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Volume 49, Issue 1
  • ISSN 0155-0640
  • E-ISSN: 1833-7139
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Abstract

Assessment of a language is about the evaluation of its vitality. To understand the vitality of a language, a language community should be assessed every few decades, so that the success of any revitalization program can be evaluated according to its vitality index. Based on language vitality, we can formulate specific revitalization methods/programs to help nurture individual languages. In this paper, we critically examine two assessment tools, UNESCO and EGIDS, and explore their effectiveness and problems by applying them to assessing the vitality of Kuwi, an Indigenous language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. In the process, we investigate the meaning of the term “Indigenous” by discussing the issues related to language endangerment and its causes in the context of multilingual and pluricultural India.

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2025-07-28
2026-04-21

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/content/journals/10.1075/aral.24115.pre
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Assessing language vitality
Australian Review of Applied Linguistics 49, 87 (2026); https://doi.org/10.1075/aral.24115.pre
/content/journals/10.1075/aral.24115.pre
/content/journals/10.1075/aral.24115.pre
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  • Article Type: Research Article
Keyword(s): assessment; EGIDS; Indigenous; Kuwi; language vitality; UNESCO

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