DEATH OF LANGUAGES AND THEIR RENAISSANCE ACCORDING TO CLAUDE HAGEGA’S BOOK “KALTE A LA MORT DES LANGUES”

Abstract

The article deals with the three reasons of language disappearing: transformation, substitution and extinction. According to the author the concept “extinction” is more metaphoric than the one that extinction causes in our consciousness. The article also discusses those physical reasons that cause the language death (natural disasters, genocide, epidemic, migration). It also separates those characteristics that don‟t take part in language disappearing directly (lack of Purism and normalization from one hand, having no alphabet from the other hand and finally, it is a language of minority). There are cases when dead or dying languages become alive. Such languages are: Yiddish, Scottish Gaelic and Kornuolian.