The Loss of Indigenous Languages

Abstract

How can someone lose his or her first language? How can a language disappear, leaving no speakers left who speak it? Why are indigenous languages disappearing? This paper considers the various ways that languages are lost and what it means to the native speakers. I will look at examples in Papua New Guinea and North and South America. I will also note the dilemmas of the multitude of migrants moving to new cultures and languages in the modern world.