Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
This is a list of languages by number of native speakers. Current distribution of human language families. All such rankings of human languages ranked by their number of native speakers should be used with caution, because it is not possible to devise a coherent set of linguistic criteria for distinguishing languages in a dialect continuum. [1]
For greater detail, see Distribution of languages in the world. This is a list of languages by total number of speakers. It is difficult to define what constitutes a language as opposed to a dialect. For example, Arabic is sometimes considered a single language centred on Modern Standard Arabic, other authors consider its mutually ...
Linguists speak of both standard and non-standard [4] varieties as equally complex, valid, and full-fledged forms of language. Lect avoids the problem in ambiguous cases of deciding whether two varieties are distinct languages or dialects of a single language.
Diglossia can exist between two dialects of a European language as well. For example, in Côte d'Ivoire, Standard French is the prestige language used in business, politics, etc. while Ivorian French is the daily language in the street, on the markets, and in informal situations in general; in Mozambique, European Portuguese is used in formal ...
The language family of the world that has the most speakers is the Indo-European languages, spoken by 46% of the world's population. [137] This family includes major world languages like English, Spanish, French, German, Russian, and Hindustani (Hindi/Urdu).
Аԥсшәа; العربية; বাংলা; Беларуская (тарашкевіца) Boarisch; Dansk; Deutsch; Ελληνικά; Español; Esperanto; فارسی
Mordovia (state language; with Moksha and Russian) [80] Even: Sakha (local official language; in localities with Even population) [78] Evenki: Sakha (local official language; in localities with Evenki population) [78] Faroese: Faroe Islands (with Danish) Finnish: Karelia (authorized language; with Karelian and Veps) [81] French: parts of Canada
Lists which are global in scope (all living natural languages would classify for inclusion): by country: List of official languages by country and territory; Number of languages by country; by name: List of language names (native names) by phylogenetic relation: List of language families (phylogenetic)