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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 unintelligible varieties separate languages. [1]
In sociolinguistics, a variety, also known as a lect or an isolect, [1] is a specific form of a language or language cluster.This may include languages, dialects, registers, styles, or other forms of language, as well as a standard variety. [2]
Conversely, many commonly accepted languages, including German, Italian, and English, encompass varieties that are not mutually intelligible. [1] While Arabic is sometimes considered a single language centred on Modern Standard Arabic, other authors consider its mutually unintelligible varieties separate languages. [3]
A spoken language is a form of communication produced through articulate sounds or, in some cases, through manual gestures, as opposed to written language. Oral or vocal languages are those produced using the vocal tract, whereas sign languages are produced with the body and hands.
The more commonly spoken languages dominate the less commonly spoken languages, so the less commonly spoken languages eventually disappear from populations. Of the between 6,000 [5] and 7,000 languages spoken as of 2010, between 50 and 90% of those are expected to have become extinct by the year 2100. [6]
SIL International's Ethnologue: Languages of the World lists over 7,100 spoken and signed languages. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns codes for most languages; see ISO 639. List of ISO 639-1 codes – two-letter codes (184 major languages) List of ISO 639-2 codes – three-letter codes
An important criterion for categorizing varieties of language is linguistic distance. For a variety to be considered a dialect, the linguistic distance between the two varieties must be low. Linguistic distance between spoken or written forms of language increases as the differences between the forms are characterized. [35]
Linguistics is the scientific study of language. [1] [2] [3] The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds and equivalent gestures in sign languages), phonology (the abstract sound system of a particular language, and analogous systems of sign languages), and pragmatics ...