In very simple terms, An extinct language is a language that no longer has any speakers. Extinct languages may be contrasted with dead languages, which are no longer spoken by anyone as his or her native language. Normally the transition from a dead to an extinct language occurs when a language undergoes language death while being directly replaced by a different one, as we saw in earlier posts. Language extinction may also occur when a language evolves into a new language or family of languages. An example of this was Old English, the previous version of Modern English.
More tomorrow...
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