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extremely vulnerable to pressures on their way of life. However, size is not necessarily
deterministic. Crystal (2000: 20) has argued that languages spoken by at least 1,000 people
can be categorized into viable languages, and it is still possible for them to be revitalized.
Small communities may also find it possible to just migrate en-masse to some other region
where they can restart their lives. However, in general, the picture is rather stark and the
odds clearly stacked against preservation or maintenance.
Finally, given the importance of small, local languages, and the nature and causes of
language endangerment, we now need to ask, what can be done?
What type of action is appropriate will depend on the status of the language. One of
the functions of a scale such as EGIDS is to provide a means to classify languages into a
small number of categories as a first step in deciding what action would be appropriate.
For example, where languages are strong or vigorous, they can still be assisted to maintain
this status. For languages which are in the early stages of being threatened or show signs
of shifting, then maintainance programs can be created. And for languages which are
endangered, they can be documented to preserve as much as possible for posterity.
In general, small languages are oral and do not have writing systems or written records
about their group, its history and culture. This makes the task of documentation all the
more urgent because if the last speaker dies, there will be no trace for scholars to look at.
There will be no memory at all. Literacy and the development of writing systems can also
play a part in the preservation of viable langauges.
Most of the countries in the present study have languages which are endangered
(EGIDS 8a-8b-9) and extinct languages (EGIDS 10). Fiji is the only country that does not
have endangered languages. The appropriate action for endangered languages is to
perform field research as speedily as possible to determine the particular circumstances
in each case. For extinct languages, it may still be possible to get information from others
about the former community and its last speakers.
Vanuatu has 11 dying languages and 2 extinct languages; the Solomon Island has 8
dying languages and 4 extinct languages; New Caledonia has 8 dying languages, and 1
exinct language; Papua New Guinea has 37 dying languages, and 12 extinct languages;
Timor Leste has 1 dying language, and 1 extinct language. Indonesia has the largest
number of endangered languages, with 75 dying languages, and 13 extinct languages.
Where languages are just beginning to show signs of shifting, or where they still have a
high vitality, programs of language maintenance and revitalization can be conducted.

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