No, dialog between native speakers was no longer possible, but the last person who spoke it could have taught it to someone else.
I'd guess that would depend on if it was ever written.
I mean seriously, take english. Do you really think your average 14 year old, who in theory has a grasp of the language, could pass on all the grammatical rules and such to truly preserve the language? Heck, most adults probably couldn't.
I'd guess that would depend on if it was ever written.
You can't usually get the spoken language from a written copy of it. The pronunciation is generally lost forever at this point (barring recordings, of course).
I mean seriously, take english. Do you really think your average 14 year old, who in theory has a grasp of the language, could pass on all the grammatical rules and such to truly preserve the language? Heck, most adults probably couldn't.
Actually, English is an incredibly difficult language. A lot of languages are much simpler. There is a reason a lot of foreign nationals speak their native tongue - it just makes more sense. So it is quite conceivable that a spoken language could easily have been passed on. I mean, somehow cultures have been doing so for thousands of years.
I would also point out that languages quite simply are not the static collection of grammars that most teachers give us. Languages evolve just like cultures (they have to, or they become useless - how would you use old English to talk about the backbone technologies of the internet?). So at most what could be done is taking a "snapshot" of a language at a particular point of a culture's evolution.
I have to admit, language history is a hobby of mine. I find ancient languages fascinating, and I wish I had more time to study up on them.
raz-00
Wasn't it really already dead when the next to last person who spoke it died?