The total revival of a
dead language (in the sense of having no
native speakers) to become the shared means of communication of a self-sustaining community of several million
first language speakers has happened only once, in the case of
Hebrew, resulting in
Modern Hebrew – now the
national language of
Israel. In this case, there was a unique set of historical and cultural characteristics that facilitated the revival. (See
Revival of the Hebrew language.) Hebrew, once largely a
liturgical language, was re-established as a means of everyday communication by Jews, some of whom had lived in what is now the State of Israel, starting in the nineteenth century. It is the world's most famous and successful example of language revitalization. In a related development,
literary languages without
native speakers enjoyed great prestige and practical utility as
lingua francas, often counting millions of fluent speakers at a time. In many such cases, a decline in the use of the literary language, sometimes precipitous, was later accompanied by a strong renewal. This happened, for example, in the revival of
Classical Latin in the
Renaissance, and the revival of
Sanskrit in the early centuries AD. An analogous phenomenon in contemporary
Arabic-speaking areas is the expanded use of the literary language (
Modern Standard Arabic, a form of the
Classical Arabic of the 6th century AD). This is taught to all educated speakers and is used in radio broadcasts, formal discussions, etc. In addition, literary languages have sometimes risen to the level of becoming
first languages of very large language communities. An example is standard
Italian, which originated as a literary language based on the language of 13th-century
Florence, especially as used by such important Florentine writers as
Dante,
Petrarch and
Boccaccio. This language existed for several centuries primarily as a literary vehicle, with few native speakers; even as late as 1861, on the eve of
Italian unification, the language only counted about 500,000 speakers (many non-native), out of a total population of . The subsequent success of the language has been through conscious development, where speakers of any of the numerous
Italian languages were taught standard Italian as a
second language and subsequently imparted it to their children, who learned it as a first language. This, however, came at the expense of local Italian languages, most of which are now
endangered. Success was enjoyed in similar circumstances by
High German,
standard Czech,
Castilian Spanish and other languages. Language revitalization efforts are ongoing around the world. Revitalization teams are utilizing modern technologies to increase contact with indigenous languages and to record
traditional knowledge.
Africa The
Coptic language began its decline when Arabic became the predominant language in Egypt.
Pope Shenouda III established the Coptic Language Institute in December 1976 in Saint Mark's Coptic Orthodox Cathedral in
Cairo for the purpose of reviving the Coptic language.
Ge’ez, or Classical Ethiopic, is largely used within a liturgical context by the
Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and the
Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church. Once the principal language of the
Axumite Empire, the language was often used as a lingua franca until the 16th century where spoken languages such as
Amharic began to take its place. There are modern revivalist movements to revive the use of Ge’ez as a literary and spoken language.
North America Widespread use of Native American languages was significantly reduced by the U.S. government through mandated cultural assimilation in
boarding schools where indigenous children were punished for using their native language. In recent years, a growing number of
Native American tribes have been trying to revitalize their languages. For example, there are apps (including phrases, word lists and dictionaries) in many Native languages including
Cree,
Cherokee,
Chickasaw,
Lakota,
Ojibwe,
Oneida,
Massachusett,
Navajo,
Halq'emeylem,
Gwych'in, and
Lushootseed. In Canada, the
Wapikoni Mobile project travels to indigenous communities and provides lessons in film making. Program leaders travel across Canada with mobile audiovisual production units, and aim to provide indigenous youth with a way to connect with their culture through a film topic of their choosing. The Wapikona project submits its films to events around the world as an attempt to spread knowledge of indigenous culture and language.
Wampanoag, a language spoken by the people of the same name in Massachusetts, underwent a language revival project led by
Jessie Little Doe Baird, a trained linguist. Members of the tribe use the extensive written records that exist in their language, including a translation of the Bible and legal documents, in order to learn and teach Wampanoag. The project has seen children speaking the language fluently for the first time in over 100 years. In addition, there are currently attempts at reviving the
Chochenyo language of California, which had become extinct. Efforts are being made by the Confederated Tribes of the Grand Ronde Community and others to keep
Chinook Jargon, also known as
Chinuk Wawa, alive. This is helped by the corpus of songs and stories collected from
Victoria Howard and published by
Melville Jacobs. The open-source platform
FirstVoices hosts community-managed websites for 85 language revitalization projects, covering multiple varieties of 33 Indigenous languages in
British Columbia as well as over a dozen languages from "elsewhere in Canada and around the globe", along with 17 dictionary apps.
Tlingit Similar to other indigenous languages,
Tlingit is critically endangered. Fewer than 100 fluent Elders existed as of 2017. He is an associate professor of Alaska Native Languages in the School of Arts and Sciences at the
University of Alaska Southeast which offers a minor in Tlingit language and an emphasis on Alaska Native Languages and Studies within a Bachelorʼs degree in Liberal Arts.
Mixtec In Mexico, the
Mixtec people's
language heavily revolves around the interaction between climate, nature, and what it means for their livelihood.
UNESCO's LINKS (Local and Indigenous Knowledge) program recently underwent a project to create a glossary of Mixtec terms and phrases related to climate. UNESCO believes that the traditional knowledge of the Mixtec people via their deep connection with weather phenomena can provide insight on ways to
address climate change. Their intention in creating the glossary is to "facilitate discussions between experts and the holders of traditional knowledge".
South America Kichwa is the variety of the
Quechua language spoken in
Ecuador. Quechua is one of the most widely spoken indigenous languages in South America with approximately 7 million speakers. Despite this fact, Kichwa is a threatened language, mainly because of the expansion of Spanish in South America. One community of original Kichwa speakers, Lagunas, was one of the first indigenous communities to switch to the Spanish language. According to King, this was because of the increase of trade and business with the large Spanish-speaking town nearby. The Lagunas people assert that it was not for cultural assimilation purposes, as they value their cultural identity highly.
Asia Hebrew The
revival of the Hebrew language is the only successful example of a revived dead language. The
Hebrew language survived into the medieval period as the language of
Jewish liturgy and
rabbinic literature. With the rise of
Zionism in the 19th century, it was revived as a spoken and literary language, becoming primarily a spoken
lingua franca among the early Jewish immigrants to
Ottoman Palestine and received the official status in the 1922 constitution of the
British Mandate for Palestine and subsequently of the
State of Israel.
Sanskrit There have been recent attempts at reviving
Sanskrit in India. However, despite these attempts, there are no first language speakers of Sanskrit in India. In each of India's recent decennial censuses, several thousand citizens have reported Sanskrit to be their mother tongue. However, these reports are thought to signify a wish to be aligned with the prestige of the language, rather than being genuinely indicative of the presence of thousands of L1 Sanskrit speakers in India. There has also been a rise of so-called "Sanskrit villages", but experts have cast doubt on the extent to which Sanskrit is really spoken in such villages.
Soyot The
Soyot language of the small-numbered
Soyots in
Buryatia,
Russia, one of the
Siberian Turkic languages, has been reconstructed and a Soyot-
Buryat-
Russian dictionary was published in 2002. The language is currently taught in some elementary schools.
Ainu The
Ainu language of the indigenous
Ainu people of northern Japan is currently moribund, but efforts are underway to revive it. A 2006 survey of the
Hokkaido Ainu indicated that only 4.6% of Ainu surveyed were able to converse in or "speak a little" Ainu. As of 2001, Ainu was not taught in any elementary or secondary schools in Japan, but was offered at numerous language centres and universities in Hokkaido, as well as at Tokyo's
Chiba University. Despite this, there is an active movement to revitalize the language, mainly in Hokkaido but also elsewhere such as
Kanto. Ainu oral literature has been documented both in hopes of safeguarding it for future generations, as well as using it as a teaching tool for language learners. Beginning in 1987, the
Ainu Association of Hokkaido, with approximately 500 members, began hosting 14 Ainu language classes, Ainu language instructors training courses and Family Ainu Learning Initiative and have released instructional materials on the language, including a textbook. Also,
Yamato linguists teach Ainu and train students to become Ainu instructors in university. In spite of these efforts, the Ainu language was not yet taught as a subject in any secondary school in Japan. Due to the Ainu Cultural Promotion Act of 1997, Ainu dictionaries transformed and became tools for improving communication and preserving records of the Ainu language in order to revitalize the language and promote the culture. This act had aims to promote, disseminate, and advocate on behalf of Ainu cultural traditions. The main issue with this act however, was that not a single Ainu person was included in the "Expert" meetings prior to the law's passage, and as a result of this there was no mention of language education and how it should be carried out. The focus at this point was on Ainu culture revitalization rather than Ainu language revitalization. As of 2011, there has been an increasing number of second-language learners, especially in Hokkaido, in large part due to the pioneering efforts of the late Ainu folklorist, activist and former
Diet member
Shigeru Kayano, himself a native speaker, who first opened an Ainu language school in 1987 funded by
Ainu Kyokai. The
Ainu Association of Hokkaido is the main supporter of Ainu culture in Hokkaido. Ainu language classes have been conducted in some areas in Japan and small numbers of young people are learning Ainu. Efforts have also been made to produce web-accessible materials for conversational Ainu because most documentation of the Ainu language focused on the recording of folktales. The Ainu language has been in media as well; the first Ainu radio program was called
FM Pipaushi, which has run since 2001 along with 15-minute radio Ainu language lessons funded by FRPAC, and newspaper
The Ainu Times has been established since 1997. In 2016, a radio course was broadcast by the STVradio Broadcasting to introduce Ainu language. The course put extensive efforts in promoting the language, creating 4 text books in each season throughout the year. In addition, the Ainu language has been seen in public domains such as the outlet shopping complex's name, , which means 'wind', in the
Minami Chitose area and the name , meaning 'young', at a shopping centre in the
Chitose area. There is also a basketball team in
Sapporo founded under the name , after 'god of the wind' (its current name is
Levanga Hokkaido). The well-known Japanese fashion magazine's name means 'flower' in Ainu. Another Ainu language revitalization program is Urespa, a university program to educate high-level persons on the language of the Ainu. The effort is a collaborative and cooperative program for individuals wishing to learn about Ainu languages. This includes performances which focus on the Ainu and their language, instead of using the dominant Japanese language. Another form of Ainu language revitalization is an annual national competition, which is Ainu language-themed. People of many differing demographics are often encouraged to take part in the contest. Since 2017, the popularity of the contest has increased. On 15 February 2019, Japan approved a bill to recognize the Ainu language for the first time and enacted the law on 19 April 2019. Outside of Japan, there have also been efforts to revive the Ainu culture and language in other countries, including
Australia and
Russia. In 2019, researchers working together from both the Society for Academic Research of Ainu (SARC), representatives from Hokkaido University, and with the assistance of linguists spanning multiple universities and countries assisted in the creation of AI Pirika, an AI created with the goal of assisting with speech recognition and serving as a conversation partner. On 12 July 2020, the Japanese government opened the
National Ainu Museum in
Shiraoi,
Hokkaido. It forms one of three institutions named Upopoy (which means 'singing in a large group' in the Ainu language) alongside the National Ainu Park and a memorial site on high ground on the east side of Lake Poroto (ポロト湖) where Ainu services are held. Its director, Masahiro Nomoto, says that "One of our main objectives is to preserve and revive the language, as this is one of the most threatened elements of
Ainu culture". Announcements on some bus routes in Hokkaido can since be heard in Ainu, efforts are being undertaken to archive Ainu speech recordings by the
Agency for Cultural Affairs, and there is a popular educational
YouTube channel which teaches conversational Ainu.
Manchu In China, the
Manchu language is one of the most endangered languages, with speakers only in three small areas of Manchuria remaining. Some enthusiasts are trying to revive the language of
their ancestors using available dictionaries and textbooks, and even occasional visits to
Qapqal Xibe Autonomous County in
Xinjiang, where the related
Xibe language is still spoken natively. The language has seen a gradual revival, however, due to official promotion under the administration of former President
Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. Schools were encouraged to offer Spanish, French, and Japanese as foreign language electives. Results were immediate as the job demand for Spanish speakers had increased since 2008. As of 2010, the
Instituto Cervantes in Manila reported the number of Spanish-speakers in the country with native or non-native knowledge at approximately 3 million, the figure albeit including those who speak the Spanish-based creole
Chavacano. Complementing government efforts is a notable surge of exposure through the
mainstream media and, more recently,
music-streaming services.
Western Armenian The
Western Armenian language has been classified as a
definitely endangered language in the ''
Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger'' (2010), as most speakers of the dialect remain in diasporic communities away from their homeland in Anatolia, following the
Armenian genocide. In spite of this, there have been various efforts to revitalize the language, especially within the
Los Angeles community where the majority of Western Armenians reside. Within her dissertation, Shushan Karapetian discusses at length the decline of the Armenian language in the United States, and new means for keeping and reviving Western Armenian, such as the creation of the Saroyan Committee or the Armenian Language Preservation Committee, launched in 2013. Other attempts at language revitalization can be seen within the
University of California in Irvine. Armenian is also one of the languages Los Angeles County is required to provide voting information in. The DPSS (California Department of Social Services) also identifies Armenian as one of its "threshold languages".
Chong language In Thailand, there exists a
Chong language revitalization project, headed by Suwilai Premsrirat.
Europe In
Europe, in the 19th and early 20th centuries, the use of both local and learned
languages declined as the central governments of the different states imposed their vernacular language as the standard throughout education and official use (this was the case in the
United Kingdom,
France,
Spain,
Italy and
Greece, and to some extent, in
Germany and
Austria-Hungary). In the last few decades, local
nationalism and
human rights movements have made a more
multicultural policy standard in European states; sharp condemnation of the earlier practices of suppressing regional languages was expressed in the use of such terms as "
linguicide".
Basque In
Francoist Spain, use of the
Basque language was discouraged by the government's
repressive policies. In the Basque Country, "Francoist repression was not only political, but also linguistic and cultural."
Franco's regime suppressed Basque from official discourse, education, and publishing, making it illegal to register newborn babies under Basque names, and even requiring tombstone engravings in Basque to be removed. In some provinces the public use of Basque was suppressed, with people fined for speaking it. Public use of Basque was frowned upon by supporters of the regime, often regarded as a sign of anti-Francoism or
separatism in the late 1960s. Since 1968, Basque has been immersed in a revitalisation process, facing formidable obstacles. However, significant progress has been made in numerous areas. Six main factors have been identified to explain its relative success: • implementation and acceptance of
Standard Basque (Euskara Batua), which was developed by the
Euskaltzaindia; • integration of Basque into the education system; • creation of media in Basque (radio, newspapers, and television); • the established new legal framework; • collaboration between public institutions and people's organisations; • campaigns for Basque language literacy. While those six factors influenced the revitalisation process, the extensive development and use of
language technologies is also considered a significant additional factor. Overall, in the 1960s and later, the trend reversed and education and publishing in Basque began to flourish. A sociolinguistic survey shows that there has been a steady increase in Basque speakers since the 1990s, and the percentage of young speakers exceeds that of the old.
Irish One of the best known European attempts at language revitalization concerns the
Irish language. While English is dominant through most of Ireland, Irish, a
Celtic language, is still spoken in certain areas called
Gaeltacht, but there it is in serious decline. The challenges faced by the language over the last few centuries have included exclusion from important domains, social denigration, the death or emigration of many Irish speakers during the
Irish famine of the 1840s, and continued emigration since. Efforts to revitalise Irish were being made, however, from the mid-1800s, and were associated with a desire for Irish political independence. They are an important element in the creation of a network of urban Irish speakers (known as
Gaeilgeoirí), who tend to be young, well-educated and middle-class. It is now likely that this group has acquired critical mass, a fact reflected in the expansion of Irish-language media. Irish language television has enjoyed particular success. It has been argued that they tend to be better educated than monolingual English speakers and enjoy higher social status. They represent the transition of Irish to a modern urban world, with an accompanying rise in prestige.
Scottish Gaelic There are also current attempts to revive the related language of
Scottish Gaelic, which was suppressed following the formation of the United Kingdom, and entered further decline due to the
Highland clearances. Currently, Gaelic is only spoken widely in the
Western Isles and some relatively small areas of the
Highlands and Islands. The decline in fluent Gaelic speakers has slowed; however, the population center has shifted to L2 speakers in urban areas, especially Glasgow.
Manx Another Celtic language,
Manx, lost its
last native speaker in 1974 and was declared extinct by
UNESCO in 2009, but never completely fell from use. The language is now taught in primary and secondary schools, including as a teaching medium at the
Bunscoill Ghaelgagh, used in some public events and spoken as a second language by approximately 1,800 people. Revitalization efforts include radio shows in Manx Gaelic and social media and online resources. The Manx government has also been involved in the effort by creating organizations such as the Manx Heritage Foundation (
Culture Vannin) and the position of Manx Language Officer. The government has released an official Manx Language Strategy for 2017–2021.
Cornish There have been a number of attempts to revive the
Cornish language, both privately and some under the
Cornish Language Partnership. Some of the activities have included translation of the Christian scriptures, a guild of bards, and the promotion of
Cornish literature in modern Cornish, including novels and poetry.
Breton Caló The
Romani arriving in the Iberian Peninsula developed an Iberian
Romani dialect. As time passed, Romani ceased to be a full language and became
Caló, a
cant mixing Iberian Romance grammar and Romani vocabulary. With sedentarization and obligatory instruction in the official languages, Caló is used less and less. As Iberian Romani proper is extinct and as Caló is endangered, some people are trying to revitalise the language. The Spanish politician
Juan de Dios Ramírez Heredia promotes Romanò-Kalò, a variant of
International Romani, enriched by Caló words. His goal is to reunify the Caló and Romani roots.
Livonian The Livonian language, a Finnic language, once spoken on about a third of modern-day Latvian territory, died in the 21st century with the death of the last native speaker
Grizelda Kristiņa on 2 June 2013. Today there are about 210 people mainly living in Latvia who identify themselves as Livonian and speak the language on the A1-A2 level according to the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages and between 20 and 40 people who speak the language on level B1 and up. Today all speakers learn Livonian as a second language. There are different programs educating Latvians on the cultural and linguistic heritage of Livonians and the fact that most Latvians have common Livonian descent. Programs worth mentioning include: • Livones.net with extensive information about language, history and culture; • The Livonian Institute of the University of Latvia doing research on the Livonian language, other Finnic languages in Latvia and providing an extensive dictionary with declinations/conjugations; • Virtual Livonia providing information on the Livonian language and especially its grammar; • Mierlinkizt: An annual summer camp for children to teach children about the Livonian language, culture etc.; • Līvõd Īt (Livonian Union). The Livonian linguistic and cultural heritage is included in the Latvian cultural canon and the protection, revitalization and development of Livonian as an indigenous language is guaranteed by Latvian law
Old Prussian A few linguists and philologists are involved in reviving a reconstructed form of the extinct
Old Prussian language from Luther's catechisms, the Elbing Vocabulary, place names, and Prussian loanwords in the
Low Prussian dialect of
Low German. Several dozen people use the language in
Lithuania,
Kaliningrad, and
Poland, including a few children who are natively bilingual. The Prusaspirā Society has published its translation of
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's
The Little Prince. The book was translated by Piotr Szatkowski (Pīteris Šātkis) and released in 2015. The other efforts of Baltic Prussian societies include the development of online dictionaries, learning apps and games. There also have been several attempts to produce music with lyrics written in the revived Baltic Prussian language, most notably in the Kaliningrad Oblast by
Romowe Rikoito, Kellan and Āustras Laīwan, but also in Lithuania by
Kūlgrinda in their 2005 album
Prūsų Giesmės (Prussian Hymns), and in
Latvia by Rasa Ensemble in 1988 and
Valdis Muktupāvels in his 2005
oratorio "Pārcēlātājs Pontifex" featuring several parts sung in Prussian. Important in this revival was
Vytautas Mažiulis, who died on 11 April 2009, and his pupil
Letas Palmaitis, leader of the experiment and author of the website
Prussian Reconstructions. Two late contributors were Prāncis Arellis (
Pranciškus Erelis), Lithuania, and Dailūns Russinis (
Dailonis Rusiņš), Latvia. After them,
Twankstas Glabbis from
Kaliningrad oblast and
Nērtiks Pamedīns from East-Prussia, now Polish
Warmia-Masuria actively joined.
Sorbian Currently, Sorbian is taught at 25 primary schools and several secondary schools. At the
Lower Sorbian Gymnasium in Cottbus and the
Sorbian Gymnasium in Bautzen, it is compulsory. In many primary and Sorbian schools, lessons are held in the Sorbian language. The daily newspaper
Serbske Nowiny is published in Upper Sorbian, and the weekly
Nowy Casnik in Lower Sorbian. In addition, the religious weekly resp. monthly journals
Katolski Posoł and
Pomhaj Bóh are published. The cultural magazine
Rozhlad appears monthly, along with one children's magazine each in Upper and Lower Sorbian (
Płomjo and
Płomje, respectively), as well as the educational magazine
Serbska šula.
Mitteldeutscher Rundfunk (MDR) and
Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (RBB) also broadcast monthly half-hour TV magazines in Sorbian, as well as several hours of daily radio programming—the
Sorbian radio.
Wikipedia editions exist in both written forms of the Sorbian language.
Wymysorys Wymysorys also known as "Vilamovian" is a Critically Endangered
West Germanic language, it is spoken by 20 people in
Wilamowice with only one speaker not being elderly. It is currently undergoing revitalisation
Yola The
Yola language revival movement has cultivated in Wexford in recent years, and the “Gabble Ing Yola” resource center for Yola materials claims there are around 140 speakers of the Yola language today.
Oceania Australia The European colonization of Australia, and the consequent damage sustained by
Aboriginal communities, had a catastrophic effect on indigenous languages, especially in the southeast and south of the country, leaving some with no living traditional native speakers. A number of Aboriginal communities in
Victoria and elsewhere are now trying to revive some of the
Aboriginal Australian languages. The work is typically directed by a group of
Aboriginal elders and other knowledgeable people, with community language workers doing most of the research and teaching. They analyze the data, develop spelling systems and vocabulary and prepare resources. Decisions are made in collaboration. Some communities employ linguists, and there are also linguists who have worked independently, such as
Luise Hercus and
Peter K. Austin. • In the state of
Queensland, an effort is being made to teach some Indigenous languages in schools and to develop workshops for adults. More than 150 languages were once spoken within the state, but today fewer than 20 are spoken as a first language, and less than two per cent of schools teach any Indigenous language. The
Gunggari language is one language which is being revived, with only three native speakers left. • In the
Northern Territory, the Pertame Project is an example in
Central Australia.
Pertame, from the country south of
Alice Springs, along the
Finke River, is a dialect in the
Arrernte group of languages. With only 20 fluent speakers left by 2018, the Pertame Project is seeking to retain and revive the language, headed by Pertame elder Christobel Swan. • In the far north of
South Australia, the
Diyari language has an active programme under way, with materials available for teaching in schools and the wider community. Also in South Australia, there is a unit at the
University of Adelaide which teaches and promotes the use of the
Kaurna language, headed by
Rob Amery, who has produced many books and course materials. • The
Victorian Department of Education and Training reported 1,867 student enrollments in 14 schools offering an Aboriginal Languages Program in the state of
Victoria in 2018.
New Zealand One of the best cases of relative success in language revitalization is the case of
Maori, also known as . It is the ancestral tongue of the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand and a vehicle for prose narrative, sung poetry, and genealogical recital. The history of the Maori people is taught in Maori in sacred learning houses through oral transmission. Even after Maori became a written language, the oral tradition was preserved. The emphasis was on teaching children the language at a young age, a very effective strategy for language learning. The Maori Language Commission was formed in 1987, leading to a number of national reforms aimed at revitalizing Maori. == Health benefits of language revitalization ==