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Endangered Languages and Territorial Rights

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Synonyms

Threatened languages

Definition

Endangered languages are languages disappearing under the pressure of other languages. Diglossia and language extinction happen in territorial terms, in the generational presence of each language, in their contextual performance, in the status associated to each language, and in the linguistic evolution of the endangered language itself. Three basic factors of linguistic strategies –for both preserving and eliminating languages – are education, media-ICTs, and public administrations.

Although territoriality is not the only dimension of diglossia – e.g., we can find diglossia in social networks or in migrating communities – it is still one of the main ones. Languages have traditionally been firmly attached to territories and they are still nowadays. In this respect, linguistic rights preservation and politics in support of an endangered language are developed by public administrations with competence in a territory where the language is spoken.

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Correspondence to Marco Antonio Joven-Romero .

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Joven-Romero, M.A. (2020). Endangered Languages and Territorial Rights. In: Kocsis, M. (eds) Global Encyclopedia of Territorial Rights. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_332-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-68846-6_332-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-68846-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-68846-6

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