How long does it take for a language to disappear? Rapid and radical language shift in the village of Gio (Sulawesi, Indonesia)

Nikolaus P. Himmelmann
University of Cologne

The most common scenario for language death is a complete language shift: a community does no longer use the traditional language but shifts to another one. There are many ways why and how such shifts come about. The presentation first introduces major aspects of language shift and then illustrates a recent case from Indonesia where such a shift appears to have happened within one generation. The case to be presented is not only of note for its fast pace. It also illustrates the rather rare scenario that speakers shift from one local endangered language to another one rather than to the national language or a dominant regional language.