Picard
[aka Rouchi, Chtimi,]Classification: Indo-European
·vulnerable
As linguists scurry to document the estimated 3600 languages that will disappear this century, a special focus has been placed on the documentation of the smallest and most moribund of these languages. Divergently, my research follows three largely ignored, „safer‟ languages, Picard (France), Central Atlas Tamazight (Morocco), and Chuvash (Russia) to identify the moment when language death begins and resultantly prevent it. My research has shown that this moment correlated exactly with a significant loss of linguistic prestige in all three languages. My paper blends together the three sociolinguistic histories of these little documented languages, written in the official language of their respective countries, with an appeal, written in English, to linguists and governments alike to recognize these languages importance and vulnerability. The development of linguistic prestige in these languages is essential to ensure that they will ultimately survive.
Read document