Language erosion: an overview of declining status of indigenous languages of Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan.

Abstract

Language endangerment, language shift, language extinction and language erosion are the core issues under the consideration for the decades among the linguists, sociologists, anthropologists and the other social scientists. This paper in hand mainly argues that languages do not die, but the native speakers murder them with a sheer negligence and negative attitude. It’s a first paper in terms of being an emic study that makes a narrative analysis made by a speaker of one the indigenous languages of the region. The data for this qualitative research was collected through the field observations stretched over the span of three years. The observatory field notes were meticulously analysed to understand the actual causes behind the fast-eroding of the indigenous languages of Gilgit- Baltistan. The findings of this paper suggests that growing sense of worthlessness, negative attitude, among the native speakers works as a slow poison to the indigenous language.