I was wandering around the internet the other day looking for some information about a language & I stumbled upon something of a goldmine: Ethnologue.
It’s a comprehensive linguistic reference cataloguing over 7,000 living languages globally. It provides data on language status, speaker populations, geographic distributions, linguistic affiliations & more.
As an authoritative resource, it’s widely utilized by linguists, researchers & organizations such as the UN, Potentially it allows teachers to better understand their students’ linguistic backgrounds, language vitality levels, & contexts – especially for minority & indigenous languages.
Some key facts & stats:
- Now in its 27th edition, it was first published in 1951
- Covers over 7,100 living languages from 142 linguistic families
- Identifies 3,127 (44%) languages as “Vigorous” with active intergenerational transfer
- Lists 588 (8.2%) living languages as “Dying” without child speakers
- Provides data from field research by trained linguists using standardized criteria
However, it’s worth noting Ethnologue’s origins with SIL International, a Christian organization focused on Bible translation among minority language communities [I was equally horrified when I found out]. This has understandably resulted in criticism as to potential cultural biases impacting how languages versus dialects are defined.
While most linguists find the core linguistic data reliable, some advise cautious interpretation of the finer language distinctions, urging cross-verification with regional expertise when possible.
Overall, despite ongoing scrutiny as to its ideological roots, Ethnologue remains an unparalleled, actively updated reference & is certainly worth a look if you’re curious about languages. As it says on their About page ‘The languages we use are part of what makes us who we are; they give us community and meaning.’
Do you know of any other instances of useful info arising from a ‘questionable’ source?
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