Language shift and language maintenance are opposing outcomes for minority or subordinate languages in contact situations.
Language shift occurs when a speech community gradually abandons its heritage language in favour of another, typically the socially dominant language. The shift usually takes three generations:
Fishman (1991) described this as the pattern of "language death": when intergenerational transmission breaks down, the language is endangered regardless of how many older speakers remain.
| Factor | How it promotes shift |
|---|---|
| Economic pressure | The dominant language is required for employment and social mobility |
| Education policy | Schooling in the dominant language only; heritage language excluded |
| Urbanisation | Migration to cities breaks community language networks |
| Media dominance | Television, internet, social media overwhelmingly in the dominant language |
| Prestige | The dominant language is associated with modernity, success, education |
| Intermarriage | Mixed-language families often default to the dominant language |
| Government policy | Active suppression or neglect of minority languages |
Language maintenance refers to the efforts and conditions that allow a minority language to survive alongside a dominant language. Factors supporting maintenance include:
When shift is advanced, revitalisation efforts may attempt to reverse it. Fishman's (1991) Reversing Language Shift proposed the Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (GIDS), with intergenerational family transmission as the critical stage. Successful cases include Hebrew (revived as a daily spoken language), Welsh (stabilised through education and media policy), and Maori (kohanga reo immersion nurseries).