Kaixana: The Endangered Language

Learning and exploring different languages has always been great fun for everyone. People find it fascinating learning about endangered lingos such as Kaixana Language. But it is not just a fun activity as people learn different languages because they value their cultures and native languages.

Well, the norms and culture of a society are the most important and the personal thing that makes society a “society”. It shows what people of that particular society do with their everyday life. Culture has many different aspects but languages are the most important aspect of it. It is very difficult to figure out the very first human language, but there are some languages that we know from ancient times.

Why Do They Go Extinct?

The extinction of old languages makes us feel sad because our forefathers took centuries to bring them to us. So, today we will discuss the Kaixana-the endangered language in the world. It is also one of the rarest languages in the world. Let’s just have an overview of the history of Kaixana.

Historical Background of Kaixana

Kaixana language is the native or primary language of Brazil. It is the rarest language in the world because only one person who can speak Kaixana is left today. Kaixana is at the stage of complete extinction. The other term used Kaixana is Cawishana or Kawishana, it is an Arawakan language. Kaixana language has never been much popular but some researches show that in past it had about 200 native speakers. But now this number became a single-digit today. It is very difficult and almost impossible to learn that language.

How Kaixana Language was classified?

Kaixana was classified by Aikhenvald along with Shiriana and Manao in 1999 as a Middle Rio Negro, North Amazonian. Moreover, Kaufman in 1994 placed Kaixana in the Western Nawiki Upper Amazonian’s branch.

How languages change or become extinct?

According to the latest statistical data from Ethnologue, there are a total of 7,099 living languages in the world. This value might differ because it is difficult to reach some remote areas such as Papua New Guinea and Amazon. If we talk about Europe, people speak over 200 languages there, while in Asia the number changes to 2000. A small country like “Papua New Guinea” speaks over 832 languages.

People living in remote areas, around the world speak rare languages. The main and alarming problem is the little number of native speakers. People speak the language that they learn in their childhood but some find no interest in learning them. They want to speak the dominant language to live in this world. And that’s how the languages die or become extinct by the generation gap. However, we can save some of the endangered languages by concerted efforts and respecting our ancient tongues.

Is there any endangered language other than Kaixana?

UNESCO reported that there are almost 64 extinct languages in the world, hardly 1 or 2 speakers of those languages are left in this world.

Let’s discuss some of them where people speak them and the number of their speakers.

Paakantyi

People speak the Pakaantyi language in Australia. The number of active speakers of this language varies. In some reports, there are about 2 to 24 speakers of Paakantyi. This clearly shows that Paakantyi is near to extinction. However, some schools in Australia speakers are trying to reintroduce this language to the new generation.

Njerep

Njerep is one of the old languages of Nigeria. There are still some people in the tribes of Nigeria who speak Njerep. It is the branch of the larger Benue-Congo language, one of the Mambiloid languages. According to research only 4 active speakers of this language are left in this world and it is also one of the endangered languages of the world.

Sarsi

This is one of the unwritten languages of the world. Sarsi was spoken in Calgary or Canada by a tribe named “Tsuu T’ina”. It is also termed Sarcee. Sarsi is an oral language as there are no written records of it are available. However, there were 170 native speakers of Sarsi in 2011.

Chemehuevi

Chemehuevi is a branch of the Numic language and the people of the US, Midwest, Colorado River of California, and some southern regions of Nevada speak this language. However, some researches show that there is not a fluent speaker of Chemehuevi. Back in 2008, only 3 active fluent speakers left. It is also on the list of risk languages.

Dumi

People speak the Dumi language in Nepal. It is also known as Sotmali, Ro’do Bo, Hopupo Bro. Dumi belongs to the Kiranti branch of the Tibeto-Burman language. Researches show that only 7 native speakers of Dumi left. It is one most of the least, rarest and uncommon languages of the world. It is also considered a language that is spoken by some rare mysterious tongues.

Chamicuro

People in Peru spoke the Chamicuro language; it is the traditional language of Peru. Other terms of Chamicuro are Chamicura or Chamicolo. Now it is only spoken in the Midwestern US by a handful of people. Today, children are unable to speak Chamicuro because only 2 speakers of this language are left. The written document of this language is available as some of the speakers in the past have developed its dictionary.

Liki

Liki language is spoken in Indonesia. It was times when Liki was one of the most popular languages of the world. But today only 11 speakers of Liki left in the world. It is somehow related to the Sarmi-Jayapura Bay languages.

Ongota

Ongota is also termed as Shangilla, Ifa, Birale and Birelle. It is spoken in South-Western Ethiopia. In 2012, UNESCO reported only 12 speakers of Ongota. It is an Afro-Asiatic language and is also spoken in the West of Weyt’o River.

These upcoming extinct languages are at an alarming stage or you can say them dead languages in the future.

What factors make a language endangered?

The factors that make a language endangered and later on extinct, are as follow:

1. Less active speakers

Fewer numbers of active speakers of some particular languages are one of the biggest factors, which make a language endangered. The language becomes extinct or dies when it loses all its speakers. And this also stops the knowledge and information of the language and it becomes difficult for people in the future to learn that language.

2. Generation gap

One of the main and important factors is the generation gap that makes a language endangered. The main reason some dominant language that become part of our lives and now people wants to learn those dominant languages.

Does a language extinct gradually or suddenly?

Both the cases are true.

Sudden Extinction: Sometimes languages suddenly become extinct because they lost all of their speakers, and no one on this earth can learn that language.

Gradual Extinction: On the other hand, language can be extinct gradually when the young generation is no more interested in learning that language.

Conclusion

According to the reports of UNESCO, every two weeks, the world loses one language. We can only try to reintroduce endangered languages to new generations to save them.

We, humans, are living on the earth for around 200,000 years, and this is a very long period. Everything changes with the generation gap, and we can’t undo it. Everything that we have created today will be replaced in the future because change is a constant thing.

The thing is that we have to accept this constant change because life doesn’t stop for anyone!