EXAMINING DRIVERS OF LINGUISTIC ENDANGERMENT USING MAXIMUM ENTROPY MODELING

Global language diversity is decreasing at a rapid rate: almost 40% of the world’s 7,100 languages are at risk of becoming extinct in the next century. When languages die, indigenous knowledge and cultures die with them. Analyzing various spatial and environmental factors that are shared between these endangered languages could help prevent their decline and identify languages that are at a greater risk of becoming endangered. This paper examines 2,715 languages identified by UNESCO across five endangerment classifications from vulnerable to extinct. Analysis using Maxent indicates that ecological factors including species richness and human factors including population density may influence the probability of language endangerment, indicating that biodiversity may play an important role in predicting the probability of language endangerment and extinction in the future. Using Maxent to model language endangerment represents a novel method to study these patterns and develop solutions for language and ecological conservation.