An endangered language is a language that is at risk of falling out of use as its speakers die out or shift to speaking another language. Language loss occurs when the language has no more native speakers, and becomes a "dead language". If eventually no one speaks the language at all, it becomes an "extinct language". Although languages have always become extinct throughout human history, they are currently disappearing at an accelerated rate due to the processes of globalization and neocolonialism, where the economically powerful languages dominate other languages.