What is going on with minority languages?

UNESCO is predicting that half of all languages will be gone by the end of the century. Over 2,000 of the world's 7,000 languages have fewer than 1,000 native speakers, according to data from the UN group and visualized by the Washington Post.

At-risk languages:

1) Critically endangered

2) Seriously endangered

3) Endangered

Factors for the abandonment of the minority language:

1) Intermarriage

2) Market forces

3) Language assimilation

4) National education policies

5) "Modernization"

6) Linguistic attitudes and stigmatization

(from Cristal, 2000)