. And because of such lack of knowledge it came be to known as “Hattic”. Hattic is a term that has an Assyrian or Egyptian origin. These people, known as the ‘Hattians’, were the inhabitants of ancient Turkey. Hattic became an extinct language after they assimilated with the Indo-European people who invaded Anatolia (ancient Turkey). There is an acute scarcity of texts written in the Hattic which makes it even more difficult to trace its actual and true origin. Another problem in the reconstruction of Hattic, is the cuneiform alphabet that it uses.
#2 Harappan
Although the dictionary validates this word, this language of the popular Indus Valley Civilization, is now no more in use. the civilized society of the ‘Harappans’ lasted from 3300-1300 B.C. this language entered a phase of decadence gradually with the end of the Indus civilization. And its script was left without being deciphered, since there were no living descendants. Though its an extinct language now, speculations still exist as to- whether it has a Dravidian or an Indo-European origin.
#3 Dacia
Dacia refers to modern day Romania. And this place has been a cradle of warrior culture for a good amount of years. This language became extinct by the 6th or the 7th century, as with the passage of time the inhabitants of Dacia adopted Latin, as their language. If you closely observe the Romanian language, a lot of words have Dacian origin. Also, it is highly difficult to reconstruct Dacian, as only one inscription written in this language has survived. The Dacians also spoke some variety of Indo-European languages, but a majority of these languages have been lost to time.
#4 Iberian
The origins of this language are still unclear. There is a lot of debate over Iberian being related to Celtic, Basque or Berber languages. Some believe it has a Caucasian origin. This language was written not just in one plain alphabet, but three variants of a Phoenician derived script. When the Romans took over the country, Iberian became extinct. It is also believed that the Spanish language gets many of its words from this ancient language. No more is known.
#5 Etruscan
Though this can be a total myth, but people believe that the last alleged speaker of this language was Caesar Claudius. It is also said that Caesar was the one to compile a history of the Etruscans. But the difficulty of reconstructing Etruscan lies in the very fact that, there is an acute shortage rather scarcity of texts which might actually help in restructuring it. Only short inscriptions exist, and they are not sufficient. Etruscans developed their own alphabet based on the Euboean Greek, which makes it even more difficult for anyone to reconstruct it with ease. Although there exists a linen book that has some words from this language.
#6 Eyak
It is believed that one language disappears every 15 days and as many as half of the world’s 7000 languages are expected to be extinct languages by the end of this century. Eyak was spoken in Alaska up until the year, 2008. But with the death of Marie Smith Jones, the last known full-blooded Eyak and the only person fluent with the language, Eyak became extinct. Although Marie Jones has contributed a lot by penning a dictionary and grammar rules for speaking Eyak- the language sees no hopes of revival.
#7 Jersey Dutch
The Jersey Dutch was a variant of the Dutch language and was spoken in some counties of New Jersey. It wasn’t one among the list of extinct languages until the 20th century. But later with no potential speakers, the language was lost somewhere and probably forgotten about. Linguists think that Jersey Dutch highly resonates with creole and creole might be carrying some of its elements.
#8 Proto-Indo-European
A variety of languages like English, Russian, Farsi, Bengali, Kurdish- have roots in the PIE or the Proto-Indo-European language. It is believed that the PEI was used be the most prolific linguistic family in the world. It became one of the extinct languages with the passage of time as much of people’s knowledge about it were based on educated guesses and not substantial proof. It has now been reduced to a heritage language as there exist no potential and fluent speakers.
#9 Maypure
This was the language of a tribal community living in the Orinoco Basin. The Orinoco Basin now forms part of modern day Venezuela. This tribal group was exterminated by a rival tribe but somehow their language survived. But it couldn’t survive for long. And gradually it became extinct. Maypure is now counted among the extinct languages of the world. There exist some texts that were once compiled by German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt, who collected the words from some Maco native who must have known Maypure.
#10 Hunnic
It is believed that the Huns did not preserve their language in the form of texts or inscriptions. Somehow a few words survived, as certain Roman scholars had collected them. And the language became extinct after the Huns existed no more. The fact that the origins of Hunnic are also debatable reveals that, it would have someday or the other reached extinction. There are no possible means to revive it but attempts are still being made to reconstruct it, taking the help of historical texts and relating Hunnic to Turkic, Altaic and Indo-European language, to search for its origin.
Any language lost is an equivalent of an abundance of knowledge lost. Though this might not be an issue that immediately affects us, but many of our ancient languages reaching an extinction status is something truly alarming. it is not just about extinct languages, it is about the cultural heritage that is on the verge of extinction!
