How do languages go extinct? Respond to the reading, reflecting on what happens when a language dies. How can linguists help preserve a language? Can a language ever be brought back to life?
One simple answer to the question of why certain languages go extinct is that, when the number of speakers decreases, the language loses the ability to sustain itself anymore. When the last speaker passes away, the language he/she speaks is not able to be inherited by the decedents. Languages that are either too difficult to learn or with too limited uses are ones that are more likely to go extinct.
However, I believe that every language exists for a reason, and hence they deserve to be passed on as they all represent the history and culture in certain period of human development process. Linguists can help preserve a language in lots of ways such as analyzing the history and formation of that language and preserving those information in the modern data bank. Other ways could be that linguists could help preserve the limited population of target languages and educate them on the importance of passing on that certain linguistic inheritance. With enough information collected and preserved, I believe that languages that have gone extinct could certainly be brought back to life.
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