Ho

owM
Many
LangguaggesA
Are
Thereinth
he
W rld?
Wor

StephenR.A
Anderson*

LingguisticSociettyofAmerica
BrochureSeries:
Freq
quentlyAske
edQuestions

Theobjectofinqu
uiryinlinguissticsishuman
nlanguage,in
n
particulartheexttentandlimitsofdiversityinthe
worlldslanguagess.Onemightsuppose,theerefore,that
lingu
uistswouldhaaveaclearan
ndreasonablyyprecise
notio
onofhowmaanylanguagestherearein
ntheworld.Itt
turnsout,however,thatthereeisnosuchdefinite
coun
ntoratleasst,nosuchcountthathasaanystatusas
ascientificfindinggofmodernlinguistics.Th
hereasonfor
thislackisnot(ju
ust)thatpartssoftheworld
dsuchas
highlandNewGuineaorthefo
orestsoftheA
Amazonhavee
notb
beenexploredinenoughd
detailtoascertainthe
ranggeofpeoplew
wholivetheree.Rather,theeproblemis
thattheverynotiionofenumeeratinglanguaagesisalot
dthanitmigh
htseem.
moreecomplicated

Therreareanumb
berofcoherent(butquitedifferent)
answ
wersthatlinguistsmightgivetothisapparently
simp
plequestion.

Morrethanyoumighthavethought.

Wheenpeopleareeaskedhowm
manylanguaggestheythinkk
thereareinthew
world,theansswersvaryqu
uiteabit.Onee
rand
domsamplinggofNewYorkkers,forinstance,resulted
d
inan
nswerslikep
probablyseveeralhundred.However
wecchoosetocou
untthem,tho
ough,thisisnotclose.
Wheenwelookatreferencewo
orks,wefindestimates
thathaveescalatedovertime.The1911(11th)edition
ofth
heEncycloped
diaBritannica
a,forexamplee,impliesa
figurresomewherearound1,00
00,anumberrthatclimbs
steadilyoverthecourseoftheetwentiethceentury.That
isno
otduetoanyincreaseinth
henumberofflanguages,
butrrathertoourincreasedun
nderstandingofhowmanyy
languagesareacttuallyspokeninareasthatthad
prevviouslybeenu
underdescribeed.Muchpio
oneeringworkk
indo
ocumentingthelanguagessoftheworld
dhasbeen
doneebymissionaaryorganizations(suchasttheSummer
InstituteofLinguistics,nowknownasSIL
International)w
withaninteresstintranslatingthe
ChrisstianBible.Asof2009,atleastaportio
onoftheBiblee
had beentranslattedinto2,508
8differentlan
nguages,still
alon
ngwayshortoffullcoveraage.Themosttextensive
catalogofthewo
orldslanguagges,generallytakentobe
uthoritativeaasany,isthattofEthnologu
ue(published
asau
bySILInternation
nal),whosedeetailedclassiffiedlistasof
2009
9included6,9
909distinctlaanguages.

Afam
milyisagroupoflanguageesthatcanbeeshowntobee
geneeticallyrelateedtooneanother.Thebesstknown
languagesaretho
oseoftheInd
doEuropeanffamily,to
whicchEnglishbelongs.Consideringhowwidelythe
Indo
oEuropeanlanguagesaredistributed

HowManyLanguagesAreThereintheWorld?

geographically,andtheirinfluenceinworldaffairs,one
mightassumethatagoodproportionoftheworlds
languagesbelongtothisfamily.Thatisnotthecase,
however:thereareabout200IndoEuropean
languages,butevenignoringthemanycasesinwhicha
languagesgeneticaffiliationcannotbeclearly
determined,thereareundoubtedlymorefamiliesof
languages(about250)thantherearemembersofthe
IndoEuropeanfamily.

Languagesarenotatalluniformlydistributedaround
theworld.Justassomeplacesaremorediversethan
othersintermsofplantandanimalspecies,thesame
goesforthedistributionoflanguages.Outof
Ethnologues6,909,forinstance,only230arespokenin
Europe,while2,197arespokeninAsia.Oneareaof
particularlyhighlinguisticdiversityisPapuaNew
Guinea,wherethereareanestimated832languages
spokenbyapopulationofaround3.9million.That
makestheaveragenumberofspeakersaround4,500,
possiblythelowestofanyareaoftheworld.These
languagesbelongtobetween40and50distinct
families.Ofcourse,thenumberoffamiliesmaychange
asscholarshipimproves,butthereislittlereasonto
believethatthesefiguresareradicallyoffthemark.

Wedonotfindlinguisticdiversityonlyinoutoftheway
places.CenturiesofFrenchgovernmentshavestrivento
makethatcountrylinguisticallyuniform,but(even
disregardingBreton,aCelticlanguage;Allemannisch,
theGermaniclanguagespokeninAlsace;andBasque),
EthnologueshowsatleasttendistinctRomance
languagesspokeninFrance,includingPicard,Gascon,
Provenal,andseveralothersinadditiontoFrench.

MultilingualisminNorthAmericaisusuallydiscussed
(apartfromthestatusofFrenchinCanada)intermsof
Englishvs.Spanish,orthelanguagesofimmigrant
populationssuchasCantoneseorKhmer,butweshould
rememberthattheAmericaswerearegionwithmany
languageswellbeforemodernEuropeansorAsians
arrived.Inprecontacttimes,over300languageswere
spokeninNorthAmerica.Ofthese,abouthalfhavedied
outcompletely.Allweknowofthemcomesfromearly
wordlistsorlimitedgrammaticalandtextualrecords.
Butthatstillleavesabout165ofNorthAmericas
indigenouslanguagesspokenatleasttosomeextent
today.

Oncewegobeyondthemajorlanguagesofeconomic
andpoliticalpower,suchasEnglish,MandarinChinese,
Spanish,andafewmorewithmillionsofspeakerseach,
everywherewelookintheworldwefindavastnumber
ofothers,belongingtomanygeneticallydistinct
families.Butwhateverthedegreeofthatdiversity(and
wediscussbelowtheproblemofhowtoquantifyit),
onethingthatisfairlycertainisthatasurprising
proportionoftheworldslanguagesareinfact
disappearingevenaswespeak.

Fewerthantherewerelastmonth.

Whatevertheworldslinguisticdiversityatthepresent,
itissteadilydeclining,aslocalformsofspeech
increasinglybecomemoribundbeforetheadvanceof
themajorlanguagesofworldcivilization.Whena
languageceasestobelearnedbyyoungchildren,its
daysareclearlynumbered,andwecanpredictwith
nearcertaintythatitwillnotsurvivethedeathofthe
currentnativespeakers.

ThesituationinNorthAmericaistypical.Ofabout165
indigenouslanguages,onlyeightarespokenbyasmany
as10,000people.About75arespokenonlybya
handfulofolderpeople,andcanbeassumedtobeon
theirwaytoextinction.Whilewemightthinkthisisan
unusualfactaboutNorthAmerica,duetothe
overwhelmingpressureofEuropeansettlementover
thepast500years,itisactuallyclosetothenorm.
Aroundaquarteroftheworldslanguageshavefewer
thanathousandremainingspeakers,andlinguists
generallyagreeinestimatingthattheextinctionwithin
thenextcenturyofatleast3,000ofthe6,909languages
listedbyEthnologue,ornearlyhalf,isvirtually
guaranteedunderpresentcircumstances.Thethreatof
extinctionthusaffectsavastlygreaterproportionofthe
worldslanguagesthanitsbiologicalspecies.

Somewouldsaythatthedeathofalanguageismuch
lessworrisomethanthatofaspecies.Afterall,are
therenotinstancesoflanguagesthatdiedandwere
reborn,likeHebrew?Andinanycase,whenagroup
abandonsitsnativelanguage,itisgenerallyforanother
thatismoreeconomicallyadvantageoustothem:why
shouldwequestionthewisdomofthatchoice?

LinguisticSocietyofAmerica,2010

HowManyLanguagesAreThereintheWorld?

ButthecaseofHebrewisquitemisleading,sincethe
languagewasnotinfactabandonedoverthemany
yearswhenitwasnolongertheprincipallanguageof
theJewishpeople.Duringthistime,itremainedan
objectofintensestudyandanalysisbyscholars.And
therearefewifanycomparablecasestosupportthe
notionthatlanguagedeathisreversible.

Theeconomicargumentdoesnotreallysupplyareason
forspeakersofasmallandperhapsunwritten
languagetoabandonthatlanguagesimplybecausethey
alsoneedtolearnawidelyusedlanguagesuchas
EnglishorMandarinChinese.Wherethereisnoone
dominantlocallanguage,andgroupswithdiverse
linguisticheritagescomeintoregularcontactwithone
another,multilingualismisaperfectlynaturalcondition.
Whenalanguagedies,aworlddieswithit,inthesense
thatacommunitysconnectionwithitspast,its
traditionsanditsbaseofspecificknowledgeareall
typicallylostasthevehiclelinkingpeopletothat
knowledgeisabandoned.Thisisnotanecessarystep,
however,forthemtobecomeparticipantsinalarger
economicorpoliticalorder.

Forfurtherinformationabouttheissuesinvolvedin
languageendangerment,seetheLSAsFAQWhatisan
endangeredlanguage?

Counttheflags!

Tothispoint,wehaveassumedthatweknowhowto
counttheworldslanguages.Itmightseemthatany
remainingimprecisionissimilartowhatwemightfind
inanyothercensuslikeoperation:perhapssomeofthe
languageswerenothomewhentheEthnologuecounter
camecalling,orperhapssomeofthemhavesimilar
namesthatmakeithardtoknowwhenwearedealing
withonelanguageandwhenwithseveral;buttheseare
problemsthatcouldbesolvedinprinciple,andthe
fuzzinessofournumbersshouldthusbequitesmall.
Butinfact,whatmakeslanguagesdistinctfromone
anotherturnsouttobemuchmoreasocialandpolitical
issuethanalinguisticone,andmostofthecited
numbersaremattersofopinionratherthanscience.
ThelateMaxWeinreichusedtosaythatAlanguageis
adialectwithanarmyandanavy.Hewastalking
aboutthestatusofYiddish,longconsideredadialect
becauseitwasnotidentifiedwithanypolitically

significantentity.Thedistinctionisstilloftenimplicitin
talkaboutEuropeanlanguagesvs.Africandialects.
Whatcountsasalanguageratherthanameredialect
typicallyinvolvesissuesofstatehood,economics,
literarytraditionsandwritingsystems,andother
trappingsofpower,authorityandculturewithpurely
linguisticconsiderationsplayingalesssignificantrole.

Forinstance,ChinesedialectssuchasCantonese,
Hakka,Shanghainese,etc.arejustasdifferentfromone
another(andfromthedominantMandarin)asRomance
languagessuchasFrench,Spanish,Italianand
Romanian.Theyarenotmutuallyintelligible,buttheir
statusderivesfromtheirassociationwithasinglenation
andasharedwritingsystem,aswellasfromexplicit
governmentpolicy.Incontrast,HindiandUrduare
essentiallythesamesystem(referredtoinearliertimes
asHindustani),butassociatedwithdifferentcountries
(IndiaandPakistan),differentwritingsystems,and
differentreligiousorientations.Althoughvarietiesin
useinIndiaandPakistanbywelleducatedspeakersare
somewhatmoredistinctthanthelocalvernaculars,the
differencesarestillminimalfarlesssignificantthan
thoseseparatingMandarinfromCantonese,for
example.Foranextremeexampleofthisphenomenon,
considerthelanguageformerlyknownasSerbo
Croatian,spokenovermuchoftheterritoryofthe
formerYugoslaviaandgenerallyconsideredasingle
languagewithdifferentlocaldialectsandwriting
systems.Withinthisterritory,Serbs(whoarelargely
Orthodox)useaCyrillicalphabet,whileCroats(largely
RomanCatholic)usetheLatinalphabet.Withinaperiod
ofonlyafewyearsafterthebreakupofYugoslaviaasa
politicalentity,atleastthreenewlanguages(Serbian,
CroatianandBosnian)hademerged,althoughthe
actuallinguisticfactshadnotchangedabit.

Onecommonsensenotionofwhenwearedealingwith
differentlanguages,asopposedtodifferentformsof
thesamelanguage,isthecriterionofmutual
intelligibility:ifthespeakersofAcanunderstandthe
speakersofBwithoutdifficulty,AandBmustbethe
samelanguage.Butthisnotionfailsinpracticetocut
theworldupintoclearlydistinctlanguageunits.In
someinstances,speakersofAcanunderstandB,but
notviceversa,oratleastspeakersofBwillinsistthat
theycannot.Bulgarians,forinstance,consider
MacedonianadialectofBulgarian,butMacedonians
LinguisticSocietyofAmerica,2010

HowManyLanguagesAreThereintheWorld?

insistthatitisadistinctlanguage.WhenMacedonias
presidentGligorovvisitedBulgariaspresidentZhelevin
1995,hebroughtaninterpreter,althoughZhelev
claimedhecouldunderstandeverythingGligorovsaid.
Somewhatlessfancifully,KalabariandNembearetwo
linguisticvarietiesspokeninNigeria.TheNembeclaim
tobeabletounderstandKalabariwithnodifficulty,but
therathermoreprosperousKalabariregardtheNembe
aspoorcountrycousinswhosespeechisunintelligible.
Anotherreasonwhythecriterionofmutualintelligibility
failstotellushowmanydistinctlanguagestherearein
theworldistheexistenceofdialectcontinua.To
illustrate,supposeyouweretostartfromBerlinand
walktoAmsterdam,coveringabouttenmileseveryday.
Youcanbesurethatthepeoplewhoprovidedyour
breakfasteachmorningcouldunderstand(andbe
understoodby)thepeoplewhoservedyousupperthat
evening.Nonetheless,theGermanspeakersatthe
beginningofyourtripandtheDutchspeakersatitsend
wouldhavemuchmoretrouble,andcertainlythinkof
themselvesasspeakingtwoquitedistinct(ifrelated)
languages.Insomepartsoftheworld,suchasthe
WesternDesertinAustralia,suchacontinuumcan
stretchwelloverathousandmiles,withthespeakersin
eachlocalregionabletounderstandoneanotherwhile
theendsofthecontinuumareclearlynotmutually
intelligibleatall.Howmanylanguagesarerepresented
insuchacase?
Relatedtothisisthefactthatwerefertothelanguage
of,say,Chaucer(1400),Shakespeare(1600),Thomas
Jefferson(1800)andGeorgeW.Bush(2000)allas
English,butitissafetosaythesearenotallmutually
intelligible.Shakespearemighthavebeenable,with
somedifficulty,toconversewithChaucerorwith
Jefferson,butJefferson(andcertainlyBush)wouldneed
aninterpreterforChaucer.Languageschangegradually
overtime,maintainingintelligibilityacrossadjacent
generations,buteventuallyyieldingverydifferent
systems.

Thenotionofdistinctnessamonglanguages,then,is
muchhardertoresolvethanitseemsatfirstsight.
Politicalandsocialconsiderationstrumppurely
linguisticreality,andthecriterionofmutual
intelligibilityisultimatelyinadequate.

Atleast500(ButthatsjustinNorthernItaly).

SodoesthescienceofLinguisticsprovideabetterbasis
formeasuringthenumberofdifferentlanguages
spokenintheworld?Whenweaddressthequestionof
justwhenformsofspeechdiffersystematicallyfroma
linguisticpointofview,wegetanswersthatare
potentiallycrispandclear,butrathersurprising.

Ifwetrytodistinguishlanguagesfromoneanother
simplyintermsoftheirwordsandthepatternswecan
observeinsentences,problemsarise.Verydifferent
languagescansharewords(throughborrowing)while
differentspeakersofthesamelanguagemayvary
widelyintheirvocabularyduetofactorsofeducationor
speakingstyle.Differentlanguagesmaydisplaythe
samesentencepatterns,whileasinglelanguagemay
displayagreatvarietyofpatterns.Ingeneral,linguists
havefoundthattheanalysisoftheexternalfactsof
languageusegivesusatbestaslipperyobjectofstudy.
Rathermorecoherent,itseems,isthestudyofthe
abstractknowledgespeakershavewhichallowsthemto
produceandunderstandwhattheysayorhearorread:
theirinternalizedknowledgeofthegrammaroftheir
language.

Wemightpropose,then,thatinsteadofcounting
languagesintermsofexternalforms,wemighttryto
counttherangeofdistinctgrammarsintheworld.How
mightwedothis?Whatdifferentiatesonegrammar
fromanother?Someaspectsofgrammatical
knowledge,likethewaypronounsareinterpretedwith
respecttoanotherexpressioninthesamesentence,
seemtobecommonacrosslanguages.InShethinks
thatMaryissmart,thepronounshecanrefertoany
femaleintheuniversewithoneexception:shehere
cannotrefertothesameindividualasMary.Thisseems
tobeafactnotaboutEnglish,butaboutlanguagein
general,becausethesamefactsrecurineverylanguage
whenthestructuralrelationsarethesame.Onthe
otherhand,thefactthatadjectivesprecedetheirnouns
inEnglish(wesayaredballoon,notaballoonred)isa
factaboutEnglish,sincetheoppositeistrue,for
instance,inFrench.Ifwehadacompleteinventoryof
thesetofparametersthatcanserveinthisway,we
couldthensaythateachparticularcollectionofvalues
forthoseparametersthatwecouldidentifyinthe
LinguisticSocietyofAmerica,2010

HowManyLanguagesAreThereintheWorld?

knowledgeofsomesetofspeakersshouldcountasa
distinctlanguage.

Butletusseewhathappenswhenweapplythis
approachtoasinglelinguisticarea,sayNorthernItaly.
Considerthefactsofnegativesentences,forexample.
StandardItalianusesanegativemarkerwhichprecedes
theverb(MarianonmangialacarneMarianoteats
themeat),whilethelanguagespokeninPimonte
(Piedmontese)usesanegativemarkerthatfollowsthe
verb(MariaamangianenlacarnMariasheeatsnot
themeat).Otherdifferencescorrelatewiththis:
standardItaliancannothaveanegativewithan
imperativeverb,butusestheinfinitiveinstead,while
Piedmonteseallowsnegativeimperatives;standard
Italianrequiresadoublenegativeinsentenceslike
NonhovistonessunonothaveIseennobodywhile
Piedmontesedoesnotusetheextranegativemarker,
andsoon.Thefunctioningofnegationhereestablishes
aparameterthatdistinguishesthese(andother)
grammars.Thisisonlythebeginning,though.Whenwe
lookmorecloselyatthespeechofvariousareasin
NorthernItaly,wefindseveralotherparametersthat
distinguishonegrammarfromanotherwithinthisarea,
suchthateachofthemcanvaryfromplacetoplacein
waysthatareindependentofalloftheothers.Still
stayingwithinNorthernItaly,letussupposethatthere
are,say,tensuchparametersthatdistinguishone
grammarfromanother.Thisisreallyquitea
conservativeestimate,inlightofthevariationthathas
infactbeenfoundthere.Butifeachofthesecanvary
independentlyoftheothers,collectivelytheydefinea
setoftwotothetenth,or1,024distinctgrammars,and
indeedscholarshaveestimatedthatsomewhere
between300and500ofthesedistinctpossibilitiesare
actuallyinstantiatedintheregion!

Ofcourse,theimplicationsofthisresultfortheworldas
awholemustbebasedonathoroughstudyofthe
rangeandlimitsofpossiblegrammaticalvariation.But
alloftheseformsofItalianhaveagreatdealin
common,andtherearemanywaysinwhichtheyareall
distinctasagroupfrommanyotherlanguagesinmany
otherpartsoftheworld.Sincethenumberofpossible
grammaticalsystemsexpandsexponentiallyasthe
numberofparametersgrows,ifwehaveonlyabout25
or30ofthese,thenumberofpossiblelanguagesinthis
sensebecomeshuge:welloverabillion,onthe

assumptionofthirtydistinctparameters.Obviouslynot
allofthesepossibilitieswillbeactualized,butifthe
spaceofpossiblegrammarsiscovereduniformlyto
somethingliketheextentwefindinNorthernItalyfor
thelimitedsetofparametersinplaythere,thenumber
oflanguagesintheworldmustbemuchgreaterthan
theEthnologues6,909.

Onlyone(Abiologistlooksathumanlanguage).

Whenwelookatthelanguagesoftheworld,theymay
seembewilderinglydiverse.Fromthepointofviewof
communicationsystemsmoregenerally,however,they
areremarkablysimilartooneanother.Humanlanguage
differsfromthecommunicativebehaviorofeveryother
knownorganisminanumberoffundamentalways,all
sharedacrosslanguages.Bycomparisonwiththe
communicativedevicesofherringgulls,honeybees,
dolphinsoranyothernonhumananimal,language
providesuswithasystemthatisnotstimulusbound
andrangesoveraninfinityofpossibledistinct
messages.Itachievesthiswithalimited,finitesystem
ofunitsthatcombinehierarchicallyandrecursivelyinto
largerunits.Thewordsthemselvesarestructuredfrom
asmallinventoryofsoundsbasictothelanguage,
individuallymeaninglesselementscombinedaccording
toasystemcompletelyindependentofthewaywords
combineintophrasesandsentences.

Theparticularlinguisticsystemthateachindividual
controlsgoesfarbeyondthedirectexperiencefrom
whichknowledgeofitarose.Andtheprinciples
governingthesesystemsofsounds,wordsand
meaningsarelargelycommonacrosslanguages,with
onlylimitedpossibilitiesfordifference(theparameters
describedabove).Inalltheseways,humanlanguageis
sodifferentfromanyotherknownsysteminthenatural
worldthatthenarrowlyconstrainedwaysinwhichone
grammarcandifferfromanotherfadeinto
insignificance.ForanativeofMilan,thedifferences
betweenthespeechofthatcityandthatofTurinmay
loomlarge,butforavisitorfromKualaLumpurbothare
Italian.Similarly,thedifferenceswefindacrossthe
worldingrammarsseemveryimportant,butforan
outsideobserversay,abiologiststudying
communicationamonglivingbeingsingeneralallare
relativelyminorvariationsonthesinglethemeof
Humanlanguage.
LinguisticSocietyofAmerica,2010

HowManyLanguagesAreThereintheWorld?

Asthe11theditionoftheEncyclopediaBritannicaput
it,[...]allexistinghumanspeechisoneintheessential
characteristicswhichwehavethusfarnotedorshall
hereafterhavetoconsider,evenashumanityisonein
itsdistinctionfromtheloweranimals;thedifferences
areinnonessentials.

ForFurtherReading

Anderson,StephenR.&DavidW.Lightfoot.2002.The
LanguageOrgan:LinguisticsasCognitivePhysiology.
Cambridge;CambridgeUniversityPress.

Baker,Mark.2001.TheAtomsofLanguage.NewYork:
BasicBooks.

Chambers,J.K.&PeterTrudgill.1998.Dialectology.
2ndedn.Cambridge:CambridgeUniversityPress.

Romaine,Suzanne.2000.LanguageinSociety.2ndedn.
Oxford:OxfordUniversityPress.

*ThisbrochureauthoredbyStephenR.Anderson,with
contributionsfromDavidHarrison,LaurenceHorn,
RafaellaZanuttiniandDavidLightfoot.

AbouttheLSA
Foundedin1924,TheLinguisticSocietyof
Americaisthemajorprofessionalsocietyinthe
UnitedStatesthatisexclusivelydedicatedtothe
advancementofthescientificstudyoflanguage.
Assuch,theLSAplaysacriticalroleinsupporting
anddisseminatinglinguisticscholarship,aswellas
facilitatingtheapplicationofcurrentresearchto
scientific,educational,andsocialissues
concerninglanguage.

ContactInformation:
LinguisticSocietyofAmerica
132518thSt.,NW,Suite211
Washington,DC200366501
2028351714
Fax:2028351717
www.lsadc.org
info@lsadc.org

LinguisticSocietyofAmerica,2010