LINGUISTIC EROSION THE SILENT CRISIS VANISHING VOICES OF INDIGENOUS LANGUAGES

Abstract

Linguistic erosion has emerged as a silent global crisis, with approximately 45% of the world’s 7,000 languages endangered and a language disappearing every two weeks. Pakistan is home to a rich linguistic landscape of approximately 77 languages, yet it is currently grappling with a "silent crisis" of linguistic erosion, with at least 27 to 28 indigenous languages at risk of imminent extinction. This study examines the multi-faceted causes of language decline, highlighting how the dominance of Urdu and English in official domains including education, law, and the economy marginalizes regional tongues. Despite rich linguistic diversity, many indigenous languages are losing young speakers. This silent crisis threatens intangible cultural heritage, necessitating urgent policy shifts towards multilingual education to preserve Pakistan's linguistic landscape. The researchers explored and addressed these factors through this valuable research to solve the problem; to fulfill this purpose they face to face meet 720 participants and inquired twenty-six close-ended and one open-ended question to find the answer of the both research questions. The purpose of this survey was to compose data to solve the stated problem. The collected data was later analyzed by using “Statistical Package of Social Sciences” (SPSS); and analyzed data was presented in the tables. Research findings indicated that majority of the participants agreed that communication barriers, traveling, tourism, trends of language mixing, marriages and migrations are leading indigenous languages to the verge of danger. In the end researchers give some recommendations to preserve and restore these languages.