How does a language go extinct?

Answer 1

Extinct is an unusual term to use in reference to a language, The customary term is "dead" which means a language which is no longer spoken as an everyday language by a given population. Sumerian is a dead language. Latin is an odd case since it is not spoken by a civic population but it is spoken by religious groups and was for centuries the language of academic discourse.

There is also the progression of languages. Old English is dead since it is so far removed from modern English as to be completely unintelligible by anyone other than scholars of Old English.

Irish and Scots Gaelic was/were close to disappearing because the English outlawed them. But both were spoken when the English weren't around and both have made a comeback in recent decades, especially Irish.

Studies at St. Anne's College in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, Canada, are given in Gaelic and tuition is free for native speakers.