List of languages by number of native speakers: Difference between revisions
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| '''[[German language|German]]''' || [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] || 90 million (standard German, 1990) || 118 million || 101 million native (2005: 82 million [[Germany|in Germany]], 8 million [[Austria|in Austria]], 5 million [[Switzerland|in Switzerland]]), 60 million second language in EU<ref name=EC>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf |title=Europeans and Languages|accessdate=2007-02-18 |publisher=European Commission }}</ref> + 5–20 million worldwide. |
| '''[[German language|German]]''' || [[Indo-European languages|Indo-European]], [[Germanic languages|Germanic]] || 90 million (standard German, 1990) || 118 million || 101 million native (2005: 82 million [[Germany|in Germany]], 8 million [[Austria|in Austria]], 5 million [[Switzerland|in Switzerland]]), 60 million second language in EU<ref name=EC>{{cite web |url=http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_237.en.pdf |title=Europeans and Languages|accessdate=2007-02-18 |publisher=European Commission }}</ref> + 5–20 million worldwide. |
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| '''[[Javanese language|Javanese]]''' || [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]], [[Malayo-Polynesian]] || 85 million (2000) || — || |
| '''[[Javanese language|Javanese]]''' || [[Austronesian languages|Austronesian]], [[Malayo-Polynesian]] || 85 million (2000) || — || |
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| '''[[Wu Chinese|Wu]]'''<br>(Shanghainese) || [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || 77 million (1984) || — || 90 million,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861758362/Wu.html |title=Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta |publisher=Uk.encarta.msn.com |date= |accessdate=2010-03-16}}</ref> Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. |
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| '''[[Wu Chinese|Wu]]'''<br>(Shanghainese) || [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || 77 million (1984) || — || 90 million,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861758362/Wu.html |title=Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta |publisher=Uk.encarta.msn.com |date= |accessdate=2010-03-16}}</ref> Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. |
| '''[[Wu Chinese|Wu]]'''<br>(Shanghainese) || [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || 77 million (1984) || — || 90 million,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861758362/Wu.html |title=Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta |publisher=Uk.encarta.msn.com |date= |accessdate=2010-03-16}}</ref> Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. |
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| '''[[Tamil language|Tamil]]''' || [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]]|| 66 million (1997) || 74 million || 61 million (2001 census)<ref name=India/>{{fix|text=verify}} |
| '''[[Tamil language|Tamil]]''' || [[Dravidian languages|Dravidian]]|| 66 million (1997) || 74 million || 61 million (2001 census)<ref name=India/>{{fix|text=verify}} |
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| '''[[Yue Chinese|Yue]]'''<br>(Cantonese) || [[Sino-Tibetan languages|Sino-Tibetan]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] || 56 million (1984) || — || 70 million<ref name="cantonese1">{{cite web|url=http://uk.encarta.msn.com/encnet/features/dictionary/DictionaryResults.aspx?lextype=3&search=cantonese|title=Cantonese language|publisher=Encarta Dictionary|accessdate=11 February 2010}}</ref> |
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| '''[[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''' || [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Oghuz languages|Oghuz]] || 51 million (1987) || — || 74 & 83 million (2005)<ref name=EC/> <br> Turk-Azeri-Turkmen = 80 million (1987–2007) per ''Ethnologue'' figures. |
| '''[[Turkish language|Turkish]] ''' || [[Turkic languages|Turkic]], [[Oghuz languages|Oghuz]] || 51 million (1987) || — || 74 & 83 million (2005)<ref name=EC/> <br> Turk-Azeri-Turkmen = 80 million (1987–2007) per ''Ethnologue'' figures. |
Revision as of 00:27, 8 April 2012
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Human_Language_Families_%28wikicolors%29.png/275px-Human_Language_Families_%28wikicolors%29.png)
For larger map, scroll towards end of article.
The following tables list languages with more than three million estimated native speakers, ordered by number of speakers.
Since the definition of a single language is to some extent arbitrary, some mutually intelligible idioms with separate national standards or self-identification have been listed together, including Hindi-Urdu; Indonesian and Malay; Croatian, Bosnian and Serbian; Punjabi; Tibetan, etc.
The primary estimates used for this list are those of SIL Ethnologue.[1] Other estimates will vary, and the numbers should be taken as no more than an indication of the rough order of magnitude of a linguistic community. Ethnologue lists 1,300 languages with 100,000 speakers or more, 750 with 300,000 or more, some 400 with a million or more, 200 with at least 3 million, 80 with 10 million, and 40 with 30 million.
Figures are accompanied by dates the data was collected; for many languages, an old date means that the current number of speakers will be substantially greater. A range of dates means that the figure is the sum of data from more than one country and from different years.
More than 100 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native speakers (Ethnologue 16)[1] |
Total speakers (Ethnologue 16)[1] |
Other estimates | Rank |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mandarin | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese |
845 million (2000) | 1025 million | One of the six official languages of the United Nations. All varieties of Chinese language: 1,200 million (2000) |
1 |
Spanish (Castilian) |
Indo-European, Romance |
329 million (1986–2000) | 390 million | 400 million native.[2] 500 million total (2009)[3]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
2 |
English | Indo-European, Germanic |
328 million (2000–2006) | — | Approximately 375 million L1 speakers, 375 million L2 speakers, and 750 million EFL speakers. Totaling about 1.5 billion speakers.[4]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
3 |
Hindi-Urdu (Hindustani) |
Indo-European, Indic |
240 million (1991–1997) | 405 million (1999) | 490 million total speakers.[5] | 4 |
Arabic | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic |
206 million (1999), 221 million, 232 million (206M is "all Arabic varieties"; 221M is Arabic "macrolanguage", not counting Hassaniya; 232M is sum of counts for all dialects) |
452 million (1999) | 280 million native.[6]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations. |
5 |
Bengali (Bangla) |
Indo-European, Indic |
181 million (1997–2001) | 250 million | Bangla is spoken by over 300 million people worldwide.
[7] Wants to be an official language of the United Nations. [8] |
6–7 |
Portuguese | Indo-European, Romance |
178 million (1998) | 193 million | 220 million native, 240 million total.[9]
Ethnologue estimate misses ~12 million in Angola[citation needed] |
6–7 |
Russian | Indo-European, Slavic |
144 million (2002) | 250 million | One of the six official languages of the United Nations.[10] | 8 |
Japanese | Japonic | 122 million (1985) | 123 million | 9 | |
Yue (Cantonese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 120 million (2010) | — | 122million[11] | |
Punjabi | Indo-European, Indic |
109 million (2000) All varieties: Lahnda, Seraiki, Hindko, Mirpur |
— | 10 |
50 to 100 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native[1] | Total[1] | Other estimates | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
German | Indo-European, Germanic | 90 million (standard German, 1990) | 118 million | 101 million native (2005: 82 million in Germany, 8 million in Austria, 5 million in Switzerland), 60 million second language in EU[12] + 5–20 million worldwide. | Javanese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 85 million (2000) | — | |
Wu (Shanghainese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 77 million (1984) | — | 90 million,[13] Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. | |||||
Wu (Shanghainese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 77 million (1984) | — | 90 million,[14] Shanghainese is not mutually intelligible with some other Wu dialects/languages. | |||||
Marathi | Indo-European, Indic | 75 million (1997) (including Varhadi) |
3 million L2 | 72 million (2001 census)[15] | |||||
Telugu | Dravidian | 70 million (1997) | 75 million | 84.6 million (2011 census)[15] | |||||
Vietnamese | Austro-Asiatic, Viet–Muong | 69 million (1999) | — | 86 million total?[citation needed] | |||||
French | Indo-European, Romance | 68 million (2005) | 120 million | 128 million "native and real speakers" (includes 65 million French people[16], 72 million "bilinguals"[17]. More than 200 million native and second language.[18][19]
One of the six official languages of the United Nations.[10] | |||||
Korean | language isolate | 66 million (1986) | — | 72 million (2010 WA) | |||||
Tamil | Dravidian | 66 million (1997) | 74 million | 61 million (2001 census)[15][verify] | |||||
Yue (Cantonese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 56 million (1984) | — | 70 million[11] | |||||
Turkish | Turkic, Oghuz | 51 million (1987) | — | 74 & 83 million (2005)[12] Turk-Azeri-Turkmen = 80 million (1987–2007) per Ethnologue figures. | |||||
Pashto | Indo-European, Iranian | 50 million (2009) | — | 50 to 60 million[20][21][22][23] | |||||
Italian | Indo-European, Romance | — | 62 million (no date) | Figure includes "bilinguals" who do not use standard Italian as their main language, who may account for nearly half the population in Italy |
30 to 50 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native[1] | Total[1] | Other estimates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Min Nan (Amoy, Hokkien, Taiwanese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 47 million (1984–1997) | — | |
Gujarati | Indo-European, Indic | 46 million (1997) | — | |
Polish | Indo-European, Slavic | 40 million (1986) | ||
Persian | Indo-European, Iranian | 39 million (1991–2000) incl. Dari, Tajik, Hazara |
— | Data from Uzbekistan highly uncertain. 63 million (Encyclopedia of Orient)[24] 59 million 2009 CIA Factbook (Afghan Persian, Iranian Persian and Tajiki are considered dialects of one language);[25][26][27][28] ca. 60-70 million, as their mother tongue (2006 estimates).[29][30][31][32][33] |
Bhojpuri | Indo-European, Indic | 39 million (2007) | — | |
Awadhi | Indo-European, Indic | 38 million (2001) | — | Often included in Hindi, but not in Hindi-Urdu. Separate literature. |
Ukrainian | Indo-European, Slavic | 37 million (1993) | — | |
Malay (Malaysian-Indonesian) |
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 37 million (2000) | 180 million | |
Xiang (Hunanese) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 36 million (1984) | — | |
Malayalam | Dravidian | 36 million (1997) | — | |
Kannada | Dravidian | 35 million (1997) | 44 million | |
Maithili | Indo-European, Indic | 35 million (2000) | — | |
Sundanese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 34 million (2000 census) | — | |
Burmese | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman | 32 million (2000) | 42 million | 50-56 million total speakers, including 18 to 23 million as second language (Myanmar Language Commission) |
Oriya | Indo-European, Indic | 32 million (1997) | — | 2001 Indian Census: 33,017,446.[34] |
Marwari | Indo-European, Indic | 31 million (undated) | — | Sometimes included in Rajasthani. The sum of speakers of individual dialects is 23M (2001–2007). |
Hakka | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 30 million (1984) | — |
10 to 30 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native[1] | Total[1] | Other estimate |
---|---|---|---|---|
Thai | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 26 million (2000) 20M Central (Siamese) + 6M Northern |
60 million (2001) | Divergent definitions of what constitutes "Thai". |
Hausa | Afro-Asiatic, Chadic | 25 million (1991) | 40 million | |
Tagalog (Filipino) |
Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 24 million (2000) (as Tagalog) 25 million (2007) (as Filipino) |
— | Perhaps 90% of the population of 85 million can speak Tagalog.[citation needed] |
Romanian | Indo-European, Romance | 23 million (2002) | — | The Latin Union reports 28 million speakers for Romanian, out of whom 24 million are native speakers of the language[35] |
Dutch | Indo-European, Germanic | 22 million (2007) 27M incl. 5M Afrikaans |
(+ 10 million Afrikaans) | 25 million[12][36] |
Gan | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 21 million (1984) | — | 48 million[37][Cannot verify] |
Sindhi | Indo-European, Indic | 21 million (2001) | — | (significant L2 speakers?)[citation needed] |
Uzbek | Turkic, Uyghur | 20 million (1995) | — | Population has grown substantially since 1995, but figures are exaggerated to hide Persian/Tajik population. |
Azerbaijani | Turkic, Oghuz | 20 million (2001–2006) 22 million including Qashqai |
28 million | Data from Iran highly uncertain. CIA: 26 million native (2010).[38] |
Rajasthani | Indo-European, Indic | 20 million (2000–2003) | — | Dominant variety is Malvi |
Lao–Isan | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 19 million (1983–1991) | 20 million | |
Yoruba | Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger | 19 million (1993) | 21 million | |
Igbo | Niger–Congo, Volta–Niger | 18 million (1999) | — | 18–25 million[39] |
Northern Berber | Afro-Asiatic, Berber | 15–22 million (Total of Central Atlas Tamazight, Riff, Shilha, Kabylian, Shawia, others.) | — | |
Amharic | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic | 17.5 million (1994) | 22 million | [need updated fig.] Significant L2 speakers. |
Oromo | Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic | 17 million (1994) | — | 30 million ethnic Oromo. Significant L2 speakers. |
Chhattisgarhi | Indo-European, Indic | 17.5 million (2002) | — | Frequently counted as "Hindi" |
Assamese | Indo-European, Indic | 16.8 million (2000) | — | Many L2 speakers[citation needed] |
Kurdish | Indo-European, Iranian | 16 million (1980–2004) | — | ≈35 million ethnic Kurds ca. 2010, not all of whom speak Kurdish |
Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian) |
Indo-European, Slavic | 16 million | — | |
Sinhalese | Indo-European, Indic | 16 million (2007) | 18 million | |
Cebuano | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 15.8 million (2000) | — | Significant L2 speakers |
Rangpuri | Indo-European, Indic | ≈ 15 million (2007) | — | |
Malagasy | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 15 million (2006) | — | |
Khmer | Austro-Asiatic, Mon–Khmer | 15 million (2006) | 16 million | |
Sotho–Tswana | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 15 million (2006) | — | Tswana, Southern Sotho, and the various lects lumped under 'Northern Sotho' are mutually intelligible |
Nepali | Indo-European, Indic | 14 million (2001) | — | As the national language of Nepal, the number total speakers is closer to 32 million. |
Rwanda-Rundi | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 14 million (1986–1998) | Given the populations of Rwanda and Burundi, the 2010 figure is likely 23 million native. | |
Somali | Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic | 14 million (2006) | — | |
Madurese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 14 million (2000) | ||
Haryanvi | Indo-European, Indic | 13 million (1992) | Frequently counted as "Hindi" | |
Fula (Fulani, Fulfulde, Pulaar) |
Niger–Congo, Senegambian | 13 million (1991–2007) (all varieties) |
— | Significant L2 speakers |
Bavarian | Indo-European, Germanic | 13 million (2005) | — | Listed figure of 13.26 spuriously precise |
Magahi | Indo-European, Indic | 13 million (2002) | Bihari, and so sometimes counted as "Hindi" | |
Greek | Indo-European, Greek | 13 million (2002) | — | |
Chittagonian | Indo-European, Indic | 13 million (2006) | sometimes considered a dialect of Bengali, but not mutually intelligible | |
Deccan | Indo-European, Indic | 12.8 million (2000) | Perhaps the same as the Dakhini "dialect" of Urdu | |
Hungarian | Uralic, Ugric | 12.5 million (2001) | — | |
Catalan (Valencian) |
Indo-European, Romance | 11.5 million (2006) | 15 million | |
Shona | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 10.8 million (2000) (Shona proper) |
11.6 million | 15 million native (2000) including Ndau, Manyika, etc. |
Min Bei | Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 10.3 million (1984) | — | |
Zulu | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 10.3 million (2006) | 26 million | |
Sylheti | Indo-European, Indic | 10 million | Similar to Bengali. Ethnologue figure of 10.3 million spuriously precise. |
5 to 10 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native[1] | Total | Other estimates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Czech | Indo-European, Slavic | 9.5 million (2001) | — | 15 million Czech-Slovak |
Kanauji | Indo-European, Indic | 9.5 million (2001) | — | Generally considered Hindi |
Bulgarian | Indo-European, Slavic | 9.1 million (1986) | — | 11.2 million Bulgarian-Macedonian |
Min Dong (Fuzhou) |
Sino-Tibetan, Chinese | 8.6 million (2000) | — | |
Lombard | Indo-European, Romance | 9.1 million (2000) | — | |
Uyghur | Turkic, Uyghur | 8.9 million (2000) | — | |
Chewa (Nyanja) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 8.7 million (2001) | — | |
Belarusian | Indo-European, Slavic | 8.6 million (2001) | — | |
Kazakh | Turkic, Kypchak | 8.3 million (1979) | — | |
Swedish | Indo-European, Germanic | 8.3 million (1998) | — | |
Akan (Twi, Fante) |
Niger–Congo, Kwa | 8.3 million | 9.3 million | 10 million native, ≈20 million total [40] |
Makuwa (Lomwe) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 8.0 million (2006) (incl. Lomwe/West Makua) |
— | |
Tatar-Bashkir | Turkic, Kypchak | 7.9 million (2002) | — | |
Bagheli | Indo-European, Indic | 7.9 million (2004) | — | Generally considered Hindi |
Xhosa | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 7.8 million (2006) | — | |
Haitian | French creole | 7.7 million (2001) | — | |
Konkani | Indo-European, Indic | ca. 7.6 million (2001) | — | |
Albanian | Indo-European, isolate | 7.5 million (1989–2007) | — | |
Gikuyu | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 7.2 million (undated) | — | |
Neapolitan (Calabrese) |
Indo-European, Romance | 7.0 million (1976) | — | |
Ilokano | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 7.0 million (2000) | — | significant L2 use |
Balochi | Indo-European, Iranian | 7.0 million (1998) | — | |
Southern Quechua | Quechuan | 6.9 million (1987–2002) | — | |
Batak | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 6.8 million (1991–2000) (all varieties) |
— | |
Turkmen | Turkic, Oghuz | 6.6 million (1995–1997) | — | |
Mossi-Dagomba | Niger–Congo, Gur | 6.4 million (1991–2003) | — | Does not include Frafra. |
Armenian | Indo-European, isolate | 6.4 million (?–2001) | — | |
Sukuma-Nyamwezi | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 6.4 million (2006) | — | |
Tshiluba (Luba-Kasai) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 6.3 million (1991) | 7.0 million | |
Santali | Austro-Asiatic, Munda | 6.2 million (1997) | — | |
Venetian | Indo-European, Romance | ≈ 6.2 million (2000–2006) | — | Incl. ≈ 4M in Brazil. |
Kongo | Niger–Congo, Bantu | ≈ 6 million (?–2007) | ≈ 11 million | Figures are only approximate. |
Hiligaynon | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 5.8 million (2000) | — | Significant L2 use. |
Tigrinya | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic | 5.8 million (1994–2006) | 6.0 million | |
Mongolian | Mongolic | 5.7 million (1982–1995) | — | Some L2 use. |
Bhili (Wagdi, etc.) |
Indo-European, Indic | 5.6 million (1998–2007) (all varieties) |
— | |
Danish | Indo-European, Germanic | 5.6 million (2007) | — | |
Minangkabau | Austronesian | 5.5 million (2007) | — | |
Kashmiri | Indo-European, Indic | 5.6 million (undated) | — | data apparently post-2000 |
Hebrew | Afro-Asiatic, Semitic | 5.3 million (1998) | — | Number is L1 use, not nec. native. Significant L2 use. |
Finnish | Uralic, Finnic | 5.1 million (1993) | — | |
Slovak | Indo-European, Slavic | 5.0 million (2001) | — | See Czech above. |
Afrikaans | Indo-European, Germanic | 4.9 million (2006) | 15.2 million | See Dutch above. |
Guarani | Tupi | 4.9 million (1995) | — |
3 to 5 million native speakers
Language | Family | Native[1] | Total | Other estimates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Mandingo (Maninka) |
Mande | 4.8 million (1986–2006) | — | L2 use. |
Sicilian | Indo-European, Romance | 4.8 million (2000) | — | |
Norwegian | Indo-European, Germanic | 4.6 million (no date) | — | 4.7 million (2006, Statistics Norway) |
Bikol | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 4.6 million (2000) (all varieties) |
— | L2 use. |
Bambara (Malinke, Jula) |
Mande | ≈ 4.5 million (1990–1995) | — | Widespread as L2, over 10 million |
Southern Thai | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 4.5 million (2006) | — | |
Dholuo (Luo proper) |
Nilo-Saharan, Eastern Sudanic, Nilotic | 4.4 million (undated) | — | (data apparently after 2000) |
Georgian | Kartvelian | 4.3 million (1993) | — | |
Kituba | Kikongo-based creole | 4.2 million (1990) | 5 million | Widely used as L2 |
Kanuri (Kanembu) |
Nilo-Saharan, Saharan | ≈ 4.2 million (1985–2006) | ≈ 4.8 million | 3 of the 4.2 M is a rough estimate from 1985 |
Wolof | Niger–Congo, Senegambian | 4.2 million (2006) | — | Significant L2 use. |
Ganda (Luganda) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | 4.1 million (2002) | ≈ 5 million (1999) | |
Umbundu (South Mbundu) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | ≈ 4 million (1995) | — | L2 use. |
Kamba | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 4.0 million (undated) | 4.6 million | Data likely after 2000. |
Dogri (Kangri) |
Indo-European, Indic | 3.8 million (1996–1997) | — | |
Tsonga | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 3.7 million (2006) | — | |
Konkani | Indo-European, Indic | 3.6 million Goan Konkani (2000) ≈ 7.6 million all varieties |
— | There is debate over whether Maharashtra Konkani is actually Konkani or Marathi |
Luyia | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 3.6 million (1989) | — | Scope of language has been changed, but without complete data available. |
Bemba | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 3.6 million (2001) | — | Significant L2 use. |
Buginese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | ≈ 3.5 million (1991) | ≈ 4 million | |
Efik (Ibibio–Efik) |
Niger–Congo, Cross River | (≈ 3½ million, 1990–1998) (incl. Anaang) |
(≈ 5½ million) | Ethnologue has rescinded its data for Ibibio. |
Acehnese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 3.5 million (2000) | — | L2 use. |
Balinese | Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian | 3.3 million (2000) | — | 3.9 million (2001 Johnstone and Mandryk) |
Mazanderani–Gilaki | Indo-European, Iranian | 3.3 million (1993) | — | |
Shan | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 3.3 million (2001) | — | |
Lithuanian | Indo-European, Baltic | 3.2 million (1998) | — | |
Galician | Indo-European, Romance | 3.2 million (1986) | — | Portuguese and Galician are dialects. |
Jamaican Creole | English creole | 3.2 million (2001) | — | |
Shan | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 3.2 million (2001) | — | |
Ewe | Niger–Congo, Kwa | 3.1 million (1991–2003) | 3.6 million | |
Piemonteis | Indo-European, Romance | 3.1 million (2000) | — | |
Kimbundu (North Mbundu) |
Niger–Congo, Bantu | ≈ 3 million (1999) | — | |
Kyrgyz | Turkic, Kypchak | 2.9 million (1993) | — |
Other languages frequently cited as having more than 3 million speakers
Some languages are widely cited as having more speakers than the sources for this article allow, due to discrepancies in the conception of language. Differences may be due to defining a language along ethnic lines rather than by degree of comprehension (Tibetan, Hmong), large numbers of L2 speakers who use the language on a daily basis (Swahili, Lingala), or a suspected but undocumented number (Chinese Sign Language). Numerous cases where estimates disagree without some such extenuating circumstance are not listed.
Language | Family | Native | Total | Other estimates |
---|---|---|---|---|
Chinese Sign Language | language isolate | — | — | Perhaps the most populous sign language; number of speakers (signers) unknown. |
Indo-Pakistani Sign Language | language isolate | 2.7 million in India (2003) | — | Additional speakers (signers) in Pakistan and Bangladesh. |
Zhuang | Tai–Kadai, Tai | 2.65 million Buyei (2000), 2.0 million Yongbei Zhuang (2007) |
— | 15 million all varieties (2001–2007). Not mutually intelligible. Ethnologue divides Zhuang into 16 languages. |
Hmong | Hmong–Mien | 2.7 million | Not mutually intelligible with other Hmongic languages. Cited figures dependent on conception of "Hmong": 7.8 million (2006); ca. 4 million (Lemoine, 2005) | |
Lingala | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 2.1 million | ≈ 9 million (1999) in DR Congo | L2 also in Congo-Brazzaville. Per Britannica (2005 Yearbook), > 36 million speak Lingala as lingua franca. |
Yi (Nuosu) | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman | 2 million | Not mutually intelligible with other Yi languages. Cited figures dependent on conception of "Yi": 4.2 million (2006), 7.8 million ethnic Yi (2000 census) | |
Central Tibetan (Dbus / Ü) | Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman | 1.3 million (1990) | — | Not mutually intelligible with other Tibetan languages. Cited figures dependent on conception of "Tibetan". |
Swahili | Niger–Congo, Bantu | 800 thousand (1994–2006) | 40 million (1991–2006) | ~5 million native, ~80 million second language[citation needed] |
Additional languages
- The following are languages which were not properly sourced for where they were included, or which have not yet been added
![]() | This article needs attention from an expert on the subject. Please add a reason or a talk parameter to this template to explain the issue with the article.(October 2010) |
- Varhadi-Nagpuri vah 7.0
- Lambadi lmn 6.0
- Mewati wtm 5.0
- Mainfränkisch vmf 4.9
- Domari rmt 4.0
- Musi mui 3.9
- Mina myi 3.8
- Banjar bjn 3.5
- Hassaniyya mey 3.1 [already counted under Arabic]
- Godwari gdx 3.0
- Hunsrik hrx 3.0
See also
- Global language system
- Linguistic demography
- Linguistic Diversity Index
- Lists of endangered languages (for languages with the fewest numbers of speakers)
- List of languages by number of native speakers in India (uses a different definition of Hindi)
- List of languages by total number of speakers
- List of sign languages by number of native signers
References
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Ethnologue". SIL Haley.
- ^ Demografía de la lengua española (page 38)
- ^ krysstal.com, 5th International Congress on Spanish Language (la-moncloa.es),uis.edu, Antonio Molina, director of the Instituto Cervantes in 2006 (terranoticias.es,elmundo.es, fundeu.es), Luis María Anson of the Real Academia Española (elcultural.es),International Congress about Spanish, 2008, Mario Melgar of the México University (lllf.uam.es), Enrique Díaz de Liaño Argüelles, director of Celer Solutions multilingual translation network ([1]), Feu Rosa - Spanish in Mercosur (congresosdelalengua.es), elpais.com, eumed.net, [2], babel-linguistics.com.
- ^ "Future of English" (PDF). The British Council. Retrieved 24 August 2011. (page 10)
- ^ "A guide to Urdu - why learn Urdu?". Languages: Other. BBC. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- ^ Procházka, S. (2006), "Arabic", Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics (2nd ed.)
- ^ {{|url=http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=207005&cid=2}}
- ^ {{|url=http://bdnews24.com/details.php?id=207005&cid=2}}
- ^ "IOL Diário - Somos 240 milhões de falantes". Diario.iol.pt. 16 July 2008. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ a b Contributor: flamiejamie (26 June 2008). "Top 10 Most Spoken Languages In The World". Listverse. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
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has generic name (help) - ^ a b "Cantonese language". Encarta Dictionary. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
- ^ a b c "Europeans and Languages" (PDF). European Commission. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
- ^ "Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta". Uk.encarta.msn.com. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "Wu definition - Dictionaries - MSN Encarta". Uk.encarta.msn.com. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ a b c "Census of India - Statement 4". Censusindia.gov.in. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ http://www.insee.fr/fr/themes/document.asp?ref_id=ip1332
- ^ http://www.ladocumentationfrancaise.fr/dossiers/francophonie/francophones-monde.shtml
- ^ Posted by 데이빛 / Mithridates (15 October 2008). "French in 9th place with 200 million French speakers in the world / 200 millions de francophones dans le monde". Page F30. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ "200 million French speakers in the world - La France en Australie". Ambafrance-au.org. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
- ^ Penzl, Herbert (2009). A Grammar of Pashto a Descriptive Study of the Dialect of Kandahar, Afghanistan. Ishi Press International. p. 210. ISBN 0923891722. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
Estimates of the number of Pashto speakers range from 40 million to 60 million...
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suggested) (help) - ^ "Pashto". Omniglot.com. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
The exact number of Pashto speakers is not known for sure, but most estimates range from 45 million to 55 million.
- ^ Thomson, Gale (2007). Countries of the World & Their Leaders Yearbook 08. Vol. 2. European Union: Indo-European Association. p. 84. ISBN 0787681083. Retrieved 25 October 2010.
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and|page=
specified (help) - ^ Paul M. Lewis, ed. (2009). "Pashto, Northern". SIL International. Dallas, Texas: Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Retrieved 18 September 2010.
Ethnic population: 49,529,000 possibly total Pashto in all countries.
- ^ Persian language in Encyclopedia of Orient
- ^ David Levinson, Karen Christensen, "Encyclopedia of modern Asia", Charles Scribner's Sons, 2002. pg 50: "The most important modern languages of the Iranian family are (West Iranian) Persian (Farsi, Dari, and Tajiki), Tati, Baluchi, Zaza, and numerous unwritten "
- ^ Bernard Lewis, "The Middle East: a brief history of the last 2,000 years",Simon and Schuster, 1995. pg 247: "Persian- Zaban-i Farsi, the language of the province of Fars, or Pars, from which the Greek and hence the Western names of the country are derived – was spoken and written in Iran (the ancient name of the country), and in a zone extending eastward into Central Asia, in regions now included in Afghanistan and in the republic of Tajikistan. Tajik and also Dari, one of the two languages of Afghanistan (the other is Pashto, also of Iranic family), are variants of Persian
- ^ Bernard Lewis,"The multiple identities of the Middle East", Schocken Books, 1998. ISBN-0805241728, 9780805241723 pg. 55: "Apart from Iran, Persian has official status in two other countries; in Afghanistan, where the local form of Persian is known as Dari, and in the former soviet Republic of Tajikistan.
- ^ 2009 CIA Factbook: Iran:[3][4] (Persian and Persian dialects 58%) (38.514), Afghanistan [5], Afghan Persian or Dari (official) 50% (14.1), Tajikistan 79.9% (5.8 million), Uzbekistan (4.7% 1 million),
- ^ Iran 36 M (51%) - 46 M (65%) [6], Afghanistan 16.369 M (50%), Tajikistan 5.770 M (80%), Uzbekistan 1.2 M (4.4%)
- ^ Svante E. Cornell, "Uzbekistan: A Regional Player in Eurasian Geopolitics?", European Security, vol. 20, no. 2, Summer 2000.
- ^ Richard Foltz, "The Tajiks of Uzbekistan", Central Asian Survey, 15(2), 213–216 (1996).
- ^ Karl Cordell, "Ethnicity and Democratisation in the New Europe", Published by Routledge, 1999. Excerpt from pg 201: "Consequently, the number of citizens who regard themselves as Tajiks is difficult to determine. Tajikis within and outside of the republic, Samarkand State University (SamGU) academic and international commentators suggest that there may be between six and seven million Tajiks in Uzbekistan, constituting 30% of the republic's 22 million population, rather than the official figure of 4.7%(Foltz 1996;213; Carlisle 1995:88).
- ^ Lena Jonson, "Tajikistan in the New Central Asia", Published by I.B.Tauris, 2006. pg 108: "According to official Uzbek statistics there are slightly over 1 million Tajiks in Uzbekistan or about 4% of the population. The unofficial figure is over 6 million Tajiks. They are concentrated in the Sukhandarya, Samarqand and Bukhara regions."
- ^ http://censusindia.gov.in/Census_Data_2001/Census_Data_Online/Language/Statement1.htm
- ^ Latin Union - The odyssey of languages: ro, es, fr, it, pt
- ^ "Het Nederlandse taalgebied" (in Dutch). Taalpeil. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 18 February 2007.
- ^ http://ling.cass.cn/fangyan/dituji/LANGUAGE%20ATLAS%20OF%20CHINA.html
- ^ 18.5M Iran, 7.5M Azerbaijan
- ^ Austin, Peter (2008). One thousand languages: living, endangered, and lost. University of California Press. p. 68. ISBN 0-520-25560-7.
- ^ http://www.plc.sas.upenn.edu/languages/twi.html
External links
- Ethnologue's most recent list of languages arranged by number of speakers
- List of top 100 languages in 13th edition of Ethnologue (1996)
- Different lists of the most spoken languages (the Ethnologue list is from a previous, not the 2005, edition).
- Ethnologue - SIL's Ethnologue, widely referenced source for the world's languages
- Languages Spoken by More Than 10 Million People (Archived 2009-10-31) - Encarta list, based on data from Ethnologue, but some figures (e.g. for Arabic) widely vary from it
- Top 30 languages of the world
- 30 most widely spoken world languages
- Interactive world map of language distribution
- Map of World Languages. Download of MP3 audio files in 1600 language combinations.