Two dead languages. Let's speak a dead language. Dead or alive

The process of replacing one language with another with the extinction of the first in linguistics is called the concept of “language shift,” which is both the process and the result of the loss of a certain ethnic group’s own language. An indicator of such a “shift” is the choice of some other language instead of the original one.

In modern linguistics, two types of this phenomenon are distinguished. The first is a process of preserving knowledge of the language of one’s nationality, while the second is accompanied by its complete and absolute loss. It is also interesting that sometimes this process can be reversed. The beauty of this is the return in the 20th century as the national language of the people of Israel.

The process of language shift is divided into three categories based on its timing - very slow, which takes one or several hundred years, fast, lasting for three to five generations, and rapid or catastrophic, when the process takes only a couple of generations.

Examples of dead languages

Throughout the history of modern mankind, there are many examples of the extinction of languages. For example, the language of the ancient Copts was eventually replaced by Arabic. A large number of indigenous dialects were replaced by English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and many other European languages.

Linguistic scientists also highlight the following tendency: at the very last stages of this dying, the language becomes characteristic only of certain social or age groups of the population. The term “dead” is sometimes also used to refer to archaic forms of living but actively used languages.

At the same time, although a dead language ceases to act as a means of living communication, it can continue to be used in written form in certain religious rituals, scientific or cultural terms. Best example this is Latin, which scientists recognize as dead since the 6th century AD, which gave rise to modern languages Romanesque group. In addition to medicine, it is also still used in the rituals of the Catholic Church.

Known dead languages also include Old Russian (familiar from written monuments of the 9th-14th centuries AD and which gave rise to a group of East Slavic dialects) and Ancient Greek, which ceased to exist in the 5th century AD, which became the “parent” of Modern Greek languages and various dialects.

In our translation agency, foreign languages are of interest not only to translators. Our programmer Ivan Orlov, in his relay turn, asked for a translation of an article about different languages 🙂
Ok, done! 7 oldest classical languages of the world.

And here are the ones our translation agency iTrex works with!

Language as a means of communication began to take shape 100,000 years ago. We will never be able to know which language was the very first spoken language, since ancient languages did not have a written form. It is simply impossible to single out the very first language in the world. Even calculate which language was the first - difficult task, but we can learn about some invaluable languages. Humanity developed along with these classical languages.

Of particular value are the 7 classical languages that had the strongest influence on humans. They can be called the treasures of the Earth, and we are responsible for their preservation. Moreover, many languages that existed even before the classical ones disappeared without a trace.

7 Invaluable Classical Languages

Just because almost no one speaks them doesn’t mean they should be forgotten.

You never know, maybe some of you, after reading this article, will want to become better acquainted with one of the languages listed below. There is something mysterious and enigmatic about them, something that will attract any polyglot.

10. Akkadian

When appeared: 2800 BC

Disappeared: 500 AD

General information: lingua franca of ancient Mesopotamia. The Akkadian language used the same cuneiform alphabet as Sumerian. The epic of Gilgamesh, the myth of Enuma and Elisha and many others are written on it. The grammar of a dead language resembles the grammar of classical Arabic.

The advantages of studying it: people will be very impressed when they see that you can easily read these strange icons for them.

Disadvantages of studying it: It will be difficult for you to find an interlocutor.

When appeared: 900 BC

Disappeared: 70 BC

General information: The Old Testament was written on it, which was later translated into ancient Greek or, as it is commonly called, the Septuagint.

The advantages of studying it: Biblical is very similar to modern spoken Hebrew.

Disadvantages of studying it: It won't be easy to talk to someone on it.

8. Coptic

When appeared: 100 AD

Disappeared: 1600 AD

General information: all early literature was written on it christian church, including the Nag Hammadi Library, which houses the famous Gnostic Gospels.

The advantages of studying it: it is the basis of the Egyptian language, created using the Greek alphabet, and it sounds absolutely amazing.

Disadvantages of studying it: alas, no one speaks it because Arabic has supplanted it.

When appeared: 700 BC

Disappeared: 600 AD

General information: for centuries it has been the lingua franca of much of the Middle East. Aramaic is commonly identified with the language of Jesus Christ. The bulk of the Talmud, as well as the biblical books of Daniel and Ezra, are written on it.

The advantages of studying it: it is not very different from biblical Hebrew, and therefore, by studying it, you can kill two birds with one stone. If this interests you, just imagine speaking the language of Jesus.

Disadvantages of studying it: No one speaks it, except for a few Aramaic communities.

When appeared: 1200 AD

Disappeared: 1470 AD

General information: on it you can read the works of the “father of English poetry” Geoffrey Chaucer, the Bible translated by Wycliffe, as well as the children’s ballads “The Exploits of Robin Hood,” which are considered early tales about the hero of the same name.

The advantages of studying it: it is the basis of modern English.

Disadvantages of studying it: you can't find anyone who can use it fluently.

5. Sanskrit

When appeared: 1500 BC

General information: still exists as a liturgical or ecclesiastical language. The Vedas and most of the scriptures are written on it. For three thousand years, Sanskrit was the lingua franca of the Indian subcontinent. Its alphabet consists of 49 letters.

The advantages of studying it: Sanskrit became the foundation of the religious texts of Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

Disadvantages of studying it: only priests and residents of some village settlements can speak it.

When appeared: 3400 BC

Disappeared: 600 BC

General information: it is written in this language Book of the Dead, and also painted the tombs of Egyptian rulers.

The advantages of studying it: this language is specifically for those who love difficult-to-understand hieroglyphs

Disadvantages of studying it: no one speaks it.

When appeared: 700 AD

Disappeared: 1300 AD

General information: The main work of German-Scandinavian mythology, the Edda, and a whole series of old Icelandic myths are written on it. This is the language of the Vikings. It was spoken in Scandinavia, the Faroe Islands, Iceland, Greenland and in some areas of Russia, France, and the British Isles. It is considered a kind of predecessor of modern Icelandic.

The advantages of studying it: Once you learn Old Norse, you can pretend to be a Viking.

Disadvantages of studying it: Almost no one will understand you.

When appeared: 800 BC, which is also called the Renaissance. 75 BC and 3rd century AD It is considered to be the “golden” and “silver” periods of classical Latin. Then the existence of the era of medieval Latin began.

General information: in the original language you can read Cicero, Julius Caesar, Cato, Catullus, Virgil, Ovid, Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Augustine and Thomas Aquinas.

The advantages of studying it: Among dead languages, it is considered the most popular.

Disadvantages of studying it: unfortunately, in in social networks or in real life you can't communicate on it. Although in societies of Latin lovers and in the Vatican you will have someone to talk to.

When appeared: 800 BC

Disappeared: 300 AD

General information: Knowing ancient Greek, you can easily read the works of Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Homer, Herodotus, Euripides, Aristophanes and many others.

The advantages of studying it: you will not only replenish your lexicon, expand your consciousness, but you will also be able to read the ancient scripture about sex, written by Aristophanes.

Disadvantages of studying it: almost no one is fluent in it.

TOP 10 "dead" languages April 2nd, 2013

At the dawn of civilization, people exchanged knowledge and information exclusively through oral communication. With the impossibility of explaining complex concepts "on fingers", humanity invented writing. This is how the first pictures and words appeared on the walls of caves...

Today I want to tell you about ten written languages, which over time lost their meaning and ceased to be used in practice, leaving behind only a trace in history.

10th place. Shuadit

Also known as Chouhadite, Chouhadit, Chouadite or Chouadit. For for long years There was no religious freedom in France, which discriminated against certain groups of people and forced them to live in small settlements.

For example, Jews had to experience all the hardships and sadness of racial discrimination. The only thing that Jewish communities living in France were allowed to do was use their own language. Which they took advantage of - in the 11th century Shuadit flourished. When freedom of religion came, Jewish communities disbanded and dispersed to different parts. Shuadit was doomed to death. The language officially “died” with the passing of its last speaker and practitioner in 1977.

9th place. Azeri

Asian notes are hidden in the very name of the language. It was used for about fifty years by the inhabitants of the territory of today's Azerbaijan. Presumably existed until the 17th century.

Scientists argue that Asari was not a single language, but a “key” dialect that united a group of dialects that were used by the inhabitants of the area.

Azeri was used until the city of Tabriz came under Persian rule. Before this, they ignored the fashion for the new Turkish-Azerbaijani language and continued to use the old dialect. With the arrival of the Persians, the ruling elite moved to Tehran, and the language ceased to dominate.

According to some scientists, Azari (its modern version) is used to this day in some villages of southern Azerbaijan.

8th place. Saterlandic Frisian language

For centuries, the Frisian language was a direct competitor of the Germanic language. In the end, the latter prevailed, and the Frisian dialect was forced out of official speech.

The Frisian language originated a long time ago, in the 1100s. The decisive blow was the redistribution of church boundaries, as a result of which German-speaking Catholics began to form families with Protestant Frisians. The Germanic language quickly gained popularity and took the place of the Saterland Frisian dialect, practically sending it into oblivion.

There are still native speakers of this language, and in total there are between 2,000 and 5,000 of them. All of them are residents of the small German town (Lower Saxony) Saterland. The language has no official meaning and is used only in everyday communication.

7th place. Sign Language of Martha's Vineyard

For nearly 200 years, the island of Martha's Vineyard, located in southeastern Massachusetts, has had a large population of deaf people. The reason for this is inbreeding (incest due to marriages between close relatives).

Adapting to life, the inhabitants of the island came up with their own system of communication using gestures - the Vineyard language. By the late 1800s, this system had spread beyond Martha's Vineyard and even threatened to displace the American mute language.

However, in the early 1900s, deafness began to appear less frequently among island residents; apparently, they learned about the dangers of intimate relationships between relatives or their numbers were “diluted” by mainland residents who came here to live. In general, the number of deaf people gradually declined, and the invented sign language died along with it. By 1980, only a small group of people were using this gesturing system.

6th place. New language from a Bernard Shaw fan

As you know, George Bernard Shaw was not only an outstanding British writer, but also a supporter of the reformation of English writing. He made great efforts to implement the created phonetic alphabet of 40 letters. The playwright even provided a reward in his will of 10,000 pounds for anyone who could introduce this system into circulation and make it widespread.

One of Brenard Shaw's fans decided to publish a book written using the new alphabet. The book was published, but was not successful. People who read Shaw's works already had regular copies of the books and were afraid (or simply did not want) to buy a publication in an incomprehensible dialect that they might not be able to master and read. So one book could not change the world...

Previously, Bernard Shaw's alphabet was used experimentally in a number of schools. But the program was also not successful. Only a small part of teachers noted positive traits new system, the rest were of the opinion that the innovation would only confuse schoolchildren.

5th place. Solresol

The Solresol language, born in France in the 1800s, was also known as the "musical language". It was an entire system transmitted through speech, writing, gestures, singing, painting or even flags. Its main purpose was to educate deaf children in France.

Alas, Solresol has been in practice for less than a century. Already in the late 1800s, it was recognized as ineffective, and the teaching of children was transferred to ordinary sign language. Finding itself of no use to anyone, the language gradually disappeared...

4th place. Benjamin Franklin's English

In the 1700s, the American colonies were hostile to Great Britain and wanted freedom and independence. To help you feel more independent, the famous statesman Benjamin Franklin invented a new alphabet.

The innovation consisted of "removing" the letters c, j, q, w, x, and y, which he considered unnecessary, and adding in their place a combination of two consonants, such as ch, conveying a single "ch" sound.

Several schools decided to implement Franklin's new alphabet out of curiosity, the results seemed to be positive, but a few years later a revolution broke out. With each battle, Franklin's reform innovations were forgotten. Eventually, the new phonetic alphabet was lost and abandoned. Humanity learned about its existence more than 100 years later.

3rd place. Simplified Carnegie Spelling

In 1906, Scottish-American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, with the support of President Theodore Roosevelt, set out to create and put into widespread use a simplified spelling system in English. Like other reformers, Carnegie considered English writing too heavy and in need of simplification.

Among his suggestions was changing the spelling of words like "kissed" and "bureau". Instead of the usual spelling, the variants "kist" and "buro" were offered. In addition, the reform concerned words with a combination of two vowels. For example, "check" should have been transformed into "check".

Surprisingly, the idea has been adopted by several schools. Over time, many complaints and criticisms began to pour in towards the new spelling; the matter even reached the Supreme Court, which, in fact, ruled that Andrew Carnegie’s reform would not survive. In 1920, the system was no longer officially used.

2nd place. Deseret

After the Mormons, representatives of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, were driven out of New York, Ohio and Illinois, they went to Utah. Having settled in the new territories, the settlers decided to create their own Order with their own laws, including own system writing.

The system was created and named Deseret. New letters replaced the Latin alphabet. In general, the Deseret language assumed that any language in the world could be written using the same characters.

Schools switched to a new language, received new books, and even a number of official documents and coins were issued in the Deseret language. Fortunately or unfortunately, the system collapsed miserably in an instant. The reason is simple - lack of money. To provide every Mormon with new books printed in a new language would require virtually the entire treasury of the Church. More than one million dollars was required to reprint the literature. Deciding not to take risks, the leadership of the Church of Jesus Christ of Saints abandoned the use of Deseret and returned to use the English alphabet.

1st place. Tamboran

Tamboran has been used by the people of Southern Indonesia for over 1000 years. And everything was fine until Mount Tambora erupted in 1815. It was the most powerful eruption in human history. Most of population was killed by a raging natural disaster. The Tamboran language died along with the people. The official death toll is 92,000. Europeans also suffered from Tambora's emissions when they encountered the phenomenon of "volcanic winter." The year 1816 passed in Europe almost without a summer, which led to a catastrophic crop failure and famine - grain prices increased 10 times.

Based on materials:

DEAD LANGUAGES

-languages that have fallen out of use and are known on the basis of written monuments or records that have come down from the time when they were alive. The process of extinction of languages occurs especially in those countries where (for example, in the USA, Australia) speakers of original indigenous languages are pushed into isolation. districts (Indian reservations in the USA) and in order to be included in the general life of the country they must switch to its basis. English language); A special role in accelerating this process is played by the use of a non-native language in boarding schools, colleges and other secondary and higher education institutions. educational institutions. Mn. Northern languages America, North Eurasia, Australia (and some adjacent islands, in particular Tasmania) have become or are becoming dead; one can judge about them - DEAD 293 ch. arr. based on descriptions compiled before their extinction. When a language becomes extinct in the last stages of its existence, it becomes characteristic only of a specific language. age (and social) groups: the oldest age group retains the language the longest, with physical education. he dies by death; the language can also be used by children preschool age, but in conditions of learning in a non-native language they can almost completely lose their native language by switching to mutual language given region or country. This process, which contributes to the spread of basic language means mass media, leads to the rapid extinction of small languages in the 2nd half. 20th century In the earlier era of the founding Factors in the extinction of languages could be the mass destruction of conquered peoples during the creation of large empires, such as the ancient Persian, Hellenistic, Arab, etc., or the imposition of basic. language of the empire (for example, Latai in the Roman Empire). M. I. often preserved in living use as a language of worship for thousands of years after their displacement from other spheres of communication (Coptic language as the language of worship among Christian Egyptians, Latin in the Catholic Church, classical Tibetan in the Lamaist Church among the Mongolian peoples) . In the latter case, M. I. may be the language of the original population, preserved in cultic use after the transition of the entire mass of the population to the language of the conquerors (Coptic language among the Arabs; Hutt language, related to the North-West Caucasus, as a sacred language among the inhabitants of the Hittite Empire, who switched to Indo-European Hittite language; Sumerian, language of the Akkadian-speaking population of Mesopotamia, etc.). A more rare case is the simultaneous use of M. i. as a class (caste priestly, which is associated with its cult role) and literary, as Sanskrit was used 294 MESSAPIAN in ancient and middle ages. India, where in used (not within the priestly Brahman caste) were Prakrits (reflecting a later stage in the development of Indo-Aryan languages in comparison with Old Indian languages, the lit. codified form of which was classical Sanskrit, which is both a Mythic language and an artificially constructed language with canonized norms). The use of Lat. was somewhat similar. language (already M. Ya.) in the Middle Ages. Europe as the language of the church and literature, and later as the main. language higher education and science (up to the 18th century). Diff. excerpts of the church glories languages, based on the dead - Old Church Slavonic language, were used as lit. languages of church (partly also secular) literature in glory, countries remaining in the sphere of influence Orthodox Church. In such cases, in specialized religious and lit. use, it is possible to preserve certain features of the language (including phonetic ones), which usually remain unknown in relation to M. i. In exceptional social conditions transformation of M. I is possible. cult into colloquial, as happened with Hebrew in Israel (see Hebrew). Especially long lasting, form of preservation of M. I. is its use as a language of chants (originally sacred, then secular, for example Latin in the vocal works of I. F. Stravinsky), which is associated with a special psychophysiological. the role of language in the system of vocal performance. The most important problem studying M. I. is its reconstruction, which is usually based on a relatively small sample of texts, which, unlike a living language, never provides a complete set of all word forms and their possible combinations. The study of grammar, on the one hand, cannot rely on the possibility of involving grammatical languages. (and semantic) intuition of the speaker, on the other hand, is based on a closed (limited) set of texts that have reached researchers, making it possible to conduct a rigorous study of all the forms given in them. This explains the fact that the first achievements of ancient linguistics are associated with the study of linguistics. (Sumerian in ancient Mesopotamia, Hattian in ancient Asia, Sanskrit in ancient India, etc.). The most difficult question (especially in relation to M. Ya., which has not been preserved in cult or literary use) is the reconstruction of pronunciation. In relation to ancient languages, this is done by comparing the transmission of words of a given language (including proper names) in different writing systems, for example, the pronunciation of [s] for the Hittite phoneme, which in cuneiform is transmitted through syllabic signs containing $ - sa, Si, su, etc., is assumed on the basis of Egypt. transmission resp. words by means of a sign read as s. If M. I. (like, for example, Luwian) is known in two variants, transmitted respectively by two writing systems (cuneiform for the Luwian language of the time of the Hittite Empire and hieroglyphic of the same and later times), then for the reconstruction of phonetic. systems of this M. I. you can use a comparison of different (or coinciding) ways of writing in each of the two graphics. systems For M. languages, which have preserved living languages related to them, the restoration of phonetics can be carried out on the basis of comparison with them, for example. phonetic system of dead Prussian language. clarified based on comparison with living Balts. languages - Lithuanian and Latvian. A special case of restoration of M. i. represents highlighting it components inside another language - dead or alive (Curnish elements inside Latvian, “pre-Greek” Indo-European elements inside Greek). Such elements are identified on the basis of comparative-no. isolating parts that cannot be interpreted according to installed system correspondences Many M. I. are allocated only using this last method. . NL. V. 6, M., 1972; W ogg e 1 W. N., V u s i s h 1 W.. Popular traditions of the Coptic language, in the book: Coptic texts, Ann Arbor. (Mich.). 1942; Swadesh M.. Sociological notes on Obsolent languages, IJAL, 1948. v. 14, p. 226-35. Vyach. Be. Ivanov.

Linguistic encyclopedic dictionary. 2012

Two dead languages. Let's speak a dead language. Dead or alive

Examples of dead languages

10. Akkadian

8. Coptic

5. Sanskrit

See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of words and what DEAD LANGUAGES are in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books: