APA Dictionary of Psychology

the extinction of a language. The usual cause is a gradual shift to the use of another language in the younger generations of a speech community, so that the original language dies out with the older generation. In the early 21st century, it has been estimated that languages are dying out at a rate of two or three every month. By other estimates, which put the number of languages currently spoken at more than 6,000, roughly half will disappear by the end of the century. See language shift.