Languages go extinct once the last of the speakers die off without passing it onto the next generation. This happens usually in declining populations or with languages that are obsolete and far too difficult to learn. The language itself may have been very inefficient at communicating and therefore became unreliable.
The language of Silentz, in the US has almost been eradicated due to the last of its speakers being so few in number. However, with the interest of Ms. Johnson and many others, the language saw a sudden revival of the language due to its captivating nature.
I believe that preserving these languages is important because not only are languages important in preserving culture but it also tells us about the history of mankind. Tracing the language to its roots can help linguists narrow down the possibilities of a group of people and their interaction with others. This means that it is important to have organizations that continue to support dying languages in their struggle to spread its culture to the next generation of people.
Comments
You brought up very interesting points regarding the ways in which languages go extinct. I think another thing to consider when talking about this issue is the way policy and sociopolitical forces influence culture and the use of language. For instance, according to Johnson’s article, the Siletz and other Native American communities experienced a great shift in terms of the use of their native languages due to government policies that enforced the migration of indigenous peoples from their homelands. According to the author, one of the consequences of these policies was that the Siletz language became more widely used among the government-established conglomerates of indigenous peoples because the Siletz were more numerous in population than were other tribes involved in the matter. Despite the great use of the Siletz language across the years, government policy, which was influenced by sociopolitical interests, threatened the existence of indigenous languages, and, as Johnson points out, this menace was carried out by using social and education institutions against native communities. That being said (and particularly in the case of the Siletz language), the passing of the last few speakers of a language may actually be an intervening variable between policy and the extinction of a language.