Language death
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In linguistics, language death occurs when a language loses its final native speaker. By extension, language extinction is when the language is no longer known, including by second-language speakers,
Hittite script on a clay tablet
Latin
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Latin is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins in Latium, the lower Tiber area around Rome, Italy. Through the e
Language death
…language death: occurs when the language starts to be used for only religious, literary, ceremonial purposes, but not in casual context. (As in Latin or Avestan.) Top-to-bottom language death: happens when language shift begins in a high-level environment such as the government, but still continues…
Latin inscription on a stone inside the Colosseum in Rome, Italy
The Lapis Niger, probably the oldest extant Latin inscription, from Rome, c. 600 BC during the semi-legendary Roman Kingdom
A 9th century Byzantine coin showing emperor Michael III and his then-junior colleague Basil I with the Latin titles "imperator" and "rex", respectively. Although spoken Latin had largely disappeared in the Eastern Roman Empire by that time, it was occasionally still used on coinage and in ceremonies until at least the 11th century.
The Latin Malmesbury Bible, from 1407