Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale
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The Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS), developed by Lewis and Simons (2010) as an expansion of Joshua Fishman's GIDS, measures a language's status in terms of endangerment or development.[1][2]
The table below shows the various levels on the scale:
| Level | Label | Description | UNESCO |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | International | "The language is widely used between nations in trade, knowledge exchange, and international policy." | Safe |
| 1 | National | "The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government at the national level." | |
| 2 | Provincial | "The language is used in education, work, mass media, and government within major administrative subdivisions of a nation." | |
| 3 | Wider Communication | "The language is used in work and mass media without official status to transcend language differences across a region." | |
| 4 | Educational | "The language is in vigorous use, with standardization and literature being sustained through a widespread system of institutionally supported education." | |
| 5 | Developing | "The language is in vigorous use, with literature in a standardized form being used by some though this is not yet widespread or sustainable." | |
| 6a | Vigorous | "The language is used for face-to-face communication by all generations and the situation is sustainable." | |
| 6b | Threatened | "The language is used for face-to-face communication within all generations, but it is losing users." | Vulnerable |
| 7 | Shifting | "The child-bearing generation can use the language among themselves, but it is not being transmitted to children." | Definitely Endangered |
| 8a | Moribund | "The only remaining active speakers of the language are members of the grandparent generation and older." | 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, but no one has more than symbolic proficiency." | Extinct |
| 10 | Extinct | "The language is no longer used and no one retains a sense of ethnic identity associated with the language." |
Fishman's GIDS had levels 1 to 8.[3] EGIDS adds levels 0, 9 and 10, and splits Fishman's levels 6 and 8 into two parts each.[1]
The EGIDS model has become widely known, cited in 911 publications as of May 2025.[4]
This model was developed for spoken languages. It has also been adapted for use with sign languages.[5]
References
[edit]- ^ a b Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F. (2010). "Assessing endangerment: Expanding Fishman's GIDS" (PDF). Revue roumaine de linguistique. 55 (2): 103–120. Retrieved 28 March 2020.
- ^ "Language Status". Ethnologue. Retrieved 2025-02-27.
- ^ Fishman, Joshua A. (1991). Reversing Language Shift. Multilingual Matters. pp. 87–109. ISBN 978-1-85359-121-1.
- ^ "Google Scholar".
- ^ Bickford, J. Albert; Lewis, M. Paul; Simons, Gary F. (2015). "Rating the vitality of sign languages". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 36 (5): 513–527. doi:10.1080/01434632.2014.966827. hdl:10125/26131.