This article ranks human languages by their number of native speakers.
Current distribution of human language families
However, all such rankings 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 example, a language is often defined as a set of varieties that are mutually intelligible, but independent national standard languages may be considered to be separate languages even though they are largely mutually intelligible, as in the case of Danish and Norwegian.[2] Conversely, many commonly accepted languages, including German, Italian and even English, encompass varieties that are not mutually intelligible.[1][better source needed] While Arabic is sometimes considered a single language centred on Modern Standard Arabic, other authors describe its mutually unintelligible varieties as separate languages.[3] Similarly, Chinese is sometimes viewed as a single language because of a shared culture and common literary language.[4] It is also common to describe various Chinese dialect groups, such as Mandarin, Wu and Yue, as languages, even though each of these groups contains many mutually unintelligible varieties.[5]
There are also difficulties in obtaining reliable counts of speakers, which vary over time because of population change and language shift. In some areas, there is no reliable census data, the data is not current, or the census may not record languages spoken, or record them ambiguously. Sometimes speaker populations are exaggerated for political reasons, or speakers of minority languages may be under-reported in favour of a national language.[6]
The following languages are listed as having at least 50 million first language speakers in the 2022 edition of Ethnologue, a language reference published by SIL International.[7] Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages (such as Arabic, Lahnda, Persian, Malay, Pashto, and Chinese, encompassing all their respective varieties) are not included in this section.
Languages with at least 50 million first-language speakers[7]
^ abPaolillo, John C.; Das, Anupam (31 March 2006). "Evaluating language statistics: the Ethnologue and beyond" (PDF). UNESCO Institute of Statistics. pp. 3–5. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
^Kaye, Alan S.; Rosenhouse, Judith (1997). "Arabic Dialects and Maltese". In Hetzron, Robert (ed.). The Semitic Languages. Routledge. pp. 263–311. ISBN978-0-415-05767-7.
^ ab"Summary by language size". Ethnologue. Retrieved 7 May 2022.
^ ab"Most spoken languages in the World". Retrieved 1 January 2022.
External links
The Ethnologue's most recent list of languages by total number of speakers – this is not a list of native speakers
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
January 13, 2023
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For languages by total speakers see List of languages by total number of speakers For languages with the smallest numbers of native speakers see lists of endangered languages This article ranks human languages by their number of native speakers Current distribution of human language families However all such rankings 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 example a language is often defined as a set of varieties that are mutually intelligible but independent national standard languages may be considered to be separate languages even though they are largely mutually intelligible as in the case of Danish and Norwegian 2 Conversely many commonly accepted languages including German Italian and even English encompass varieties that are not mutually intelligible 1 better source needed While Arabic is sometimes considered a single language centred on Modern Standard Arabic other authors describe its mutually unintelligible varieties as separate languages 3 Similarly Chinese is sometimes viewed as a single language because of a shared culture and common literary language 4 It is also common to describe various Chinese dialect groups such as Mandarin Wu and Yue as languages even though each of these groups contains many mutually unintelligible varieties 5 There are also difficulties in obtaining reliable counts of speakers which vary over time because of population change and language shift In some areas there is no reliable census data the data is not current or the census may not record languages spoken or record them ambiguously Sometimes speaker populations are exaggerated for political reasons or speakers of minority languages may be under reported in favour of a national language 6 Contents 1 Top languages by population 1 1 Ethnologue 2022 25th edition 1 2 CIA 2018 estimates 2 See also 3 Notes 4 References 5 External linksTop languages by populationEthnologue 2022 25th edition The following languages are listed as having at least 50 million first language speakers in the 2022 edition of Ethnologue a language reference published by SIL International 7 Entries identified by Ethnologue as macrolanguages such as Arabic Lahnda Persian Malay Pashto and Chinese encompassing all their respective varieties are not included in this section Languages with at least 50 million first language speakers 7 Language Native speakers millions Language family BranchMandarin Chinese incl Standard Chinese but excl other varieties 920 Sino Tibetan SiniticSpanish 475 Indo European RomanceEnglish 373 Indo European GermanicHindi excl Urdu 344 Indo European Indo AryanBengali 234 Indo European Indo AryanPortuguese 232 Indo European RomanceRussian 154 Indo European Balto SlavicJapanese 125 Japonic JapaneseYue Chinese incl Cantonese 85 2 Sino Tibetan SiniticVietnamese 84 6 Austroasiatic VieticMarathi 83 1 Indo European Indo AryanTelugu 82 7 Dravidian South CentralTurkish 82 2 Turkic OghuzWu Chinese incl Shanghainese 81 8 Sino Tibetan SiniticKorean 81 7 Koreanic language isolateFrench 79 9 Indo European RomanceTamil 78 4 Dravidian SouthStandard German 75 6 Indo European GermanicEgyptian Spoken Arabic excl Saʽidi Arabic 74 8 Afroasiatic SemiticUrdu excl Hindi 70 2 Indo European Indo AryanJavanese 68 3 Austronesian Malayo PolynesianWestern Punjabi excl Eastern Punjabi 66 4 Indo European Indo AryanItalian 64 8 Indo European RomanceGujarati 57 0 Indo European Indo AryanIranian Persian excl Dari and Tajik 56 4 Indo European IranianBhojpuri 52 3 Indo European Indo AryanHausa 50 8 Afroasiatic ChadicCIA 2018 estimates According to the CIA the most spoken first languages in 2018 were 8 Top first languages by population per CIA 8 Rank Language Percentageof worldpopulation 2018 1 Mandarin Chinese 12 3 2 Spanish 6 0 3 English 5 1 3 Arabic 5 1 5 Hindi 3 5 6 Bengali 3 3 7 Portuguese 3 0 8 Russian 2 1 9 Japanese 1 7 10 Western Punjabi 1 3 11 Javanese 1 1 See alsoGlobal language system Languages of Africa Languages used on the Internet Linguistic demography Linguistic diversity index List of ISO 639 3 codes List of languages by number of native speakers in India uses a different definition of Hindi List of languages by the number of countries in which they are recognized as an official language List of languages by total number of speakers List of sign languages by number of native signers Lists of languages Number of languages by country World languageNotesReferences a b Paolillo John C Das Anupam 31 March 2006 Evaluating language statistics the Ethnologue and beyond PDF UNESCO Institute of Statistics pp 3 5 Retrieved 17 November 2018 Chambers J K Trudgill Peter 1998 Dialectology 2nd ed Cambridge University Press ISBN 978 0 521 59646 6 Kaye Alan S Rosenhouse Judith 1997 Arabic Dialects and Maltese In Hetzron Robert ed The Semitic Languages Routledge pp 263 311 ISBN 978 0 415 05767 7 Norman Jerry 1988 Chinese Cambridge University Press p 2 ISBN 978 0 521 29653 3 Norman Jerry 2003 The Chinese dialects phonology In Thurgood Graham LaPolla Randy J eds The Sino Tibetan languages Routledge pp 72 83 ISBN 978 0 7007 1129 1 Crystal David 1988 The Cambridge Encyclopedia of Language Cambridge University Press pp 286 287 ISBN 978 0 521 26438 9 a b Summary by language size Ethnologue Retrieved 7 May 2022 a b Most spoken languages in the World Retrieved 1 January 2022 External linksThe Ethnologue s most recent list of languages by total number of speakers this is not a list of native speakers 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 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title List of languages by number of native speakers amp oldid 1130794814, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
