UNESCO Endangerment Scale Lookup

UNESCO transmission-category descriptor for independently assigned assessment, not diagnose endangerment from speaker count. Caller establishes language, dialect, method and reference context; no automatic identity or universal language-wide claim.

Description

Intergenerational transmission categories describe whether younger generations acquire and use a language.

Intergenerational transmission categories describe whether younger generations acquire and use a language.^{[1, 2]}

One selected category is only a bounded description and does not replace a full language-vitality assessment.

When to use UNESCO Endangerment Scale Lookup

Use this tool to read a bounded explanation for an exact reference topic. Specify the language variety, analysis, source edition and population or inventory definition.

How to use UNESCO Endangerment Scale Lookup and understand its results

Specify the language variety, analysis, source edition and population or inventory definition.
Enter unescoTransmissionCategory, using the field meanings and rules below, then run the tool.
Read meaning, using the output meanings and calculation rules below.
Correct any reported input issue and run again. Before using a successful result, check the stated units, signs, reference scope and observation coverage.

Input field	Meaning	Value type	Requirement
unescoTransmissionCategory	Unesco transmission category	string	Required

Choose one exact unescoTransmissionCategory token from the table. The implementation looks up the stored value and returns it in the documented output field. Matching is case-sensitive; unrecognized tokens fail. This is an offline bounded reference, not a live catalogue or independent attribution.

Selection token	Stored value
safe	intergenerational transmission not interrupted
vulnerable	most children speak it, use may be restricted to certain domains
definitely-endangered	children no longer learn it as mother tongue at home
severely-endangered	spoken by grandparents; parents may understand but do not transmit
critically-endangered	youngest speakers are grandparents and older, use partial or infrequent
extinct	no speakers left under the specified assessment

value=referenceTable[exactToken]

Use the matching field units and the exact boundary, ordering and reference rules above.

Output field	Meaning	Value type
meaning	Meaning	string

json

{
  "input": {
    "unescoTransmissionCategory": "definitely-endangered"
  },
  "output": {
    "meaning": "children no longer learn it as mother tongue at home"
  }
}

Limitations and assumptions

The language variety, analytical definitions and reference scope are supplied by the caller. No corpus, speech or complete/current linguistic registry is analyzed automatically.

Missing required fields, unknown fields, wrong types and violated rules return input issues. Numeric values and outputs must be finite.

Alternative or Complementary methods

For a related step, use Extinct Language Year Famous Cases Lookup: An extinction-year claim depends on what counts as the last speaker or last continuing use. For a complementary comparison, use Speakers Per Language Millions Lookup: Speaker totals depend on whether native and additional non-native populations overlap.

References

UNESCO Endangerment Scale Lookup — tool.io
Language Vitality and Endangerment — UNESCO

Similar or alternative tools

Extinct Language Year Famous Cases Lookup
An extinction-year claim depends on what counts as the last speaker or last continuing use.
Speakers Per Language Millions Lookup
Speaker totals depend on whether native and additional non-native populations overlap.