| Language Endangerment Status | |
|---|---|
| Extinct (EX) | |
| |
| Endangered | |
| Safe | |
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Other categories | |
Related topics | |
 UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger categories | |
Lists of endangered languages are mainly based on the definitions used by UNESCO. In order to be listed, a language must be classified as "endangered" in a cited academic source. Researchers have concluded that in less than one hundred years, almost half of the languages known today will be lost forever. [1] The lists are organized by region.
SIL Ethnologue (2005) lists 473 out of 6,909 living languages inventorised (6.8%) as "nearly extinct", indicating cases where "only a few elderly speakers are still living"; this figure dropped to 6.1% as of 2013. [2] [3]
When judging whether or not a language is endangered, the number of speakers is less important than their age distribution. There are languages in Indonesia reported with as many as two million native speakers alive now, but all of advancing age, with little or no transmission to the young. On the other hand, while there are only 30,000 Ladin speakers left, almost all children still learn it as their mother tongue; thus Ladin is not currently endangered. Similarly, the Hawaiian language has only about 1,000 speakers, but it has stabilised at this number, and there is now school instruction in the language, from preschool through the 12th grade; thus the language is classified as merely vulnerable.
While there are somewhere around six or seven thousand languages on Earth today, about half of them have fewer than about 3,000 speakers. Experts predict that even in a conservative scenario, about half of today's languages will become extinct within the next 50 to 100 years.[ citation needed ]
Ethnologue: Languages of the World is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It was first issued in 1951, and is now published by SIL International, an American evangelical Christian non-profit organization.
Kawaimina is a cluster of four languages and dialects of East Timor:
The Republic of Vanuatu has the world's highest linguistic density per capita. Despite being a country with a population of less than 300,000, Vanuatu is home to 138 indigenous Oceanic languages.
Babuza is a Formosan language of the Babuza and Taokas, indigenous peoples of Taiwan. It is related to or perhaps descended from Favorlang, attested from the 17th century.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with A.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with C.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with E.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with G.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with K.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with T.
This is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes starting with X.
West Makian is a divergent North Halmahera language of Indonesia. It is spoken on the coast near Makian Island, and on the western half of that island.
Saponi is an extinct Papuan language of Indonesia.
Bonjo, also known as Mbonzo or Impfondo, is a Bantu language spoken by around 3,000 people in northern Republic of Congo, particularly the Likouala Department near the town of Impfondo. Speakers are gradually shifting to Lingala.
Woria is a nearly extinct Papuan language of the Indonesian province of Papua, on the eastern shore of Cenderawasih Bay. It is spoken in Botawa village, Waropen Regency, where the Lakes Plain language Saponi was also spoken.
Burupmakot is a minor Ok language of Highland Papua. Despite having just forty speakers, there is limited bilingualism and the language is not considered endangered.
Dupaningan Agta, or Eastern Cagayan Agta, is a language spoken by a semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer Negrito people of Cagayan and Isabela provinces in northern Luzon, Philippines. Its Yaga dialect is only partially intelligible.
Suwawa is a Philippine language spoken in North Sulawesi (Celebes), Indonesia. It is also known as Bonda, Bone, Bunda, Bune, Suvava, and Toewawa. The language mostly spoken in Suwawa District, Regency of Bone Bolango.
