List of endangered languages
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A list of endangered languages (with fewer than 1000 speakers or with very fast decline).
In order to judge if a language is actually endangered, the number of speakers is less important than the age distribution; there may be 500,000 speakers of the Breton language over 50 years of age, but fewer than 2,000 under 25 years of age - it is likely Breton will die out in the next half-century. On the other hand, while there are 30,000 Ladin speakers left, almost all children still learn it as their mothertongue, thus Ladin is not endangered in the 21st century.
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Africa
- Anfillo language
- Bete language
- Bikya language
- Bom language
- Bullom So language
- Bung language, 3 speakers
- Bussa language
- Dahalo language
- Defaka language
- Deti language
- Jalaa language
- Karon language
- Korana language
- Laal language
- Lufu language
- Nkoroo language
- Okiek language (also Akie, Kinare Okiek)
- Ongamo language (or Ngasa)
- Sherbro language
- Terik language
- Xiri language
Americas
- indigenous languages of Canada:
- Abenaki, 10 speakers
- Beaver, 300 speakers
- Cayuga, 360 speakers
- Delaware (Munsee), fewer than 10 speakers
- Han, few speakers
- Hare, 600 speakers
- Michif, spoken by fewer than 1,000 people in western Canada
- Onandaga, fewer than 100 speakers
- Oneida, 200 speakers
- Potawatomi, 100 speakers
- Sarcee, 10 speakers
- Seneca, 25 speakers
- indigenous languages of the USA:
- Catawba - Last fluent speaker died in 1996.
- Coos - 1 or 2 speakers
- Cowlitz - 1 or 2 speakers
- Eyak - 1 speaker
- Eastern Abnaki - 1 speaker
- Kalapuya - 1 or 2 speakers in 1962
- Klamth-Modoc - 1 speaker in 1998
- Lipan Apache - 2 or 3 speakers
- Menominee - 65 first or second language speakers (1997)
- Serrano - 1 speaker
- Tagish - 2 speakers
- Upper Chehalis - 2 speakers
- Wappo - 1 speaker
- indigenous languages of South America
- Ofayé - around 15 speakers, in Mato Grosso do Sul, Central Brazil
Asia
- Ainu, Northern Japan, 1,000 speakers
- Aramaic, Lebanon, Kurdistan
- Chukchi, Siberia, circa 10,400 speakers (2001)
- Chulym, Russia, approx. 100 fluent speakers
- Manchu, northeast China, less than 100 speakers
- Udmurt, Udmurtia, Russia
- Northern indigenous peoples of Russia
- Macaista Chapado (also called Patuá)
Australasia
- most Australian Aboriginal languages
- Yanyuwa, four speakers
- Maori
- Auslan - Australian Sign Language
Europe
- European Union
- Curonian (Germany), only 8 speakers in 2004
- Alsatian (France) very fast decline
- Aragonese (Spain) very fast decline
- Aromanian (Greece and the Balkans) very fast decline
- Breton (France) very fast decline
- Corsican (France) very fast decline
- Griko (south Italian Greek) (Italy) very fast decline
- Italkian (Judeo-Italian) (Italy) probably extinct
- Kashubian (Pomeranian) (Poland) very fast decline
- Karaim
- Leonese (Spain) very fast decline
- Livonian, Estonia and Latvia, approx. 35 speakers
- Molise Slavic (Italy) very fast decline
- Occitan (France) very fast decline
- Sami languages, (Scandinavia), some having fewer than 100 speakers
- Samogitian language, (Lithuania), very fast decline
- Scottish Gaelic (United Kingdom) very fast decline
- Tsakonian (Greece)
- Lower Sorbian, (Germany) very fast decline
- Upper Sorbian, (Germany) very fast decline
- West Flemish (France) very fast decline
- Wymysojer (Poland), less than 100 speakers
- Outside of the European Union
- Belarusian, very low usage in Belarus
- Istro-romanian, Istria Croatia, 500 speakers
- Krimchak (Judeo-Crimean Tatar)
- Mordvin (Russia), steady decline
- Votian, Russia, 50 speakers
See also
- endangered language
- list of extinct languages
- List of revived languages
- Language families and languages
- Language policy
- The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire
External link
- UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages (http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Redbook/index.html)