How Languages Die语言是如何消亡的

Languages change over time in order to meet the informational demands of their speakers and adapt to their zeitgeist， taking in new words or seeing them made up. Much like people， who live in a society and have to interact with others in order to survive， languages come into contact with other languages. This results in not just a sharing of loanwords， but in totally new means of conveying information.

语言随着时间的推移而变化，吸纳新词或创造新词，以满足使用者的表达需求并适应所处时代的思潮。正如人类身处社会必须与他人互动以求生存，语言也会与其他语言发生碰撞。这不仅促成了外来词的流动，也催生了全新的信息表达方式。

However， nothing lasts forever， and even the most widely spoken languages eventually start losing not just their prominence but even their speakers. Just like people get older and weaker over time， eventually succumbing due to natural causes， so do languages. After declining， they eventually become lost—and sometimes forgotten—relics of the past. There is nothing wrong or unusual with that： death is as natural as life itself.

然而，万物皆有终点，即使是那些使用最广泛的语言，最终也会开始失势，甚至连使用者也会减少。正如人随着时光流逝会变得衰老虚弱，直至顺应自然规律归于尘土，语言亦是如此。经历衰退，语言最终消失不见，有时还会被忘记，成为历史的遗珠。这一切既无过错，也并不稀奇——死亡与生命本身一样自然。

Courses of language death

语言消亡的过程

Before we start， let’s make a few things clear. There’s a distinction to be made between “extinct” and “dead” languages. The difference is pretty much visible from the surface.

在开始讨论之前，首先明确一些概念。我们要把“灭绝”的语言和“消亡”的语言区分开来，两者的区别显而易见。

A language is considered “dead” when it has no living native speakers， but is still being used in some way. This is the case with the Latin and Sanskrit languages， which still see application in religion and science. Some people still speak and learn these languages， but they are not used on a regular basis， and are not passed down from one generation to another.

如果说一种语言已经“消亡”，那就意味着它已经没有在世母语者，但仍以某种方式被使用着。拉丁语和梵文即是如此，它们仍在宗教和科学领域发挥作用。有些人仍会说、会学这些语言，但这些语言并不经常使用，也不会代代相传。

“Extinct” languages， on the other hand， are those which no living person can speak or understand. Some may have been extinct for so long that they require decipherment to be understood today. For example， a language called Proto-Elamite， used 5，000 years ago on the territory that is now Iran， is yet to be deciphered. Many ancient languages， like Sumerian1， are also considered extinct， despite having already been deciphered， as they are no longer used in any way by anyone.

再说“灭绝”的语言，它指的是在世之人都不会说也不懂的语言。有些语言已经灭绝太久，以至于需要破译才能为今日之人所理解。例如，5000年前在如今伊朗境内使用的原始埃兰语至今仍未被破译。许多古代语言，如苏美尔语，虽然已经被破译，但由于彻底不为人所用，仍被视为灭绝的语言。

The other way around is possible， too. For example， there are numerous revitalization movements in the UK aimed at bringing Celtic languages2， like Cornish， back to life.

反过来的情形也有可能发生。譬如，英国有许多复兴运动致力于使康沃尔语等凯尔特语重获新生。

Now， back to death.

现在，回到“消亡”的话题。

Natural evolutionary course

自然的进化之路

One of the most common ways that languages die is the natural evolutionary course. Languages change and evolve over time. New words appear via borrowing， meaning shift， invention （as is the case with the word “robot”）—grammar also changes to better suit the needs of speakers， and over time， more convenient ways of delivering information appear. As we know， Old English was heavily influenced by the languages of those conquering England at a particular time in history. This resulted in English’s inconsistent vocabulary， which is a mishmash of Germanic and Romance words that have been beaten into3 shape by bizarre spelling rules， and the simple conventions of analytic languages4.

最常见的语言消亡方式之一就是自然进化。语言随着时间的推移出现变化、进行演化。通过借词、改变语义和造词（如“机器人”一词），新的词汇涌现——语法也会改变，从而更好地满足使用者的需求。渐渐地，更便捷的信息传递方式也应运而生。众所周知，在特定的历史时期中，征服英格兰之人所用的语言对古英语产生了深远影响。这导致英语词汇内部缺乏统一性（掺杂了由奇异拼写规则塑造的日耳曼语与罗曼语词汇），又促使英语接受了分析型语言的简化惯例。

Hundreds of years ago， however， the language looked radically different. Its grammar was extremely complex， with extensive grammatical case and gender systems， verb conjugations， and even a noun class system. These things are all but absent from the modern version of the language.

然而数百年前，英语的面貌截然不同。它的语法极为繁复，拥有复杂的语法格和性别系统、动词变位规则，甚至还有名词类别系统。这些特征在现代英语中几乎不复存在。

Modern languages continue to evolve and develop， eventually becoming newer， more improved， and more convenient. For example， my native Russian is en route to slowly lose its extensive grammatical case system. Many people use simpler constructions which， despite being more wordy or just plain wrong in terms of the standard language rules， nevertheless reveal the direction the language is headed toward.

现代语言仍在不断演化和发展，最终会变得更加新颖、先进，更便于使用。以我的母语俄语为例，它正慢慢失去其复杂的语法格系统。很多人使用更为简单的表达结构，尽管从标准语言规则的角度来看，这些结构更啰嗦或者完全错误，但它们无疑揭示了俄语这种语言发展的方向。

Gradual language death

渐进式的语言消亡

It’s also fairly common for languages to gradually fall out of use.

语言逐步被淘汰也是相当常见的事。

● Top-to-bottom language death

·自上而下的语言消亡

In this case， language death occurs when speakers of one language come into contact with speakers of another more “prestigious” language and then gradually drop their language in favor of the new one. A community may remain bilingual， which can last throughout dozens of generations， but over time， fewer and fewer young people will use their traditional language. Their level of proficiency will also lower with each successive generation， until the traditional language is no longer spoken at all. This process can be witnessed even now， with many minority languages in Russia being dropped by younger people in favor of Russian， which is thought to be “the language that makes sense.”