16 Jamaican Creole Proverbs from the Perspective of Contact Linguistics There are several classifications of the condition of languages (see for instance Krauss 2008). Stephen Wurm (2001, cited in Moseley 2007: xi) created a five-grade scale which presents the level of endangerment: Po t e n t i a l l y e n d a n g e r e d , which usually implies the lack of prestige in the home country, economic deprivation, pressure from larger languages in the public sphere and social fragmentation in the private, to the extent that the language is not being systematically passed on in the education system, e.g. Achuar-Shiwiar in Peru (2,800 or 3,000 speakers; Moseley 2007: 104); Akawaio (or Kapón) in Guyana (5,000 speakers; Moseley 2007: 105); Sherpa in Nepal (up to 50,000 speakers; Moseley 2007: 342); Garuwahi in Papua New Guinea (in 1972 there were 225 speakers; Moseley 2007: 491); Guarani Correntino in Argentina (1000,000–1,000,000 speakers; Moseley 2007: 130). E n d a n g e r e d , when the youngest fluent speakers tend to be young adults and there is a disjunction in passing down the language to children, especially at school but even in the home environment, e.g. Guayabero in Colombia (1,060 speakers; Moseley 2007: 131); Hoti in Venezuela (640 speakers; Moseley 2007: 131); Harro on Gidiccho Island in Lake Abaya, Ethiopia (150 speakers; Moseley 2007: 615); Maká in Paraguay (985 speakers; Moseley 2007: 146); Wayana in Surinam (500 speakers; Moseley 2007: 181). S e r i o u s l y / s e v e r e l y e n d a n g e r e d , with the youngest fluent speakers living among the older generation aged fifty and over, thus implying a loss of prestige and social value over a generation earlier, e.g. Guarani-Nandeva in Paraguay (110 speakers; Moseley 2007: 130); Bocotá in Panama (2,500 speakers; Moseley 2007: 197); Ayapanec in Mexico (Moseley 2007: 197), Akuntsun in Brazil (seven monolingual speakers), Arabela in Peru (55–100 speakers out of an ethnic group of 300; Moseley 2007: 107), Ese Ejja in Peru (225 speakers; Moseley 2007: 126). Mo r i b u n d , with only a tiny proportion of the ethnic group speaking the language, mostly those very aged, e.g. Xetá in Brazil (it is not clear whether there are any speakers left; Moseley 2007: 183); Coeur d’ Alene, which is an Interior Salish language spoken on the Idaho Reservation (there are only four surviving first-language speakers ranging in age from their mid-seventies to 101; Moseley 2007: 40); Bahing in Nepal (only a few elderly speakers remain; Moseley, 2007: 322); Akuiyo in Surinam (ten elderly speakers; Moseley 2007: 105). E x t i n c t , where there are no speakers remaining. This last category means that a language whose existence is remembered by living people in
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