Languages go extinct because people stop speaking them. This is typically a gradual process set in motion by some form of destabilization of traditional life. The social, political, and economic environment changes around a language community to such an extent that some other language, usually the one associated with these changes, becomes the privileged language. There becomes a practical cultural hierarchy in which one language becomes associated with mobility and success within the new order and the other represents provincialism and static-ness. This phenomenon is an effect and a goal of modern empire. Empires, for the sake of taxes, resources, labor, and other such economic interests, want to draw the provinces closer. At the same time, the existence of empire, a greater power than the local language group, which leads to the sapping of the wealth of group and the change in the group members' view of themselves creates a desire and a practical need to become like the dominant group within the empire. Newer generations, more exposed to the world outside the group, often, for economic, political, and economic reasons, privilege the language of the empire, be it Russian, Chinese, or English. Not far removed from the effects and goals of empire are those of the modern nation-state. The dominant class within the state often desires to homogenize its population along the lines of the 19th and 20th century ideal of an ethnically homogeneous nation-state. Linguists can help preserve languages by providing support from outside the community. This can take the form of documentation such as dictionaries and story-collection. It can also be at a more physiological level, for when someone pays positive attention to a cultural trait such as language, it may cause those who have all but abandoned it due to the general trend of stigmatization and marginalization of the group to reconsider its merits. The answer to the question of whether a dead language can be revived depends largely on the meaning of language life one chooses to employ. If one means by life "being spoken," than it is definitely possible. However, this speech would likely be outside of the context in which the language had been employed, which may lead some to ask if it is still the same language. This way of thinking finds it difficult to believe a language can truly exist outside of its native environment. By analogy, we can more clearly examine this line of thought. To what extent is Przewalski's horse a living animal? Having been reintroduced into the wild after extinction, there is little doubt that it is a viable creature. The steppe environment in which it evolved still largely exists. However, language environments change. The question, which I will leave open, is not necessarily whether or not a language can be spoken once it has been extinct, but whether or not it can be reintroduced into a radically changed environment.
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