The Vitality and Endangerment of the Western Shoshone Language

Abstract

Abstract Shoshone, the northernmost Uto-Aztecan language, originally spoken in the area of the Great Basin (U.S.), has been frequently reported as threatened. In his paper, the author presents a vitality assessment of the Western dialect of the Shoshone language based on the methodology which stems from the UNESCO Ad Hoc Expert Group on Endangered Languages. He takes into account UNESCO′s nine factors in order to determine the degree of language vitality and endangerment for Western Shoshone and to outline strategies which might help to revitalize the language in the future.