A variety of factors can influence the survivability of a language. Namely, in the case of Native American dialects like Siletz, the imposition of imperialist rule over and displacement of indigenous communities can gravely influence the geographic preponderance of dialects. In the case of the Siletz example, "when settlers were streaming west in the 1850s on the Oregon Trail and displacing American Indians from desirable farmland, government Indian policy created artificial conglomerates of tribes, jamming them into one place even though the groups spoke different languages and in many instances had little in common" (Johnson 2012). Due to the Siletz having a greater number of individuals who spoke Silitz Dee-ni, in the newly created proximate environment, other groups were forced into forsaking their original languages for Siletz to integrate into an artificially created community (Johnson 2012). As such, languages can become 'dead' through the imposition of a dialect's hegemony over others, whether the speaking group intended it or not. Expanding on this notion, the disproportionate growth of a particular population necessarily requires the geographical expansion of its given language. If they proportion becomes substantial enough, a minority group may not be able to preserve its own language due to the imposition of societal and cultural pressures, as well as from the need for social integration and cross-cultural interaction. Additionally, also in the Native American experience, "School was also once the enemy of tribal languages" (Johnson 2012). The discouragement of bilingualism as a pure concept prior to the 1970s, combined with the ever-present racism and anti-indigenism in the United States’ policies towards Native Americans, created an environment hostile to the preservation of historical languages and dialects (Ossola 2014; Johnson 2012). However, through the advent of the modern digital space, it is possible to proliferate and archive languages in opposition to the once-overpowering influence of imperial and socio-cultural forces. In the case of Siletz Dee-ni, its preservation and revival largely relied on its codification in “the online Siletz Dee-ni Talking Dictionary” (Johnson 2012). Through advertising campaigns and public relations efforts, “Web hits have spiked from places where languages related to Siletz are spoken” and from distant localities like “Italy, Switzerland and Poland” (Johnson 2012). Through the contemporary cultivation of a cultural encouragement to diversity language portfolios (Ossola 2014) and the creation of digital resources for languages, it is now possible for once-dead or dying languages to find both historical cultural speakers and interested learners.

Sources:

Johnson, Kirk. "Tribe Revives Language on Verge of Extinction." The New York Times. The New York Times Company. Last modified August 3, 2012. https://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/04/us/siletz-language-with-few-voic....

Ossola, Alexandra. "Are bilinguals really smarter?" ScienceLine. NYU Journalism. Last modified July 29, 2014. https://scienceline.org/2014/07/are-bilinguals-really-smarter/.