Level of Endangerment | 5 Critically Endangered | 4 Severely Endangered | 3 Endangered | 2 Threatened | 1 Vulnerable | 0 Safe1 |
Intergenerational Transmission | Few speakers, all elderly | Many of the grandparent generation speaks the language. | Some of child- bearing age know the language, but do not speak it to children. | Most adults of child-bearing age speak the language. | Most adults and some children are speakers. | All community members /members of the ethnic group speak the language. |
Absolute Number of Speakers | 1-9 speakers | 10-99 speakers | 100-999 speakers | 1000-9999 speakers | 10,000-99,999 speakers | >100,000 speakers |
Speaker Number Trends | A small percentage of community members or members of the ethnic group speaks the language;, the rate of language shift is very high. | Fewer than half of community members or members of the ethnic group speak the language; the rate of language shift is accelerated. | About half of community members or members of the ethnic group speak the language; the rate of language shift, is frequent but not rapidly accelerating. | A majority of community members or members of the ethnic group speak the language; the numbers of speakers is gradually diminishing. | Most community members or members of the ethnic group are speakers; speaker numbers are diminishing, but at a slow rate. | Almost all community members or members of the ethnic group speak the language; speaker numbers are stable or increasing. |
Domains of use of the language | Used only in very few domains, (for example, restricted to ceremonies, to few specific domestic activities; a majority of speakers supports language shift; no institutional support. | The language is being replaced even in the home; some speakers may values their language while the majority support language shift; very limited institutional support, if any. | Used mainly just in the home; some speakers may value their language but many are indifferent or support language shift; no literacy or education programs exist for the language; Government encourages shift to the majority language; there is little few outside institutional support. | Used in non- official domains; shares usage in social domains with other languages; most value their language but some are indifferent; education and literacy programs are rarely embraced by the community; government has no explicit policy regarding minority languages, though some outside institutions support the languages. | Used in all domains except official ones (i.e., government and workplace); nearly all speakers value their language and are positive about using it (prestigious); education and literacy in the language is available, but only valued by some; government and other institutional support for use in non-official domains. | Used in government, mass media, education and the workplace; most speakers value their language and are enthusiastic about promoting it; education and literacy in the language are valued by most community members; government and other institutions support the language for use in all domains. |
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[Source: http://www.endangeredlanguages.com/assets/information_catalogue_endangered_languages.pdf]