Languages of Europe explained

There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family.[1] [2] Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three largest phyla of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic; they have more than 200 million speakers each, and together account for close to 90% of Europeans.

Smaller phyla of Indo-European found in Europe include Hellenic (Greek, 13 million), Baltic (7 million), Albanian (7.5 million), Celtic (4 million), and Armenian (4 million). Indo-Aryan, though a large subfamily of Indo-European, has a relatively small number of languages in Europe, and a small number of speakers (Romani, 1.5 million). However, a number of Indo-Aryan languages not native to Europe are spoken in Europe today.

Of the approximately 45 million Europeans speaking non-Indo-European languages, most speak languages within either the Uralic or Turkic families. Still smaller groups — such as Basque (language isolate), Semitic languages (Maltese, 0.5 million), and various languages of the Caucasus — account for less than 1% of the European population among them. Immigration has added sizeable communities of speakers of African and Asian languages, amounting to about 4% of the population,[3] with Arabic being the most widely spoken of them.

Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, English, French, Italian, and German. Russian is the most-spoken native language in Europe,[4] and English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers of English as a second or foreign language. (See English language in Europe.)

Indo-European languages

See also: Indo-European languages and List of Indo-European languages.

The Indo-European language family is descended from Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken thousands of years ago. Early speakers of Indo-European daughter languages most likely expanded into Europe with the incipient Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago (Bell-Beaker culture).

Germanic

The Germanic languages make up the predominant language family in Western, Northern and Central Europe. It is estimated that over 500 million Europeans are speakers of Germanic languages, the largest groups being German (95 million), English (400 million), Dutch (24 million), Swedish (10 million), Danish (6 million), Norwegian (5 million)[5] and Limburgish (c. 1.3 million).

There are two extant major sub-divisions: West Germanic and North Germanic. A third group, East Germanic, is now extinct; the only known surviving East Germanic texts are written in the Gothic language. West Germanic is divided into Anglo-Frisian (including English), Low German, Low Franconian (including Dutch) and High German (including Standard German).[6]

Anglo-Frisian

See main article: Anglo-Frisian languages and English language in Europe.

The Anglo-Frisian language family is now mostly represented by English (Anglic), descended from the Old English language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons:

The Frisian languages are spoken by about 400,000 Frisians,[9] who live on the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These languages include West Frisian, East Frisian (of which the only surviving dialect is Saterlandic) and North Frisian.

Dutch

See main article: Dutch language and Low Franconian.

Dutch is spoken throughout the Netherlands, the northern half of Belgium, as well as the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. The traditional dialects of the Lower Rhine region of Germany are linguistically more closely related to Dutch than to modern German. In Belgian and French contexts, Dutch is sometimes referred to as Flemish. Dutch dialects are numerous and varied.[10]

German

See main article: German language and Geographical distribution of German speakers.

German is spoken throughout Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, much of Switzerland (including the northeast areas bordering on Germany and Austria), northern Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg, the East Cantons of Belgium and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.[11]

There are several groups of German dialects:

Low German

Low German is spoken in various regions throughout Northern Germany and the northern and eastern parts of the Netherlands. It is an official language in Germany. It may be separated into West Low German and East Low German.[13]

North Germanic (Scandinavian)

The North Germanic languages are spoken in Nordic countries and include Swedish (Sweden and parts of Finland), Danish (Denmark), Norwegian (Norway), Icelandic (Iceland),Faroese (Faroe Islands), and Elfdalian (in a small part of central Sweden).

English has a long history of contact with Scandinavian languages, given the immigration of Scandinavians early in the history of Britain, and shares various features with the Scandinavian languages.[14] Even so, especially Dutch and Swedish, but also Danish and Norwegian, have strong vocabulary connections to the German language.[15] [16] [17]

Limburgish

Limburgish (also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic) Is a West Germanic language spoken in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, Belgium and neighboring regions of Germany. It is distinct from German and Dutch, but originates from areas near where both are spoken.[18]

Romance

See also: Latins.

Roughly 215 million Europeans (primarily in Southern and Western Europe) are native speakers of Romance languages, the largest groups including:

French (72 million),Italian (65 million),Spanish (40 million), Romanian (24 million),Portuguese (10 million),Catalan (7 million),Sicilian (5 million, also subsumed under Italian), Venetian (4 million),Galician (2 million),Sardinian (1 million),[19] [20] [21] Occitan (500,000), besides numerous smaller communities.

The Romance languages evolved from varieties of Vulgar Latin spoken in the various parts of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Latin was itself part of the (otherwise extinct) Italic branch of Indo-European.Romance languages are divided phylogenetically into Italo-Western, Eastern Romance (including Romanian) and Sardinian. The Romance-speaking area of Europe is occasionally referred to as Latin Europe.[22]

Italo-Western can be further broken down into the Italo-Dalmatian languages (sometimes grouped with Eastern Romance), including the Tuscan-derived Italian and numerous local Romance languages in Italy as well as Dalmatian, and the Western Romance languages. The Western Romance languages in turn separate into the Gallo-Romance languages, including Langues d'oïl such as French, the Francoprovencalic languages Arpitan and Faetar, the Rhaeto-Romance languages, and the Gallo-Italic languages; the Occitano-Romance languages, grouped with either Gallo-Romance or East Iberian, including Occitanic languages such as Occitan and Gardiol, and Catalan; Aragonese, grouped in with either Occitano-Romance or West Iberian, and finally the West Iberian languages, including the Astur-Leonese languages, the Galician-Portuguese languages, and the Castilian languages.

Slavic

See also: Slavic languages and Slavs.

Slavic languages are spoken in large areas of Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. An estimated 315 million people speak of Slavic languages,[23] the largest groups being Russian (110 million in European Russia and adjacent parts of Eastern Europe, Russian forming the largest linguistic community in Europe),Polish (40.6 million[24]),Ukrainian (33 million[25]), Serbo-Croatian (21 million),Czech (12 million[26]),Bulgarian (7.7 million[27]), Slovak (5 million[28]),Belarusian (c. 3.7 million[29]), Slovene (2.3 million[30])and Macedonian (1.3 million).[31]

Phylogenetically, Slavic is divided into three subgroups:[32]

Others

Continental Celtic languages had previously been spoken across Europe from Iberia and Gaul to Asia Minor, but became extinct in the first millennium CE.[51] [52]

Non-Indo-European languages

Turkic

See main article: Turkic languages.

Uralic

See main article: Uralic languages.

Uralic language family is native to northern Eurasia.Finnic languages include Finnish (5 million) and Estonian (1 million), as well as smaller languages such as Kven (8,000). Other languages of the Finno-Permic branch of the family include e.g. Mari (c. 400,000), and the Sami languages (30,000).

The Ugric branch of the language family is represented in Europe by the Hungarian language (13 million), historically introduced with the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin of the 9th century.The Samoyedic Nenets language is spoken in Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, located in the far northeastern corner of Europe (as delimited by the Ural Mountains).

Others

Sign languages

Several dozen manual languages exist across Europe, with the most widespread sign language family being the Francosign languages, with its languages found in countries from Iberia to the Balkans and the Baltics. Accurate historical information of sign and tactile languages is difficult to come by, with folk histories noting the existence signing communities across Europe hundreds of years ago. British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF) are probably the oldest confirmed, continuously used sign languages. Alongside German Sign Language (DGS) according to Ethnologue, these three have the most numbers of signers, though very few institutions take appropriate statistics on contemporary signing populations, making legitimate data hard to find.

Notably, few European sign languages have overt connections with the local majority/oral languages, aside from standard language contact and borrowing, meaning grammatically the sign languages and the oral languages of Europe are quite distinct from one another. Due to (visual/aural) modality differences, most sign languages are named for the larger ethnic nation in which they are spoken, plus the words "sign language", rendering what is spoken across much of France, Wallonia and Romandy as French Sign Language or LSF for: langue des signes française.[59]

Recognition of non-oral languages varies widely from region to region.[60] Some countries afford legal recognition, even to official on a state level, whereas others continue to be actively suppressed.[61]

Though "there is a widespread belief—among both Deaf people and sign language linguists—that there are sign language families,"[62] the actual relationship between sign languages is difficult to ascertain. Concepts and methods used in historical linguistics to describe language families for written and spoken languages are not easily mapped onto signed languages.[63] Some of the current understandings of sign language relationships, however, provide some reasonable estimates about potential sign language families:

History of standardization

Language and identity, standardization processes

In the Middle Ages the two most important defining elements of Europe were Christianitas and Latinitas.[66]

The earliest dictionaries were glossaries: more or less structured lists of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans was among the first. A new wave of lexicography can be seen from the late 15th century onwards (after the introduction of the printing press, with the growing interest in standardisation of languages).

The concept of the nation state began to emerge in the early modern period. Nations adopted particular dialects as their national language. This, together with improved communications, led to official efforts to standardise the national language, and a number of language academies were established: 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft in Weimar, 1635 Académie française in Paris, 1713 Real Academia Española in Madrid. Language became increasingly linked to nation as opposed to culture, and was also used to promote religious and ethnic identity: e.g. different Bible translations in the same language for Catholics and Protestants.

The first languages whose standardisation was promoted included Italian (questione della lingua: Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian → Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (the standard is based on Parisian), English (the standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on the dialects of the chancellery of Meissen in Saxony, Middle German, and the chancellery of Prague in Bohemia ("Common German")). But several other nations also began to develop a standard variety in the 16th century.

Lingua franca

Europe has had a number of languages that were considered linguae francae over some ranges for some periods according to some historians. Typically in the rise of a national language the new language becomes a lingua franca to peoples in the range of the future nation until the consolidation and unification phases. If the nation becomes internationally influential, its language may become a lingua franca among nations that speak their own national languages. Europe has had no lingua franca ranging over its entire territory spoken by all or most of its populations during any historical period. Some linguae francae of past and present over some of its regions for some of its populations are:

Linguistic minorities

Historical attitudes towards linguistic diversity are illustrated by two French laws: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1539), which said that every document in France should be written in French (neither in Latin nor in Occitan) and the Loi Toubon (1994), which aimed to eliminate anglicisms from official documents. States and populations within a state have often resorted to war to settle their differences. There have been attempts to prevent such hostilities: two such initiatives were promoted by the Council of Europe, founded in 1949, which affirms the right of minority language speakers to use their language fully and freely.[73] The Council of Europe is committed to protecting linguistic diversity. Currently all European countries except France, Andorra and Turkey have signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, while Greece, Iceland and Luxembourg have signed it, but have not ratified it; this framework entered into force in 1998. Another European treaty, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, was adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe: it entered into force in 1998, and while it is legally binding for 24 countries, France, Iceland, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova and Russia have chosen to sign without ratifying the convention.[74] [75]

Scripts

The main scripts used in Europe today are the Latin and Cyrillic.[76]

The Greek alphabet was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, and Latin was derived from the Greek via the Old Italic alphabet. In the Early Middle Ages, Ogham was used in Ireland and runes (derived from Old Italic script) in Scandinavia. Both were replaced in general use by the Latin alphabet by the Late Middle Ages. The Cyrillic script was derived from the Greek with the first texts appearing around 940 AD.

See also: Antiqua–Fraktur dispute. Around 1900 there were mainly two typeface variants of the Latin alphabet used in Europe: Antiqua and Fraktur. Fraktur was used most for German, Estonian, Latvian, Norwegian and Danish whereas Antiqua was used for Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Swedish and Finnish. The Fraktur variant was banned by Hitler in 1941, having been described as "Schwabacher Jewish letters".[77] Other scripts have historically been in use in Europe, including Phoenician, from which modern Latin letters descend, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on Egyptian artefacts traded during Antiquity, various runic systems used in Northern Europe preceding Christianisation, and Arabic during the era of the Ottoman Empire.

Hungarian rovás was used by the Hungarian people in the early Middle Ages, but it was gradually replaced with the Latin-based Hungarian alphabet when Hungary became a kingdom, though it was revived in the 20th century and has certain marginal, but growing area of usage since then.[78]

European Union

See main article: Languages of the European Union. The European Union (as of 2021) had 27 member states accounting for a population of 447 million, or about 60% of the population of Europe.[79]

The European Union has designated by agreement with the member states 24 languages as "official and working": Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish.[80] This designation provides member states with two "entitlements": the member state may communicate with the EU in any of the designated languages, and view "EU regulations and other legislative documents" in that language.[81]

The European Union and the Council of Europe have been collaborating in education of member populations in languages for "the promotion of plurilingualism" among EU member states.[82] The joint document, "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)", is an educational standard defining "the competencies necessary for communication" and related knowledge for the benefit of educators in setting up educational programs. In a 2005 independent survey requested by the EU's Directorate-General for Education and Culture regarding the extent to which major European languages were spoken in member states. The results were published in a 2006 document, "Europeans and Their Languages", or "Eurobarometer 243". In this study, statistically relevant samples of the population in each country were asked to fill out a survey form concerning the languages that they spoke with sufficient competency "to be able to have a conversation".[83]

List of languages

The following is a table of European languages. The number of speakers as a first or second language (L1 and L2 speakers) listed are speakers in Europe only; see list of languages by number of native speakers and list of languages by total number of speakers for global estimates on numbers of speakers.

The list is intended to include any language variety with an ISO 639 code. However, it omits sign languages. Because the ISO-639-2 and ISO-639-3 codes have different definitions, this means that some communities of speakers may be listed more than once. For instance, speakers of Bavarian are listed both under "Bavarian" (ISO-639-3 code bar) as well as under "German" (ISO-639-2 code de).[84]

NameISO-
639		ClassificationSpeakers in EuropeOfficial status
data-sort-type="number" style="width:90pt;"Nativedata-sort-type="number"TotalNationalRegional
abq Northwest Caucasian, Abazgi 49,800 Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
ady Northwest Caucasian, Circassian 117,500 Adygea (Russia)
agx Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 29,300 Dagestan (Russia)
akv Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 210
Albanian (Shqip)
Arbëresh
Arvanitika
sq Indo-European Italy, Arbëresh dialect: Sicily, Calabria,[85] Apulia, Molise, Basilicata, Abruzzo, Campania
Montenegro (Ulcinj, Tuzi)
ani Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 5,800
an Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 25,000[86] 55,000[87] Northern Aragon (Spain)
acq Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 970
rup Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 114,000 North Macedonia (Kruševo)
Asturian (Astur-Leonese) ast Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 351,791[88] 641,502 Asturias
av Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 760,000 Dagestan (Russia)
az Turkic, Oghuz 500,000[89] Dagestan (Russia)
kva Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 1,500
ba Turkic, Kipchak 1,221,000Bashkortostan (Russia)
eu Basque 750,000[90] Basque Country

Basque Autonomous Community, Navarre (Spain), French Basque Country (France)

BavarianbarIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Bavarian 14,000,000[91] Austria (as German) South Tyrol
be Indo-European, Slavic, East 3,300,000
kap Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 6,800
bs Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian2,500,000 Kosovo, Montenegro
bph Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 210
br Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 206,000None, de facto status in Brittany (France)
Bulgarianbg Indo-European, Slavic, South, Eastern 7,800,000 Mount Athos (Greece)
caIndo-European, Romance, Western, Occitano-Romance 4,000,000[92] 10,000,000[93] Balearic Islands (Spain), Catalonia (Spain), Valencian Community (Spain), easternmost Aragon (Spain), Pyrénées-Orientales (France), Alghero (Italy)
cji Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 500
ce Northeast Caucasian, Nakh 1,400,000Chechnya & Dagestan (Russia)
cv Turkic, Oghur 1,100,000 Chuvashia (Russia)
CimbriancimIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Bavarian 400[94]
kw Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 563[95] Cornwall (United Kingdom)
co Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 30,000125,000 Corsica (France), Sardinia (Italy)
crh Turkic, Kipchak 480,000 Crimea (Ukraine)
hr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 5,600,000Burgenland (Austria), Vojvodina (Serbia)
cs Indo-European, Slavic, West, Czech–Slovak 10,600,000
da Indo-European, Germanic, North 5,500,000Faroe Islands (Denmark), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)[96]
darNortheast Caucasian, Dargin490,000Dagestan (Russia)
nlIndo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 22,000,000
ovd Indo-European, Germanic, North 2000
egl Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic
en Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic 63,000,000260,000,000[97]
myv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Mordvinic 120,000Mordovia (Russia)
et Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1,165,400
ext Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 200,000
fax Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 11,000
fo Indo-European, Germanic, North 66,150 Faroe Islands (Denmark)
fi Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 5,400,000Sweden, Norway, Republic of Karelia (Russia)
frp Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance 140,000 Aosta Valley (Italy)
fr Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 81,000,000210,000,000 Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Monaco, Switzerland, JerseyAosta Valley[98] (Italy)
fry
frr
stq 		Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian 470,000Friesland (Netherlands), Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)[99]
fur Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 600,000[100] furFriulan Friuli (Italy)
gag Turkic, Oghuz 140,000Gagauzia (Moldova)
gl Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 2,400,000 Galicia (Spain), Eo-Navia (Asturias), Bierzo (Province of León) and Western Sanabria (Province of Zamora)
de Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 97,000,000[101] 170,000,000 South Tyrol,[102] Friuli-Venezia Giulia[103] (Italy)
gin Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 130
el Indo-European, Hellenic 13,500,000[104] Albania (Finiq, Dropull)
gin Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 350
hu Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Ugric 13,000,000 Burgenland (Austria), Vojvodina (Serbia), Romania, Slovakia, Subcarpathia (Ukraine), Prekmurje, (Slovenia)
bph Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 1,400
is Indo-European, Germanic, North 330,000
izh Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 120
inh Northeast Caucasian, Nakh 300,000Ingushetia (Russia)
ga Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 240,0002,000,000 IrelandNorthern Ireland (United Kingdom)
ist Indo-European, Romance 900
ruo Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 1,100
it Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 65,000,00082,000,000 Istria County (Croatia), Slovenian Istria (Slovenia)
itk Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian250
lad Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 320,000few[105] Bosnia and Herzegovina, France
kbd Northwest Caucasian, Circassian 530,000Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
xdq Northeast Caucasian, Dargin 30,000
xal Mongolic 80,500Kalmykia (Russia)
kpt Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 260
krl Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 36,000Republic of Karelia (Russia)
krc Turkic, Kipchak 300,000Kabardino-Balkaria & Karachay-Cherkessia (Russia)
csb Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 50,000Poland
kk Turkic, Kipchak 1,000,000[106] Astrakhan Oblast (Russia)
khv Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 1,700
kv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Permic 220,000[107] Komi Republic (Russia)
ugh Northeast Caucasian, Dargin 7,000
kum Turkic, Kipchak 450,000[108] Dagestan (Russia)
fkv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 2000-8000 Norway
lbe Northeast Caucasian, Lak 152,050 Dagestan (Russia)
la Indo-European, Italic, Latino-Faliscanextinct few[109]
lv Indo-European, Baltic 1,750,000
lez Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 397,000 Dagestan (Russia)
lij Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 500,000Monaco (Monégasque dialect is the "national language")Liguria (Italy), Carloforte and Calasetta (Sardinia, Italy)[110] [111]
li
lim 		Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 1,300,000 (2001)[112] Limburg (Belgium), Limburg (Netherlands)
lt Indo-European, Baltic 3,000,000
liv Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1[113] 210[114]
lmo Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 3,600,000Lombardy (Italy)
nds
wep		Indo-European, Germanic, West 1,000,000[115] 2,600,000 Schleswig-Holstein (Germany)[116]
lud Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 300
lb Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 336,000 386,000 Wallonia (Belgium)
mk Indo-European, Slavic, South, Eastern 1,400,000
MainfränkischvmfIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper 4,900,000[117]
mt Semitic, Arabic 520,000
gv Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 230 2,300[118] Isle of Man
chm
mhr
mrj 		Uralic, Finno-Ugric 500,000 Mari El (Russia)
ruq Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 3,000
drc Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 500
mwl Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 15,000Miranda do Douro (Portugal)
mdf Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Mordvinic 2,000Mordovia (Russia)
cnr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 240,700[119]
nap Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 5,700,000Campania (Italy)[120]
yrk Uralic, Samoyedic 4,000[121] Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Russia)
nog Turkic, Kipchak 87,000 Dagestan (Russia)
nrf Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 50,000Guernsey (United Kingdom), Jersey (United Kingdom)
no Indo-European, Germanic, North 5,200,000[122]
oc Indo-European, Romance, Western, Occitano-Romance500,000[123] Catalonia (Spain)
os Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Eastern 450,000[124] North Ossetia-Alania (Russia), South Ossetia
Palatinate GermanpflIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 1,000,000[125]
pcd Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 200,000Wallonia (Belgium)
pms Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic 1,600,000Piedmont (Italy)[126]
pl Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 38,500,000
pt Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 10,000,000
fur
lld
roh 		Indo-European, Romance, Western 370,000[127] Veneto Belluno, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, South Tyrol,[128] & Trentino (Italy)
ksh Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 900,000[129]
rgn Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Italic
rom Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Western 1,500,000 Kosovo[130]
ro Indo-European, Romance, Eastern 24,000,00028,000,000[131] Mount Athos (Greece), Vojvodina (Serbia)
ru Indo-European, Slavic, East 106,000,000[132] 160,000,000 Mount Athos (Greece), Gagauzia (Moldova), Left Bank of the Dniester (Moldova), Ukraine
rue Indo-European, Slavic, East 70,000
rut Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 36,400 Dagestan (Russia)
se Uralic, Finno-Ugric 23,000[133] Sweden, Finland
sc Indo-European, Romance 1,350,000[134] Sardinia (Italy)
sco Indo-European, Germanic, West, Anglo-Frisian, Anglic 110,000Scotland (United Kingdom), County Donegal (Republic of Ireland), Northern Ireland (United Kingdom)
gd Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic 57,000Scotland (United Kingdom)
sr Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western, Serbo-Croatian 9,000,000 Croatia, Mount Athos (Greece), North Macedonia, Montenegro
scn Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 4,700,000 Sicily (Italy)
szl Indo-European, Slavic, West, Lechitic 522,000
Silesian GermansliIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 11,000[135]
sk Indo-European, Slavic, West, Czech–Slovak 5,200,000 Vojvodina (Serbia), Czech Republic
sl Indo-European, Slavic, South, Western 2,100,000 Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Italy)
wen Indo-European, Slavic, West20,000Brandenburg & Sachsen (Germany)[136]
es Indo-European, Romance, Western, West Iberian 47,000,000 76,000,000 Gibraltar (United Kingdom)
Swabian GermanswgIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 820,000[137]
sv Indo-European, Germanic, North 11,100,00013,280,000
Swiss GermangswIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 5,000,000[138] Switzerland (as German)
tab Northeast Caucasian, Lezgic 126,900Dagestan (Russia)
ttt Indo-European, Iranian, Western 30,000[139] Dagestan (Russia)
tt Turkic, Kipchak 4,300,000 Tatarstan (Russia)
tin Northeast Caucasian, Avar–Andic 2,200
ddo Northeast Caucasian, Tsezic 13,000
tr Turkic, Oghuz15,752,673[140] Northern Cyprus
udm Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Permic 340,000 Udmurtia (Russia)
uk Indo-European, Slavic, East32,600,000Left Bank of the Dniester (Moldova)
Upper SaxonsxuIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Central 2,000,000[141]
vep Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 1,640[142] Republic of Karelia (Russia)
vec Indo-European, Romance, Italo-Dalmatian 3,800,000Veneto (Italy)[143]
vro Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 87,000 Võru County (Estonia)
vot Uralic, Finno-Ugric, Finnic 21[144]
wa Indo-European, Romance, Western, Gallo-Romance, Oïl 600,000Wallonia (Belgium)
Walser GermanwaeIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German, Upper, Alemannic 20,000[145]
cy Indo-European, Celtic, Brittonic 562,000750,000 Wales (United Kingdom)
WymysoryswymIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German 70[146]
YenishyecIndo-European, Germanic, West, High German 16,000Switzerland
yi Indo-European, Germanic, West, High German 600,000[147] Bosnia and Herzegovina, Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Ukraine
zea Indo-European, Germanic, West, Low Franconian 220,000

Languages spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Turkey

There are various definitions of Europe, which may or may not include all or parts of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. For convenience, the languages and associated statistics for all five of these countries are grouped together on this page, as they are usually presented at a national, rather than subnational, level.

NameISO-
639		ClassificationSpeakers in expanded geopolitical Europe Official status
data-sort- type="number" style="width:90pt;"L1data-sort-type="number"L1+L2NationalRegional
ab Northwest Caucasian, Abazgi Abkhazia/Georgia:[148] 191,000
Turkey: 44,000[149] 		AbkhaziaAbkhazia
Adyghe (West Circassian) ady Northwest Caucasian, Circassian Turkey: 316,000
sq Indo-European, Albanian Turkey: 66,000 (Tosk)
ar Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, West Turkey: 2,437,000 Not counting post-2014 Syrian refugees
hy Indo-European, Armenian Armenia

3 million[150]
Azerbaijan: 145,000
Georgia: around 0.2 million ethnic Armenians (Abkhazia: 44,870[151])
Turkey: 61,000
Cyprus: 668[152]

Armenia
Azerbaijan		Cyprus
az Turkic, Oghuz Azerbaijan 9 million[153]
Turkey: 540,000
Georgia 0.2 million		Azerbaijan
bbl Northeast Caucasian, Nakh Georgia

500[154]

bg Indo-European, Slavic, South Turkey

351,000

crh Turkic, Kipchak Turkey

100,000

ka Kartvelian, Karto-Zan Georgia

3,224,696
Turkey: 151,000
Azerbaijan: 9,192 ethnic Georgians[155]

el Indo-European, Hellenic Cyprus: 679,883[156]
Turkey: 3,600 		Cyprus
jdt Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Southwest Azerbaijan: 24,000 (1989)[157]
kur Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Northwest Turkey: 15 million[158]
Azerbaijan: 9,000
kmr Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Northwest Turkey: 8.13 million[159]
Armenia: 33,509[160]
Georgia: 14,000 		Armenia
lzz Kartvelian, Karto-Zan, Zan Turkey: 20,000[161]
Georgia: 2,000
ruq Indo-European, Italic, Romance, East Turkey: 4–5,000[162]
xmf Kartvelian, Karto-Zan, Zan Georgia (including Abkhazia): 344,000[163]
pnt Indo-European, Hellenic Turkey: greater than 5,000[164]
Armenia: 900 ethnic Caucasus Greeks[165]
Georgia: 5,689 Caucasus Greeks[166]
rom, dmt Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Indic Turkey: 500,000
ru Indo-European, Balto-Slavic, Slavic Armenia: 15,000[167]
Azerbaijan: 250,000
Georgia: 130,000 		Armenia: about 0.9 million[168]
Azerbaijan: about 2.6 million
Georgia: about 1 million
Cyprus: 20,984[169] 		Abkhazia
South Ossetia 		Armenia
Azerbaijan
sva Kartvelian, Svan Georgia (incl. Abkhazia): 30,000[170]
ttt Indo-European, Indo-Aryan, Iranian, Southwest Azerbaijan: 10,000[171]
tr Turkic, Oghuz Turkey: 66,850,000
Cyprus: 1,405[172] + 265,100 in the North[173] 		Turkey
Cyprus
Northern Cyprus
zza Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Iranian, Northwest Turkey: 3–4 million (2009)[174] [175]

Immigrant communities

Recent (post–1945) immigration to Europe introduced substantial communities of speakers of non-European languages.[3]

The largest such communities include Arabic speakers (see Arabs in Europe)and Turkish speakers (beyond European Turkey and the historical sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire, see Turks in Europe).Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds have diaspora communities of 1–2,000,000 each. The various languages of Africa and languages of India form numerous smaller diaspora communities.

List of the largest immigrant languages
Name ISO 639 Classification Native Ethnic diaspora
ar Afro-Asiatic, Semitic 5,000,000[176] Unknown
tr Turkic, Oghuz 3,000,000[177] 7,000,000[178]
hy Indo-European 1,000,000[179] 3,000,000[180]
ku Indo-European, Iranian, Western 600,000[181] 1,000,000[182]
bn as syl Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 600,000[183] 1,000,000[184]
az Turkic, Oghuz 500,000[185] 700,000[186]
kab Afro-Asiatic, Berber 500,000[187] 1,000,000[188]
Chinesezh Sino-Tibetan, Sinitic 300,000[189] 2,000,000[190]
UrduurIndo-European, Indo-Aryan300,000[191] 1,800,000[192]
uzTurkic, Karluk 300,000[193] 2,000,000[194]
fa Indo-European, Iranian, Western 300,000[195] 400,000[196]
pa Indo-European, Indo-Aryan 300,000[197] 700,000[198]
guIndo-European, Indo-Aryan 200,000[199] 600,000[200]
ta Dravidian 200,000[201] 500,000[202]
so Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic 200,000[203] 400,000[204]

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Ethnologue . Ethnologue: Statistics . December 23, 2023 . Ethnologue . 26.
  2. Web site: European Day of Languages > Facts > Language Facts . 2023-12-23 . edl.ecml.at.
  3. Web site: International migrant stock: By destination and origin. United Nations.
  4. Web site: Emery . Chad . 2022-12-15 . 34 of the Most Spoken Languages in Europe: Key Facts and Figures . 2023-12-23 . Langoly . en-US.
  5. Web site: Sipka . Danko . 2022 . The Geography of Words . December 23, 2023 . Cambridge University Press.
  6. Versloot . Arjen . Adamczyk . Elzbieta . 2017-01-01 . The Geography and Dialects of Old Saxon: River-basin communication networks and the distributional patterns of North Sea Germanic features in Old Saxon . Frisians and Their North Sea Neighbours . 125. 10.1515/9781787440630-014 .
  7. Web site: The Evolution of English: Contribution of European Languages . 2023-12-16 . www.98thpercentile.com . en.
  8. Web site: 2023-12-05 . Scots language History, Examples, & Facts Britannica . 2023-12-23 . www.britannica.com . en.
  9. Kuipers-Zandberg . Helga . Kircher . Ruth . 2020-11-01 . The Objective and Subjective Ethnolinguistic Vitality of West Frisian: Promotion and Perception of a Minority Language in the Netherlands . Sustainable Multilingualism . en . 17 . 1 . 1–25 . 10.2478/sm-2020-0011. 227129146 . free .
  10. Web site: 2023-12-15 . Dutch language Definition, Origin, History, Countries, Examples, & Facts Britannica . 2023-12-23 . www.britannica.com . en.
  11. Web site: German, Standard Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  12. Web site: Origins of Yiddish . 2023-12-23 . sites.santafe.edu.
  13. Book: Russ, Charles . 2013-09-13 . The Dialects of Modern German . 10.4324/9781315001777. 9781315001777 .
  14. Web site: Linguist makes sensational claim: English is a Scandinavian language. ScienceDaily. 2016-03-06.
  15. Web site: 2019-02-21 . Linguistic variety in the Nordics . 2023-11-06 . nordics.info . en.
  16. Gooskens . Charlotte . Kürschner . Sebastian . Heuven . Vincent J. van . August 4, 2021 . The role of loanwords in the intelligibility of written Danish among Swedes . . en . 45 . 1 . 4–29 . 10.1017/S0332586521000111 . 0332-5865. free . 1887/3205273 . free .
  17. Gooskens . Charlotte . van Heuven . Vincent J. . Golubović . Jelena . Schüppert . Anja . Swarte . Femke . Voigt . Stefanie . 2018-04-03 . Mutual intelligibility between closely related languages in Europe . International Journal of Multilingualism . en . 15 . 2 . 169–193 . 10.1080/14790718.2017.1350185 . 1479-0718. free . 1887/79190 . free .
  18. Web site: Limburgish- Limburgse taal & Limburgs dialect Limburgs.org . 2023-12-23 . Limbörgse Academie . en-US.
  19. Book: Ti Alkire . Romance languages: a Historical Introduction . Carol Rosen . Cambridge University Press . 2010 . New York . 3.
  20. Book: Sergio Lubello . Manuale Di Linguistica Italiana, Manuals of Romance linguistics . De Gruyter . 2016 . 499.
  21. This includes all of the varieties of Sardinian, written with any orthography (the LSC, used for all of Sardinian, or the Logudorese, Nugorese and Campidanese orthographies, only used for some dialects of it) but does not include Gallurese and Sassarese, that even though they have sometimes been included in a supposed Sardinian "macro-language" are actually considered by all Sardinian linguists two different transitional languages between Sardinian and Corsican (or, in the case of Gallurese, are sometimes classified as a variant of Corsican). For Gallurese: ATTI DEL II CONVEGNO INTERNAZIONALE DI STUDI Ciurrata di la Linga Gadduresa, 2014, for Sassarese: Book: Maxia, Mauro . Studi sardo-corsi. Dialettologia e storia della lingua tra le due isole . 2010 . Sassari . Taphros . 58 . it . La tesi che individua nel sassarese una base essenzialmente toscana deve essere riesaminata alla luce delle cospicue migrazioni corse che fin dall'età giudicale interessarono soprattutto il nord della Sardegna. In effetti, che il settentrione della Sardegna, almeno dalla metà del Quattrocento, fosse interessato da un forte presenza corsa si può desumere da diversi punti di osservazione. Una delle prove più evidenti è costituita dall'espressa citazione che di questo fenomeno fa il cap. 42 del secondo libro degli Statuti del comune di Sassari, il quale fu aggiunto nel 1435 o subito dopo. Se si tiene conto di questa massiccia presenza corsa e del fatto che la presenza pisana nel regno di Logudoro cessò definitivamente entro il Duecento, l'origine del fondo toscano non andrà attribuita a un influsso diretto del pisano antico ma del corso che rappresenta, esso stesso, una conseguenza dell'antica toscanizzazione della Corsica.). They are legally considered two different languages by the Sardinian Regional Government too (Web site: Autonomous Region of Sardinia . 1997-10-15 . Legge Regionale 15 ottobre 1997, n. 26 . 2008-06-16 . Art. 2, paragraph 4 . it . 1 March 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20210301195804/http://www.regione.sardegna.it/j/v/86?v=9&c=72&s=1&file=1997026 . dead .).
  22. Book: Friedman . Lawrence . Perez-Perdomo . Rogelio . 2003 . Legal Culture in the Age of Globalization: Latin America and Latin Europe . Stanford University Press . 1 . 0-8047-6695-9 . Lawrence M. Friedman .
  23. Web site: 2023-11-02 . Slavic languages List, Definition, Origin, Map, Tree, History, & Number of Speakers Britannica . 2023-12-22 . www.britannica.com . en.
  24. Web site: Polish Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  25. Web site: Ukrainian Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  26. Web site: Czech Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  27. Web site: Bulgarian Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  28. Web site: Slovak Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  29. Web site: Belarusian Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  30. Web site: Slovene Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  31. Web site: Macedonian Language . . 12 January 2024. Britannica . Encyclopaedia Britannica . 24 March 2024 .
  32. Web site: Slavic Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  33. F. Violi, Lessico Grecanico-Italiano-Grecanico, Apodiafàzzi, Reggio Calabria, 1997.
  34. Paolo Martino, L'isola grecanica dell'Aspromonte. Aspetti sociolinguistici, 1980. Risultati di un'inchiesta del 1977
  35. Filippo Violi, Storia degli studi e della letteratura popolare grecanica, C.S.E. Bova (RC), 1992
  36. Filippo Condemi, Grammatica Grecanica, Coop. Contezza, Reggio Calabria, 1987;
  37. Web site: In Salento e Calabria le voci della minoranza linguistica greca. Treccani, l'Enciclopedia italiana.
  38. Gerhard Rohlfs . Salvatore Sicuro . Grammatica storica dei dialetti italogreci . (No Title) . 8 June 2024 . https://web.archive.org/web/20240420152930/https://cir.nii.ac.jp/crid/1130000797628384384 . 20 April 2024 . it . live.
  39. Web site: Dansby . Angela . The last speakers of ancient Sparta . BBC Home . December 16, 2020 . February 6, 2024.
  40. Book: Pronk, Tijmen . 2017 . USQUE AD RADICES Indo-European studies in honour of Birgit Anette Olsen: Curonian accentuation . Copenhagen, Denmark . Museum Tusculanum Press . 659 . 9788763545761.
  41. Vaba . Lembit . July 2014 . Curonian linguistic elements in Livonian . Eesti ja Soome-Ugri Keeleteaduse Ajakiri . 5 . 1 . 173–191 . 10.12697/jeful.2014.5.1.09 . 2024-02-18. free .
  42. Nomachi . Motoki . 2019 . Placing Kashubian in the Circum-Baltic (CB) area . Prace Filologiczne . LXXIV . 2019 . 315–328 . 10.32798/pf.470 . 2024-02-18. free .
  43. Web site: Mažiulis . Vytautas J. . Baltic Languages . Encyclopedia Britannica . July 26, 1999 . February 18, 2024.
  44. Szatkowski . Piotr . January 2022 . Language Practices in a Family of Prussian Language Revivalists: Conclusions Based on Short-Term Participant Observation . Adeptus . 2626 . 173 . 10.11649/a.2626 . 2024-02-18. free .
  45. Web site: Welsh Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  46. Web site: Cornish Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  47. Web site: Breton Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  48. Web site: Irish Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  49. Web site: Scottish Gaelic Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  50. Web site: Manx Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-23 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  51. Web site: Department of Anglo-Saxon, Norse and Celtic . 2023-12-23 . www.asnc.cam.ac.uk.
  52. Web site: 2023-12-22 . Celtic languages History, Features, Origin, Map, & Facts Britannica . 2023-12-23 . www.britannica.com . en.
  53. Web site: Kartvelian languages Kartvelian, Georgian, Svan & Laz . 2023-09-03 . Britannica . en.
  54. Web site: Alexander . Marie . 2nd International Conference of Maltese Linguistics: Saturday, September 19 – Monday, September 21, 2009 . 2009 . International Association of Maltese Linguistics . 2 November 2009 . etal . 23 June 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080623195959/http://www.fb10.uni-bremen.de/maltese/abstracts.aspx . dead .
  55. J. . Aquilina . Maltese as a Mixed Language . Journal of Semitic Studies . 1958 . 3 . 1 . 58–79 . 10.1093/jss/3.1.58.
  56. The Structure of Maltese . Joseph . Aquilina . Journal of the American Oriental Society . 80 . 3 . July–September 1960 . 267–68 . 10.2307/596187. 596187 .
  57. Europe's New Arabic Connection . Louis . Werner . Alan . Calleja . Saudi Aramco World . November–December 2004 . 2016-02-05 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120929195459/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200406/europe.s.new.arabic.connection.htm . 2012-09-29 . dead .
  58. Web site: Assyrian Neo-Aramaic Ethnologue Free . 2023-12-22 . Ethnologue (Free All) . en.
  59. Web site: La Langue des signes française (LSF) Fondation pour l'audition . 2023-12-22 . www.fondationpourlaudition.org.
  60. Book: 10.1002/9781405198431.wbeal1417. Language Policy for Sign Languages. The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics. 2014. Reagan. Timothy. 1–6. 9781405194730.
  61. Murray . Joseph J. . Linguistic Human Rights Discourse in Deaf Community Activism . Sign Language Studies . 2015 . 15 . 4 . 379–410 . 26190995 . 10.1353/sls.2015.0012 . 26190995 . 4490244 .
  62. Reagan . Timothy . 2021 . Historical Linguistics and the Case for Sign Language Families . Sign Language Studies . en . 21 . 4 . 427–454 . 10.1353/sls.2021.0006 . 236778280 . 1533-6263.
  63. Power . Justin M. . 2022 . Historical Linguistics of Sign Languages: Progress and Problems . Frontiers in Psychology . 13 . 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.818753 . 35356353 . 1664-1078 . free . 8959496 .
  64. Web site: Andrews . Bruce . The rich diversity of sign languages explained . 2023-12-22 . news.csu.edu.au . en-AU.
  65. Web site: BANZSL . 2023-12-22 . www.signcommunity.org.uk.
  66. Web site: Mark . Joshua . 28 June 2019 . Religion in the Middle Ages . 15 December 2023 . World History Encyclopedia.
  67. Review [untitled] of Ariadna Camariano-Cioran, Les Academies Princieres de Bucarest et de Jassy et leur Professeurs . Church History . 45 . 1 . March 1976. 115–116 . ...Greek, the lingua franca of commerce and religion, provided a cultural unity to the Balkans...Greek penetrated Moldavian and Wallachian territories as early as the fourteenth century.... The heavy influence of Greek culture upon the intellectual and academic life of Bucharest and Jassy was longer termed than historians once believed. . James Steve . Counelis . 10.2307/3164593. 3164593 . 162293323 .
  68. Book: Wansbrough, John E. . Lingua Franca in the Mediterranean . Chapter 3: Lingua Franca . 1996 . Routledge.
  69. Book: Calvet, Louis Jean . Language wars and linguistic politics . Oxford [England]; New York . Oxford University Press . 1998 . 175–76.
  70. Book: Jones, Branwen Gruffydd . 98 . Decolonizing international relations . limited . Lanham, MD. Rowman & Littlefield . 2006.
  71. Kahane . Henry . September 1986 . A Typology of the Prestige Language . Language . 62 . 3 . 495–508 . 10.2307/415474 . 415474.
  72. Jeroen . Darquennes . Peter . Nelde . German as a Lingua Franca . Annual Review of Applied Linguistics . 26 . 61–77 . 2006 . 10.1017/s0267190506000043. 61449212 .
  73. Web site: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: Strasbourg, 5.XI.1992. Council of Europe. 1992.
  74. Book: Protsyk . Oleh . Managing Ethnic Diversity in Russia . Harzl . Benedikt . 2013-05-07 . Routledge . 978-1-136-26774-1 . 42 . en.
  75. Book: Assembly, Council of Europe: Parliamentary . Documents: working papers, 2006 ordinary session (first part), 23 -27 January 2006, Vol. 1: Documents 10711, 10712, 10715-10769 . 2006-11-08 . Council of Europe . 978-92-871-5932-8 . 235 . en.
  76. Web site: Dimitrov . Bogoya . 2023-05-19 . Book Exhibition Dedicated to the Day of the Cyrillic Alphabet . 2023-12-16 . The EUI Library Blog . en-US.
  77. http://www.ligaturix.de/bormann.htm Facsimile of Bormann's Memorandum (in German)
  78. Web site: Gleichgewicht . Daniel . 2020-04-30 . New illiberalism and the old Hungarian alphabet . 2024-05-16 . New Eastern Europe . en-GB.
  79. Web site: Population on 1 January . . 27 March 2024.
  80. Web site: Languages Policy: Linguistic diversity: Official languages of the EU. European Commission, European Union. 4 June 2009. 9 August 2015.
  81. Web site: Languages of Europe: Official EU languages . European Commission, European Union . 2009 . 5 November 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090202112407/http://ec.europa.eu/education/languages/languages-of-europe/doc135_en.htm . 2 February 2009 .
  82. Web site: Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) . Council of Europe . 5 November 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091030205032/http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/CADRE_EN.asp . 30 October 2009 .
  83. Web site: Europeans and Their Languages. European Commission. 2006. 5 November 2009. 8.
  84. Web site: Relationships to other parts of ISO 639 ISO 639-3 . 2023-12-18 . iso639-3.sil.org.
  85. Web site: Norme per la tutela e la valorizzazione della lingua e del patrimonio culturale delle minoranze linguistiche e storiche di Calabria . 2020-06-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090806193843/http://www.consiglioregionale.calabria.it/upload/testicoordinati/LR%2015-2003%28TC%29.doc . 2009-08-06 . dead .
  86. https://zaguan.unizar.es/record/60448 Report about Census of population 2011 of Aragonese Sociolinguistics Seminar and University of Zaragoza
  87. Web site: Más de 50.000 personas hablan aragonés. https://web.archive.org/web/20150101002219/http://www.aragondigital.es/noticia.asp?notid=126286. dead. 1 January 2015. Aragón Digital.
  88. https://www.ehu.eus/documents/1457190/1547454/Avance+III+Encuesta+Sociolling%C3%BC%C3%ADstica+Asturias.pdf/aba19c6f-4dab-470c-8a33-157248373072 III Sociolinguistic Study of Asturias (2017)
  89. c. 130,000 in Dagestan. In addition, there are about 0.5 million speakers in immigrant communities in Russia, see
    1. Immigrant communities
    .
  90. VI° Enquête Sociolinguistique en Euskal herria (Communauté Autonome d'Euskadi, Navarre et Pays Basque Nord) (2016).
  91. [German dialect]
  92. Web site: Catalan. 19 November 2019.
  93. Web site: Informe sobre la Situació de la Llengua Catalana | Xarxa CRUSCAT. Coneixements, usos i representacions del català.. blogs.iec.cat.
  94. [German dialect]
  95. Web site: Main language (detailed) . Office for National Statistics . 31 July 2023. (UK 2021 Census)
  96. recognized as official language in Nordfriesland, Schleswig-Flensburg, Flensburg and Rendsburg-Eckernförde (§ 82b LVwG)
  97. http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_386_en.pdf Europeans and their Languages
  98. Book: Le Statut spécial de la Vallée d'Aoste, Article 38, Title VI . Region Vallée d'Aoste . 2 May 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20111104223214/http://www.regione.vda.it/amministrazione/autonomia/statutospeciale/titolo6_f.asp . 4 November 2011 .
  99. recognized as official language in the Nordfriesland district and in Helgoland (§ 82b LVwG).
  100. e18
  101. includes:bar Bavarian,cim Cimbrian,ksh Kölsch,sli Lower Silesian,vmf Mainfränkisch,pfl Palatinate German,swg Swabian German,gsw Swiss German,sxu Upper Saxon,wae Walser German,wep Westphalian,wym Wymysorys,yec Yenish,yid Yiddish;see German dialects.
  102. http://www.regione.taa.it/normativa/statuto_speciale.pdf Statuto Speciale Per Il Trentino-Alto Adige
  103. Web site: Official website of the Autonomous Region of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
  104. 11 million in Greece, out of 13.4 million in total.
  105. [SIL Ethnologue]
  106. About 10 million in Kazakhstan. . Technically, the westernmost portions of Kazakhstan (Atyrau Region, West Kazakhstan Region) are in Europe, with a total population of less than one million.
  107. 220,000 native speakers out of an ethnic population of 550,000. Combines Komi-Permyak (koi) with 65,000 speakers and Komi-Zyrian (kpv) with 156,000 speakers.
  108. Web site: 2010 Russian Census . 27 May 2022 . 6 October 2021 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211006173252/http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/population/demo/per-itog/tab6.xls . dead .
  109. [Contemporary Latin]
  110. Web site: Legge Regionale 15 ottobre 1997, n. 26. Regione autonoma della Sardegna – Regione Autònoma de Sardigna. 21 October 2021. 26 February 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210226213750/http://www.regione.sardegna.it/j/v/86?v=9&c=72&file=1997026. dead.
  111. Web site: Legge Regionale 3 Luglio 2018, n. 22. Regione autonoma della Sardegna – Regione Autònoma de Sardigna. 21 October 2021. 5 March 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190305131152/http://www.regione.sardegna.it/j/v/2604?s=374982&v=2&c=93175&t=1&anno=. dead.
  112. Web site: 2019-11-19. Redirected. 2021-03-12. Ethnologue. en.
  113. Web site: "Kūldaläpš. Zeltabērns" – izdota lībiešu valodas grāmata bērniem un vecākiem. 2022-10-18. Latvijas Sabiedriskie Mediji (LSM.lv). 2022-10-22.
  114. Web site: LĪBIEŠU VALODAS SITUĀCIJA . 2012-01-19 . https://web.archive.org/web/20140202235047/http://www.livones.net/valoda/?raksts=8701 . 2014-02-02 . dead.
  115. 2.6 million cited as estimate of all Germans who speak Platt "well or very well" (including L2; 4.3 million cited as the number of all speakers including those with "moderate" knowledge) in 2009. Heute in Bremen. „Ohne Zweifel gefährdet". Frerk Möller im Interview, taz, 21. Februar 2009.However, Wirrer (1998) described Low German as "moribund".Jan Wirrer: Zum Status des Niederdeutschen. In: Zeitschrift für Germanistische Linguistik. 26, 1998, S. 309. The number of native speakers is unknown, estimated at 1 million by SIL Ethnologue.,
  116. The question whether Low German should be considered as subsumed under "German" as the official language of Germany has a complicated legal history. In the wake of the ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (1998), Schleswig-Holstein has explicitly recognized Low German as a regional language with official status (§ 82b LVwG).
  117. [German dialect]
  118. Web site: How the Manx language came back from the dead . Whitehead . Sarah . 2 April 2015 . theguardian.com. 4 April 2015.
  119. News: Montenegro. Ethnologue. 2018-04-29. en.
  120. In 2008, law was passed by the Region of Campania, stating that the Neapolitan language was to be legally protected. Web site: Tutela del dialetto, primo via libera al Ddl campano . Il Denaro . 15 October 2008 . 22 June 2013 . it . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20110727043316/http://www.denaro.it/VisArticolo.aspx?IdArt=548026 . 27 July 2011 . dmy-all .
  121. total 22,000 native speakers (2010 Russian census) out of an ethnic population of 44,000. Most of these are in Siberia, with about 8,000 ethnic Nenets in European Russia (2010 census, mostly in Nenets Autonomous Okrug)
  122. News: Norwegian. Ethnologue. 2018-08-06. en.
  123. .Includes Auvergnat, Gascon, Languedocien, Limousin, Provençal, Vivaro-Alpine. Most native speakers are in France; their number is unknown, as varieties of Occitan are treated as French dialects with no official status.
  124. Total 570,000, of which 450,000 in the Russian Federation.
  125. [German dialect]
  126. Piedmontese was recognised as Piedmont's regional language by the regional parliament in 1999. Motion 1118 in the Piedmontese Regional Parliament, Approvazione da parte del Senato del Disegno di Legge che tutela le minoranze linguistiche sul territorio nazionale – Approfondimenti, approved unanimously on 15 December 1999, Text of motion 1118 in the Piedmontese Regional Parliament, Consiglio Regionale del Piemonte, Ordine del Giorno 1118.
  127. Includes Friulian, Romansh, Ladin.
  128. http://www.regione.taa.it/normativa/statuto_speciale.pdf Statuto Speciale Per Il Trentino-Alto Adige
  129. [German dialect]
  130. [Constitution of Kosovo]
  131. Web site: Româna. unilat.org. Latin Union. 2 April 2018. ro.
  132. L1: 119 million in the Russian Federation (of which c. 83 million in European Russia), 14.3 million in Ukraine, 6.67 million in Belarus, 0.67 million in Latvia, 0.38 million in Estonia, 0.38 million in Moldova. L1+L2: c. 100 million in European Russia, 39 million in Ukraine, 7 million in Belarus, 7 million in Poland, 2 million in Latvia, c. 2 million in the European portion of Kazakhstan, 1.8 million in Moldova, 1.1 million in Estonia. .
  133. mostly Northern Sami (sma), ca. 20,000 speakers; smaller communities of Lule Sami (smj, c. 2,000 speakers) and other variants.,,,, .
  134. AA. VV. Calendario Atlante De Agostini 2017, Novara, Istituto Geografico De Agostini, 2016, p. 230
  135. [German dialect]
  136. GVG § 184 Satz 2; VwVfGBbg § 23 Abs. 5; SächsSorbG § 9, right to use Sorbian in communication with the authorities guaranteed for the "Sorbian settlement area" (Sorbisches Siedlungsgebiet, Lusatia).
  137. [German dialect]
  138. [German dialect]
  139. , 2,000 speakers in the Russian Federation according to the 2010 census (including Judeo-Tat). About 28,000 speakers in Azerbaijan; most speakers live along or just north of the Caucasus ridge (and are thus technically in Europe), with some also settling just south of the Caucasus ridge, in the South Caucasus.
  140. c. 12 million in European Turkey, 0.6 million in Bulgaria, 0.6 million in Cyprus and Northern Cyprus; and 2,679,765 L1 speakers in other countries in Europe according to a Eurobarometer survey in 2012: https://languageknowledge.eu/languages/turkish
  141. [German dialect]
  142. Russian Census 2010.
  143. A motion to recognise Venetian as an official regional language has been approved by the Regional Council of Veneto in 2007. Web site: Consiglio Regionale Veneto – Leggi Regionali . Consiglioveneto.it . 2009-05-06 . 26 May 2024 . https://archive.today/20240526190947/https://www.webcitation.org/6ILc8Mb9J?url=http://www.consiglioveneto.it/crvportal/leggi/2007/07lr0008.html%3FnumLegge=8 . dead .
  144. Web site: Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2020 года. Таблица 6. Население по родному языку. . Results of the All-Russian population census 2020. Table 6. population according to native language. . 2023-11-01 . rosstat.gov.ru . 24 January 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200124160257/http://rosstat.gov.ru/vpn_popul . dead .
  145. [Highest Alemannic]
  146. Moribund German dialect spoken in Wilamowice, Poland. 70 speakers recorded in 2006.
  147. Total population estimated at 1.5 million as of 1991, of which c. 40% in the Ukraine.,,
  148. Abkhazia is a de facto state recognized by Russia and a handful of other states, but considered by Georgia to be ruling over a Georgian region
  149. Web site: Lewis . M. Paul . Ethnologue report for Turkey (Asia) . Ethnologue: Languages of the World . SIL International . 2009 . 2009-09-08 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100707065422/http://www.ethnologue.org/show_country.asp?name=TRA . 2010-07-07 . dead .
  150. Web site: Armenian 2011 census data, chapter 5.
  151. Web site: Ethno-Caucasus – Население Кавказа – Республика Абхазия – Население Абхазии.
  152. Council of Europe. 2014-01-16. European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Fourth periodical presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter. CYPRUS.
  153. Azeri community in Dagestan excluded
  154. Web site: UNESCO Atlas of the World's Languages in danger. www.unesco.org. en. 2018-04-17.
  155. http://www.azstat.org/statinfo/demoqraphic/en/AP_/1_5.xls Censuses of Republic of Azerbaijan 1979, 1989, 1999, 2009
  156. Web site: Cyprus. Euromosaic III. 3 July 2013.
  157. Web site: Ethnologue: Azerbaijan . Tedsnet.de . 2021-12-03 . 22 September 2023 . https://web.archive.org/web/20230922172424/http://tedsnet.de/georgien/Azer.html . dead .
  158. [SIL Ethnologue|SIL ''Ethnologue'']
  159. Mutual intelligibility of a Kurmanji and a Zazaki dialect spoken in the province of Elazığ, Turkey . De Gruyter academic publishing . 1 December 2021 . 10.1515/applirev-2020-0151 . Ozek . Fatih . Saglam . Bilgit . Gooskens . Charlotte . Applied Linguistics Review . 14 . 5 . 1411–1449 . 244782650 . free .
  160. Web site: Article. armstat.am.
  161. Web site: Laz . Ethnologue.
  162. [Thede Kahl]
  163. Web site: Endangered Languages Project: Mingrelian.
  164. Özkan. Hakan. The Pontic Greek spoken by Muslims in the villages of Beşköy in the province of present-day Trabzon. Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies. 2013. 37. 1. 130–150. 10.1179/0307013112z.00000000023.
  165. Web site: 2011 Armenian Census.
  166. Web site: 2014 Georgian census . https://web.archive.org/web/20170205175903/http://geostat.ge/cms/site_images/_files/english/population/Census_release_ENG_2016.pdf . 5 February 2017 . dead.
  167. Web site: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2006/0251/tema01.php. ru:Падение статуса русского языка на постсоветском пространстве. Demoscope.ru. 2016-08-19. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20161025204352/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2006/0251/tema01.php. 2016-10-25.
  168. Web site: http://demoscope.ru/weekly/2008/0329/tema03.php. ru:Русскоязычие распространено не только там, где живут русские. demoscope.ru. live. https://web.archive.org/web/20161023011719/http://www.demoscope.ru/weekly/2008/0329/tema03.php. 2016-10-23.
  169. Web site: http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/548284B11BF2A3B1C2257A06003204B2?OpenDocument&print . el:Στατιστική Υπηρεσία – Πληθυσμός και Κοινωνικές Συνθήκες – Απογραφή Πληθυσμού – Ανακοινώσεις – Αποτελέσματα Απογραφής Πληθυσμού, 2011 . el . Demoscope.ru . 2013-06-18 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20130507080606/http://www.mof.gov.cy/mof/cystat/statistics.nsf/All/548284B11BF2A3B1C2257A06003204B2?OpenDocument&print . 2013-05-07 .
  170. Web site: Endangered Languages Project: Svan.
  171. John M. Clifton, Gabriela Deckinga, Laura Lucht, Calvin Tiessen, "Sociolinguistic Situation of the Tat and Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan," In Clifton, ed., Studies in Languages of Azerbaijan, vol. 2 (Azerbaijan & St Petersburg, Russia: Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan & SIL International 2005). Page 3.
  172. Book: June 2013 . Population enumerated by age, sex, language spoken and district (1.10.2011) (sheet D1A) . Population – Country of Birth, Citizenship Category, Country of Citizenship, Language, 2011 . CYstat .
  173. Web site: Census.XLS . 14 February 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20130116120824/http://nufussayimi.devplan.org/Census%202006.pdf . 16 January 2013 . dmy .
  174. Web site: Multitree | The LINGUIST List. linguistlist.org. 20 May 2023.
  175. Web site: Glottolog 4.5 - Zaza . 2022-05-21 . glottolog.org.
  176. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/FR France
  177. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/DE Germany
  178. See Turks in Europe: only counting recent (post-Ottoman era) immigration:Germany

    4,000,000,France

    1,000,000, UK

    500,000,Netherlands

    500,000,Austria

    400,000,Switzerland, Sweden and Russia: 200,000 each.

  179. 830k in Russia (2010 census), 100k in Ukraine (SIL Ethnologue 2015).
  180. 2,000,000 Armenians in Russia.France 750k,Ukraine 100k,Germany 100k,Greece 60-80k,Spain 40k,Belgium 30k,Czechia 12k,Sweden 12k,Bulgaria 10-22k,Belarus 8k, Austria 6k,Poland 3-50k,Hungary 3-30k,Netherlands 3-9k,Switzerland 3-5k,Cyprus 3k,Moldova 1-3k,UK 1-2k.
  181. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/DE Germany
  182. [Kurdish population]
  183. Sylheti: 300k in the UK, Bengali: 221k in the UK.
  184. see British Indian, Bangladeshi diaspora, Bengali diaspora.
  185. 515k in Russia (2010 census)
  186. [Azerbaijani diaspora]
  187. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/FR France
  188. [Kabyle people]
  189. Germany 120k, Russia: 70k, UK 66k, Spain 20k.
  190. [Overseas Chinese]
  191. [Languages of the United Kingdom|UK]
  192. [Pakistani diaspora]
  193. Russia: 274k (2010 census)
  194. see Uzbeks in Russia.
  195. UK: 76k, Sweden: 74k, Germany: 72k, France 40k.
  196. [Iranian diaspora]
  197. UK: 280k
  198. see British Punjabis
  199. UK: 213k
  200. see Gujarati diaspora
  201. [Languages of the United Kingdom|UK]
  202. [Tamil diaspora]
  203. https://www.ethnologue.com/country/GB UK
  204. [Somali diaspora]

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Languages of Europe".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.