Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale Explained

The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), developed by Lewis and Simons (2010), measures a language's status in terms of endangerment or development.[1] [2]

The table below shows the various levels on the scale:

LEVELLABELDESCRIPTIONUNESCO
0 "The language is used internationally for a broad range of functions." Safe
1 "The language is used in education, work, mass media, government at the nationwide level." Safe
2 "The language is used for local and regional mass media and governmental services." Safe
3 "The language is used for local and regional work by both insiders and outsiders." Safe
4 Educational "Literacy in the language is being transmitted through a system of public education." Safe
5 "The language is used orally by all generations and is effectively used in written form in parts of the community." Safe
6a Vigorous "The language is used orally by all generations and is being learned by children as their first language." Safe
6b Threatened "The language is used orally by all generations but only some of the child-bearing generation are transmitting it to their children." Vulnerable
7 Shifting "The child-bearing generation knows the language well enough to use it among themselves but none are transmitting it to their children." Definitely Endangered
8a Moribund "The only remaining active speakers of the language are members of the grandparent generation." Severely Endangered
8b Nearly Extinct "The only remaining speakers of the language are members of the grandparent generation or older who have little opportunity to use the language." Critically Endangered
9 Dormant "The language serves as a reminder of heritage identity for an ethnic community. No one has more than symbolic proficiency." Extinct
10 "No one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language, even for symbolic purposes. " Extinct

The EGIDS model has become widely known, cited in 555 publications as of August 2021.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Lewis . M. Paul . Simons . Gary F. . 2010 . Assessing endangerment: Expanding Fishman's GIDS . Revue roumaine de linguistique . 55 . 2 . 103–120 . 28 March 2020.
  2. Web site: Language Status . 2022-07-01 . Ethnologue . en.
  3. Web site: Google Scholar.