How exactly do languages die?
In: Culture
TL:DR – Evolution over time.
No texts that were written in a common/other language to translate, so no one could learn pronunciation.
The people who spoke the language died off.
The people changed over time, using a more widely known language. 30 years ago, no one in the US really spoke Spanish unless that was their primary language. Today Spanish is everywhere and non Spanish speaking people know more Spanish, broken Spanish, and functional Spanish. So the US is evolving.
Even today, how we pronounce a word can change depending on region, whether it’s a primary or secondary language of the speaker, dialect, etc. Cantonese and Mandarin both use the same written language, but pronouncing those words change depending on if the speaker speaks Cantonese or Mandarin.
After 3 or 4 generations, unless there’s a record of speech such as audio evidence, the spoken language may change entirely, blending what once was with what is. It could also be falsely portrayed such as Transatlantic which was a blend of American and British accents for the movie industry. Normal people at that time didn’t talk like that, but in movies they did.
Languages can be learned if there are texts if pronunciation. We know how Latin sounds because we have texts on how to speak it. Hell, languages that don’t really exist except in fantasy can be learned because of text books. Tolkien created Quenya and Sindarin as well as a bunch of other languages, but you can legit learn Elvish because he wrote a guide book. Or even Klingon.
English and Spanish spread because they sailed around the world and conquered areas, enslaved the people, and forced them to learn. Before them it was Greek.
200 years from now, Spanish and Chinese may be the “common” language. 2000 years we could all speak something nonexistent today and English may be the “dead” language that no one speaks.
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