LANGUAGE
MAINTENANCE AND SHIFT
Farhan Ramadhan
LANGUAGE MAINTENANCE
Process by which a minority language community sets out to inhibit the shift
or loss of their language
FACTORS
CONTRIBUTE LANGUAGE
MAINTENANCE
the degree to which the language is considered an important symbol of the group’s identity
1.
frequent contact with other speakers in the community 2.
frequent contact with the homeland, through visits home or new migrants or visitors.
3.
LANGUAGE SHIFT
When a community moves from using one language to using another for
everyday communication. This can be a gradual process over several
generations.
LANGUAGE DEATH
The situation where all the speakers of a language die so that their language
dies with them.
EXAMPLE LANGUAGE DEATH
Of the more than 250 Aboriginal languages spoken in Australia when the Europeans arrived, between 50 and 70 disappeared as a direct result of the massacre of the Aboriginal
people or their death from diseases introduced by Europeans.
LANGUAGE LOSS
Attrition process, when an individual’s proficiency in their first language
diminishes.
