Languages go extinct via internal and external pressures on the language itself. An internal
pressure on a language results from a small pool of speakers resulting in a community that may be
spread out and unable to use the language in ordinary circumstances. An external pressure could be
government interference/suppression regarding the use of a language by its indigenous speakers. When
a language dies, we not only lose a way to speak in a differently, but we also lose a mindset that looks at
the world in a different way. Furthermore, due to the lose of this mindset we also lose indigenous
knowledge. Essentially a culture and the products of that culture go away with the language. However,
these challenges are being addressed by linguists who help in creating digital databases for the
preservation of endangered languages. This preservation can be in the form of online dictionaries and
recorded native speech. These databases can also help create new users of a language thereby creating
a new community of speakers. Furthermore, it is possible to resurrect a dead language via its writing
system, but the way it is spoken would be very hard to replicate without a native speaker. This means
that while possible to resurrect a dead language it would be a very improbable venture to take as a
linguist. That is why efforts are underway to document linguistic diversity. These efforts include online
dictionaries that document native speech, linguists studying and recording endangered languages, and
native speakers attempting to get their languages taught as foreign languages in state schools.
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