minority language
Less-spoken regional dialect
A minority language is one spoken by a relatively small portion of a population within a country or region, often alongside a dominant or official language.
Such languages may be indigenous to the area or brought by immigrant communities.
Minority languages frequently face pressures from more widely spoken languages and may be protected by cultural preservation efforts or legal recognition.
Welsh is a minority language in the United Kingdom.
Complete vanishing of a species
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- threatenedExpressed intent to harm
- declineDecrease or refuse
dormant · moribund · obsolescence · disappearance · attrition · erosion · endangered · imperiled
Family line of descent
- identityWho someone is
- mother tongueLanguage acquired from birth
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
- traditionsLong-established customs passed down
indigenous · vernacular · oral history · folklore · proverbs · customs · cultural identity · ethnolinguistic
Written proof or instructions
- archivingStoring for long-term keeping
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- standardizationImplementing uniform technical specifications
- lexicographyCompiling word reference books
recording · transcription · dictionary · grammar · corpus · fieldwork · annotation · digitization
State of being submerged
- community engagementActive local participation
- reclamationRecovery of something lost
- relearningGaining back lost knowledge
- teaching materialsResources for instruction
Multiple language proficiency
- sociolinguisticsStudy of language variation
- dialectologyStudy of regional speech differences
- polyglotismKnowing multiple languages
- plurilingualismCommand of multiple languages
Unjust differential treatment
- stigmatizationMarking as disgraceful
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
- exclusionBeing barred from participation
- prejudicePreformed unfavorable opinion
prestige · dominance · hegemony · assimilation · invisibility · underrepresented
extinction
Complete vanishing of a species
- revitalizationRestoring vigor or vitality
- vulnerableOpen to attack
- threatenedExpressed intent to harm
decline · dormant · moribund · obsolescence · disappearance · attrition · erosion · endangered · imperiled · dwindling
ancestry
Family line of descent
- identityWho someone is
- mother tongueLanguage acquired from birth
- rootsUnderground nutrient absorbers
traditions · indigenous · vernacular · oral history · folklore · proverbs · customs · cultural identity · ethnolinguistic · lineage
documentation
Written proof or instructions
- archivingStoring for long-term keeping
- orthographyStandard writing conventions
- standardizationImplementing uniform technical specifications
lexicography · recording · transcription · dictionary · grammar · corpus · fieldwork · annotation · digitization · writing system
immersion
State of being submerged
- community engagementActive local participation
- reclamationRecovery of something lost
- relearningGaining back lost knowledge
multilingualism
Multiple language proficiency
- sociolinguisticsStudy of language variation
- dialectologyStudy of regional speech differences
- polyglotismKnowing multiple languages
discrimination
Unjust differential treatment
- stigmatizationMarking as disgraceful
- oppressionUnjust exercise of power
- exclusionBeing barred from participation
prejudice · prestige · dominance · hegemony · assimilation · invisibility · underrepresented
- Multilingualismbilingualism, code-switching, polyglot, mother tongue, native tongue
- language losscritically endangered
- languagesEnglish, Arabic, Chinese, German, French
- language termsgrammar, word, vocabulary, syntax, synonym
- language educationbiliteracy, immersion, literacy skills, reading, immersion school
- linguisticslinguistics, phoneme, phonemes, morpheme, morphemes
minority languagedominant language
Most widely used tongue
national language · official language · world language · global language · lingua franca
language, minority, languages, linguist, bilingual, minorities, multilingual, lingua franca, minored