Friday 21 September 2018
(din kau) 2018
২০১৮
(yakenitri) 2018
balan tha lipăn 
(september) 2018
(sepṫembaru) 2018
(herfstmaand) MMXVIII
(spyi.zlaw.dgu.pa) 2018
(Hāligmōnað) MMXVIII
(celi/masn) ⊕⊕XIIX
(wintrufulliþs) MMXVIII
(kangurolsol) 2018
(hsee mu) ၂၀၁၈
(kagna) 
(septembre) 
deuan gunya 
(gloo lavo) 
(ku44 ha21) 2018
(uyun biya) 
(poinu) 
есдүгээр сар (jesdügäär sar) 
(septębr) MMXVIII
чеххчманну (čyehhčmannu) 2018
(lunsip sawng) 
(eelul) 2018
(šutambir) 2018
(meskerem) 2018
(šetember) 2018
ꕢꕌ (saah) 2018
(tambalanga) 2018
(gguma) 2018
Mohalu ↑
Lilian day 2175529.4341
ere’s today’s date in 620 languages and dialects, complete with a profile of each.
I’m favoring languages that are at least a bit off the beaten track, offer Gregorian calendar terms that depart substantially from your run-of-the-mill neo-Latin, or both.
(Spanish? No. Asturian? Yes.)
Terms in parentheses ( ) are alternate names for a language, while those in brackets [ ] specify a particular subdivision or dialect shown. Click the language name for its ISO code and profile info.
One of the surprises here is how many non-European languages have Gregorian date terminology like this to dust off, at least for the record, even as their underlying cultures stand foursquare behind Islamic (Hijri), Hindu, Buddhist, or other calendar systems.
For those that expired before the advent of modern place-value numerals I’m using Roman. For Etruscan I’m using Etruscan numerals while pretending those serene, elbow-lounging folks used the Gregorian calendar and reckoned dates sequentially as we do.1 Traditional Chuvash numerals follow a similar scheme, but with the smaller units to the left of the larger ones, a slash for 5, and a star for 1000. Moksha resembled Chuvash but used a lambda for 10 and a kind of reflected sawhorse for 1000.
The only non-Gregorian date2 I’m showing is a rough estimate for the Gaulish, whose calendar was offset by about half a month from that used by their Roman contemporaries and whose months alternated between 29 and 30 days as opposed to 30 and 31.3
Peter
Abaza: Abaza ✧ ABQ ✧ Northwest Caucasian, endangered, 48,000 speakers in Russia and in Turkish diaspora communities. Natively it has 63 consonants but only 2 vowels. Related closely to Abkhaz (q.v.).
21 сентябрь (sentyabr’) 2018Abenaki [Western]: Abenaki [Western] ✧ ABE ✧ Algonquian family. As of 1991 spoken natively by fewer than 20 in Odanak, Quebec, and others in New York State and Connecticut; by 2006, only six. The English word “skunk” likely derives from Abenaki.
21 Skamonkas 2018Abkhaz: Abkhaz ✧ ABK ✧ Northwest Caucasian, 190,000 speakers, closely related to Abaza (q.v.). Features six different kinds of K/Q sounds.
21 цәыббра (tsãybbra) 2018Abui: Abui ✧ ABZ ✧ Trans-New Guinea family, spoken by 17,000 on Alor Island in Eastern Indonesia, just north of East Timor. Abui has no active/passive distinction.
21 palaai ia 2018Acholi: Acholi ✧ ACH ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in Uganda and South Sudan. Since Acholi is tonal and since there are several versions of each vowel, a given one-syllable word can have 14 different pronunciations.
21 Dwe me abongwen 2018Achuar-Shiwiar [Achuar Chicham]: Achuar-Shiwiar [Achuar Chicham] ✧ ACU ✧ From the tiny Jivaroan family, spoken by around 7000 in Peru and Ecuador by the Achuar, Shiwiar and Maina tribes. For numerals greater than four Achuar-Shiwiar borrows from Spanish.
21 paach 2018Achuar-Shiwiar [Shiwiar Chicham]: Achuar-Shiwiar [Shiwiar Chicham] ✧ ACU ✧ The other dialect of Achuar-Shiwiar
21 shakaim' 2018Afar: Afar ✧ AAR ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia.
21 Waysu 2018Aghem (Wum): Aghem (Wum) ✧ AGQ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Cameroon. Aghem speakers traditionally used leopard-skin carpets.
21 ndzɔ̱ŋɔ̱tƗ̀fʉ̀ghàdzughù 2018Aghul (Agul): Aghul (Agul) ✧ AGX ✧ Northeast Caucasian, 30,000 speakers mostly in southern Dagestan. There is a contrast between “tense” and “weak” consonants.
21 баскIум (bask̓um) 2018Ahom: Ahom ✧ AHO ✧ Kra–Dai family, Brahmaputra river valley, extinct by 1800. Unique script.
21 (din kau) 2018Ahtna [Central]: Ahtna [Central] ✧ AHT ✧ Athabaskan, between 30 and 80 speakers, Alaska’s Copper River. Incorporates around 100 Russian loanwords.
21 hwtsiic na’aaye’ “Leaves fall” -or- tsoxe na’aaye “First snow month” 2018Ahtna [Lower]: Ahtna [Lower] ✧ AHT ✧ Another dialect of Ahtna
21 ben ditsigi “Leaves brown” -or- tsoxe na’aaye “First snow month” 2018Ahtna [Mentasa]: Ahtna [Mentasa] ✧ AHT ✧ Another dialect of Ahtna
21 taa’i uk’edi na’aaye’ 2018Ainu: Ainu ✧ AIN ✧ Aboriginal language of Japanese archipelago, ancestry unknown, nearly extinct natively. Counts in base-20.
21 ウレポケチュプ (urepokechup) 2018Akan: Akan ✧ AKA ✧ Niger-Congo Language native to Ghana and Ivory Coast, also brought to South America by slaves
21 Fankwa-Ɛbɔ 2018Alabama: Alabama ✧ AKZ ✧ Muskogean language, distantly related to Choctaw (q.v.), spoken in Texas
21 hasiholtina istachákkàali 2018Albanian [Gheg]: Albanian [Gheg] ✧ SQI ✧ Indo-European language with its very own branch. Unlike most languages it uses the “th” sound.
21 shtator 2018Albanian [Tosk]: Albanian [Tosk] ✧ ALS ✧ Dialect (also called Arberesh) spoken in Italy, semi-intelligible with Gheg Albanian(q.v.)
21 setembri 2018Algonquin: Algonquin ✧ ALQ ✧ Algonquian family, closely related to (but divergent from) Ojibwe (q.v.). 1800 speakers in Quebec and Ontario.
21 kakákona gizis “corn hulling month” 2018Altai: Altai ✧ ATV ✧ Turkic language spoken by 20,000 natively in Siberia’s Altai Mountains
21 sygyn 2018Aluku: Aluku ✧ ??? ✧ A creole combining English, Dutch, African languages, and French that arose among escaped African slaves in Suriname and French Guiana. Generations ago Aluku was a pretty big deal, but as of 1980 there were only 33 speakers left.
21 neygi mun fu baka yali 2018Alutiiq: Alutiiq ✧ EMS ✧ An Eskimo-Aleut language, indigenous to the Alaska and Kenai Peninsulas and Kodiak Island, with around 200 native speakers. There are two chief dialects, Kodiak and Chugach.
21 Qakiiyat Iraluat 2018Amharic: Amharic ✧ AMH ✧ Afro-Asiatic. Ethiopia, yes, but the Rastafari also dig it.
21 mäšaräm 2018Angami (Tenyidie): Angami (Tenyidie) ✧ NJM ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, eight dialects, 130,000 speakers in India’s Nagaland. Angami has five tones plus “breathy.” Listed as vulnerable by UNESCO.
21 Rêyê o krö 2018Anii: Anii ✧ BLO ✧ A Niger-Congo language spoken by 49,000 in Benin and Togo. Anii observes strict vowel harmony (like Turkic and Uralic languages such as Finnish) and is bitonal.
21 Abofʊmka kaŋɔrɔ 2018Apache [Western]: Apache [Western] ✧ APW ✧ Athabaskan family, southeast Arizona, 14,000 native speakers. Acute accents indicate a high tone on a vowel.
21 Binest’ánchoh “Big harvest” 2018Apatani (Tanii): Apatani (Tanii) ✧ APT ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, eastern Himalayas. Most nouns have 2 syllables.
21 bunchi piilo 2018Arabic [Levantine]: Arabic [Levantine] ✧ APC ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Semitic. Descended from Ancient North Arabian.
٢١ أيلول (eilūl) ٢٠١٨Arabic [Libyan]: Arabic [Libyan] ✧ AYL ✧ An alternative terminology established under Muammar Gaddafi
٢١ الفاتح (al fāteẖ) ٢٠١٨Aragonese: Aragonese ✧ ARG ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Spoken in northern Aragon, endangered, mutually intelligible with Spanish.
21 setiembre 2018Arikara: Arikara ✧ ARI ✧ A North American indigenous language from the Caddoan family, related to Pawnee (q.v.) but not mutually intelligible with it. A handful of speakers remain in White Shield, North Dakota.
21 nakaraakúʾat 2018Aromanian (Vlach): Aromanian (Vlach) ✧ RUP ✧ A Romance language often considered a Romanian dialect, spoken throughout the Balkans, Greece, and Turkey. Aromanian has more Greek influence; Romanian, Slavic.
21 yizmâciunu -or- ayizmâciunu 2018Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Savoyard]: Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Savoyard] ✧ FRP ✧ An Arpitan dialect spoken around Savoy in western France
21 septembro 2018Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Stéphenois]: Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Stéphenois] ✧ FRP ✧ Gallo-Romance, spoken around Saint-Étienne in eastern central France
21 settombrou 2018Assiniboine 1: Assiniboine 1 ✧ ASB ✧ A Siouan language spoken by 150 or so in the northern US/Canadian Plains. Like Dalecarlian (q.v.) and Polish it has nasal vowels signaled with ogoneks, in this case Ą, Į, and Ų.
21 owáyawa akné hą́wi -or- paǧų́da gihí hą́wi 2018Assiniboine 2: Assiniboine 2 ✧ ASB ✧ Alternative terminology
21 waȟpéǧi hą́wi -or- waȟpéǧi 2018Asturian: Asturian ✧ AST ✧ Indo-European, Romance, northern Spain (Oviedo/Gijón area). Three genders.
21 setiembre 2018Atikamekw: Atikamekw ✧ ATJ ✧ Algonquian family, Cree complex, 5500 speakers in southwestern Quebec
21 kakone pisimw 2018Austro-Bavarian: Austro-Bavarian ✧ BAR ✧ Akin to High German but highly divergent from it, using more Latin. Rural Austria, Bavaria, and South Tyrol. Three main dialects.
21 Septemba 2018Avar [Premodern/Folk]: Avar [Premodern/Folk] ✧ AVA ✧ Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan and Azerbaijan. Uses either Cyrillic or Arabic characters.
21 рецарулъ رېصارۇڸ (retsarul″) 2018Awa Pit (Cuaiquer): Awa Pit (Cuaiquer) ✧ KWI ✧ From the Barbacoan family, seriously endangered, spoken by 13,000 on the Pacific slopes of the Andes in Colombia and in Ecuador by the Awa-Kwaiker people. Most Awa-Kwaiker men also speak Spanish; most women and children, only Awa Pit.
21 sɨpti 2018Aymara: Aymara ✧ AYM ✧ South American indigenous language from the Aymaran family which has only two members, the other being Jaqaru (q.v.). Unusual time/space conceptualization, uses only a, i, and u for vowels.
21 llamp’u phaxsi -or- sata 2018Bafia: Bafia ✧ KSF ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken by 60,000 in southwestern Cameroon. Mostly oral, but efforts at establishing a written standard are underway.
21 ŋwíí akǝ táanin 2018Bagirmi: Bagirmi ✧ BMI ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, about 45,000 speakers in Chad and Nigeria. This was the language of the Sultanate of Bagirmi which ruled southeast of Lake Chad between 1523 and 1897.
21 Nap dooso 2018Bagvalal: Bagvalal ✧ KVA ✧ Northeast Caucasian, seriously endangered, 1500 speakers in Dagestan’s Tsumadinsky District. Features ejectives and nazalized vowels. Used mainly in private; outside the home speakers rely on Avar (q.v.) or Russian.
21 с̄ента̄́бирбос̄ӏ (ssẽtáábirboss̓) -or- с̄инта́бирбос̄ӏ (ssĩtábirboss̓) 2018Bahasa Banjar: Bahasa Banjar ✧ BJN ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by the Banjarese of South Kalimantan in Indonesia
21 Siptimbir 2018Bakweri (Mokpwe): Bakweri (Mokpwe) ✧ BGM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken in Cameroon
21 Veko-ndo-nde 2018Baluchi: Baluchi ✧ BAL ✧ Indo-Iranian language related to Kurdish (q.v.). Uses Pashto and Roman script.
21 tomšán 2018Bambara: Bambara ✧ BAM ✧ Niger-Congo, Mande. Two tones, many French loans. Same word used for hand and arm.
21 Sètamburu 2018Bariai: Bariai ✧ BCH ✧ Austronesian family, Ngero group, 1400 speakers in Papua New Guinea
21 lai molo 2018Basaa: Basaa ✧ BAS ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Four tones, 230,000 speakers in Camaroon.(Not to be confused with Bassa, below.)
21 dïìpóès 2018Bashkir: Bashkir ✧ BAK ✧ Turkic language spoken in Bashkortostan between the Volga and Urals. Uses no articles.
21 һарысай (harisai) 2018Basque [Biscayan]: Basque [Biscayan] ✧ EUS ✧ Basque is a Pre-Indo-European language isolate spoken in the Pyrenees area. This is the dialect heard on the Bay of Biscay.
21 irail “Fern month” 2018Basque [Guipuzcoan]: Basque [Guipuzcoan] ✧ EUS ✧ Basque dialect spoken in Guipuzcoa, a tiny northern Spanish province at the eastern extreme of the Cantabrian sea. Originally studied and analyzed by Louis Lucien Bonaparte, Napoleon’s nephew.
21 agor -or- irail 2018Basque [Souletin]: Basque [Souletin] ✧ EUS ✧ Basque dialect spoken in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques département of France. Heavily influenced by Occitan (q.v.) and correspondingly features an additional vowel sound, ü.
21 setemere -or- bürüila 2018Bassa: Bassa ✧ BSQ ✧ Niger-Congo, Kru. Seven vowels with five tones each, spoken by 400,000 in Liberia and Sierra Leone. (Not to be confused with Basaa, above.)
21 Dìǔ 2018Batak: Batak ✧ BYA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian family. Unique script. Spoken in north Sumatra.
21 sipaha onom 2018Bats (Tsova-Tush): Bats (Tsova-Tush) ✧ BBL ✧ Northeast Caucasian, Nakh branch but unintelligible with Chechen or Ingush (q.v.)
21 enkenob 2018Belarusian: Belarusian ✧ BEL ✧ East Slavic, closely related to Ukrainian (q.v.). Though Belarusian is official in Belarus, only about 12% of the population uses it.
21 верасня (verasnya) 2018Bemba (Chibemba): Bemba (Chibemba) ✧ BEM ✧ Niger-Congo family, southern Bantu. Tonal, spoken in Zambia.
21 ulusuba lunono 2018Bena: Bena ✧ BEZ ✧ Niger-Congo family, northeast Bantu, spoken in south central Tanzania
21 pa mwedzi gwa tisa 2018Beothuk: Beothuk ✧ BUE ✧ Spoken by a reclusive indigenous Newfoundland tribe, extinct since 1829 with the death of its last speaker, Shanawdithit.
21 wasumaweeskeek {?} 2018Bété [Eastern/Daloa]: Bété [Eastern/Daloa] ✧ BEV ✧ Niger-Congo, Kru. Bete is spoken by 400,000 in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire; this is one of its five dialects. The language is tonal and its speakers count in base 20.
21 'napɛ -ngbumʋna -leyi 2018Bezhta (Kapucha): Bezhta (Kapucha) ✧ KAP ✧ Preliterate Northeast Caucasian language spoken by around 6800 in Southern Dagestan.
21 сёнтабер (cyontaber) 2018Bishnupriya: Bishnupriya ✧ BPY ✧ Indo-Aryan, 120,000 native speakers. Uses the rather uncommon Eastern Nagari script.
২১ ২০১৮Bislama: Bislama ✧ BIS ✧ A creole combining English with Austronesian lanugages. Official in Vanuatu.
21 Septemba 2018Blackfoot (Siksika): Blackfoot (Siksika) ✧ BLA ✧ Algonquian family, unusual pitch system. Montana and southern Alberta.
21 áwákaasiiki’somm 2018Blin (Bilen): Blin (Bilen) ✧ BYN ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. 70,000 speakers around Keren, Eritrea. Related to Tigrinya (q.v.) and Tigre (Tigrayit).
21 (yakenitri) 2018Breton (Armoric): Breton (Armoric) ✧ BRE ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Brythonic. Spoken in Brittany, related to Welsh and Cornish (q.v.).
21 mis gwengolo 2018Bukhori (Judaeo-Tajik): Bukhori (Judaeo-Tajik) ✧ BHH ✧ A Persian dialect with Hebrew, Turkic, and Slavic loans spoken by Bukharan Jews living in central Asia and diaspora communities in Israel and the US.
21 סיֵנטיאַבּר (sentyabr) 2018Bulgarian [Eastern Rup]: Bulgarian [Eastern Rup] ✧ BUL ✧ South Slavic. From the south-central Bulgarian town of Asenovgrad, late 19th century.
21 кръстоския (krastoskiya) 2018Bulgarian [Rhodope]: Bulgarian [Rhodope] ✧ BUL ✧ Another Bulgarian, here from the Rhodope Mountains around Smolyan
21 галѣмата čôрква (galemata čôrkva) 2018Bulgar: Bulgar ✧ XBO ✧ Presumably Turkic, extinct since medieval times, unrelated to modern Bulgarian (which is South Slavic). Bulgar’s modern descendent is Chuvash (q.v.).
XXI kazan ae MMXVIIIBurgundian (Bourguignon-morvandiau): Burgundian (Bourguignon-morvandiau) ✧ ??? ✧ Endangered Langue d’Oïl spoken in Burgundy. Not to be confused with East Germanic Burgundian, extinct since the sixth century, though there are historic overlaps.
21 septembe 2018Burmese: Burmese ✧ MYA ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Spoken in Myanmar/Burma, tonal. Unusual sounds such as unvoiced Ms and Ns. Script consists almost entirely of arcs and circles because the ancient Burmese wrote on palm leaves and straight lines would risk splitting them.
၂၁ စက်တင်ဘာ (seʿtĩbʰa) ၂၀၁၈Burushaski: Burushaski ✧ BSK ✧ A language isolate spoken by 87,000 in Northern Pakistan. Actions must often specify how loud something was.
21 hawelum datukus -or- miizaan 2018Buryat: Buryat ✧ BUA ✧ Mongolic language related to Mongolian and Oirat (q.v.). China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia.
21 юһэдүгээр һара (juhedügeer hara) 2018Caddo: Caddo ✧ CAD ✧ Critically endangered member of the Caddoan family, related to Arikara and Pawnee (q.v.), tonal, spoken by about two dozen individuals in Caddo County, Oklahoma.
21 [September unknown] 2018Carrier: Carrier ✧ CRX ✧ Na-Dené family, Athabaskan. A few hundred speakers in British Columbia.
21 bit uzʔ 2018Catalan: Catalan ✧ CAT ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Spoken in Catalonia, Valencia, the Balearic Islands, and the country of Andorra where it’s official. Its name comes from the word ‘castle.’
21 de setembre 2018Cayuga: Cayuga ✧ CAY ✧ Iroquoian family, heard on the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Ontario and the Cattaraugus Reservation in New York State. Only 79 fluent speakers. Vowels are lengthened by a colon; some can be nasalzed, others whispered.
21 Sáˀgę̲h·neh “Cough season starts” 2018Central Dusun (Bunduliwan): Central Dusun (Bunduliwan) ✧ DTP ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language, standardized by the Kadazandusun Cultural Association Sabah, and spoken by 140,000 in Malaysia and Brunei.
21 Tulan Manom “Plant month” 2018Cham [Eastern]: Cham [Eastern] ✧ CJM ✧ Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian. 300,000 speakers in Vietnam. Oldest-attested Austronesian language with inscriptions dating back to the fourth century ce.
balan tha lipăn Chamorro: Chamorro ✧ CHA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, ≈ 60,000 speakers in the Marianas archipelago. Same word used for hand and arm.
21 septembre 2018Chang (Mochungrr): Chang (Mochungrr) ✧ NBC ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Brahmaputran branch, 62,000 speakers in Nagaland, Northeast India. Uses the Roman alphabet, introduced in 1928.
21 Sausaulit 2018Chatino [Zona Alta]: Chatino [Zona Alta] ✧ CLY ✧ Zapotecan language spoken by 23,000 in southern Oaxaca, Mexico. It has ten tones and uses nasal vowels.
21 ko' sanda wsi 2018Chayahuita: Chayahuita ✧ CBT ✧ One of only two languages belonging to the Cahuapanan family, spoken by 14,000 in the department of Loreto in the Peruvian province of Alto Amazonas. Some education in the area is bilingual Chayahuita/Spanish.
21 nahuanan tahuëri 2018Chechen 1: Chechen 1 ✧ CHE ✧ Northeast Caucasian family, Nakh branch, related to Ingush (q.v.). It features an unusually large vowel inventory for a Caucasian language. Traditionally written with the Georgian alphabet, later the Arabic, finally the Cyrillic.
21 мара (mara) 2018Chechen 2: Chechen 2 ✧ CHE ✧ A second alternative terminology for Chechen
21 тав бутт (tau butt) 2018Chechen 3: Chechen 3 ✧ CHE ✧ A third alternative terminology for Chechen
21 гезгмашан бутт (giezgmašan butt) 2018Cherokee [Overhill]: Cherokee [Overhill] ✧ CHR ✧ Iroquoian family, Oklahoma. This is the Cherokee standard upon which Sequoyah based his unique script; further along he pursuaded the Eastern Cherokee speakers of North Carolina to adopt it.
21 ᏚᎵᏍᏗ (Dulisdi) 2018Chevak Cup’ik: Chevak Cup’ik ✧ ??? ✧ Seriously endangered Yupi’k (q.v.) sub-dialect. Hooper Bay, Alaska.
21 Amiirairun 2018Chewa (Chichewa or Nyanja): Chewa (Chichewa or Nyanja) ✧ NYA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantoid. Spoken in Malawi and Zambia. Unusually complex gender system.
21 mwezi wa Septembala 2018Cheyenne (Tsisinstsistots): Cheyenne (Tsisinstsistots) ✧ CHY ✧ Algonquian family. Four principal tones, three principal vowels (a, e, o) which in some cases can can be voiceless. About 2000 native speakers in Montana & Oklahoma.
21 Tonoeveeše’he 2018Chickasaw: Chickasaw ✧ CIC ✧ Muskogean family, about 75 speakers total in Oklahoma, USA. Same word used for hand and arm.
21 Septempa 2018Chilcotin: Chilcotin ✧ CLC ✧ Athabaskan, approximately 860 native speakers in Chilcotin Country, central British Columbia. Chilcotin is bitonal and exhibits consonant harmony.
21 Dandzex ʔIza 2018Chimané [Mosetén]: Chimané [Mosetén] ✧ CAS ✧ Language isolate (?) spoken by around 2000 north of La Paz, Bolivia. Same word used for hand and arm.
21 arajtyakyatyi’ ïwaj 2018Choctaw: Choctaw ✧ CHO ✧ Muskogean, related to Chickasaw (q.v.). South-central USA, 18,000 speakers.
21 Siptimba 2018Choyo (Queyu): Choyo (Queyu) ✧ QVY ✧ A Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic language of Yajiang and Xinlong Counties in Sichuan with about 7000 speakers. Choyo is closely related to another Qiangic language, Zhaba, spoken by a similar number in Yajiang and Daofu Counties.
21 da35wa55gu35pa53 2018Chukchi: Chukchi ✧ CKT ✧ About 10,000 speakers in extreme eastern Siberia. Uses vowel harmony. Also, words cannot begin or end with consonant blends.
21 вылгык’аанматйъэлгын (vylgyk’aanmatj”elgyn) 2018Chuukese: Chuukese ✧ CHK ✧ Polynesian, spoken by around 50,000 ethnic Chuukese on the Chuuk Islands of the Carolines as well as on Pohnpei and Guam.
21 Semtemper -or- Sémtooper 2018Chuvash: Chuvash ✧ CHV ✧ Turkic, spoken in the Urals. Features “hard” versus “soft” words. Genderless.
IXX avăn III/X✳✳Cimbrian: Cimbrian ✧ CIM ✧ A Germanic language spoken by about 400 in northeastern Italy whose grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation render it unintelligible to Standard High German speakers. Italian has largely displaced it.
21 septembre -or- herbestmånat 2018Circassian (Cherkess) [Adyghe]: Circassian (Cherkess) [Adyghe] ✧ ADY ✧ Northwest Caucasian language. Has 50-60 consonant sounds, mutually intelligible with Circassian [Kabardian] (q.v.).
21 Iоныгъу (ʔonəġ°) 2018Circassian (Cherkess) [Kabardian]: Circassian (Cherkess) [Kabardian] ✧ KBD ✧ The other major Circassian dialect, also called East Circassian. Mutually intelligible with Circassian [Adyghe] (q.v.).
21 Iуэгъуээ (ʔwaʁʷaa) -or- фокIадэ (fawk’āda) 2018Clackamas: Clackamas ✧ WAC ✧ Native American Chinookan family, northwestern Oregon, extinct
21 wak inu’wi 2018Cofán: Cofán ✧ CON ✧ A seriously endangered language isolate spoken by 2400 Cofán people in Sucumbíos Province in northeast Ecuador and neighboring Colombia. Natively it counts in base-5.
21 na'en ambaite 2018Comorian [Maore] (Shimaore): Comorian [Maore] (Shimaore) ✧ SWB ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. 80,000 speakers on French islands of Mayotte.
21 septambru 2018Cornish: Cornish ✧ COR ✧ Celtic, Brythonic. Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, natively extinct but nowadays actively studied and taught.
21 mys Gwyngala 2018Corsican: Corsican ✧ COS ✧ Indo-European, Romance, and unlike Sardinian (q.v.) mutually intelligible with Italian. Spoken on Corsica, endangered.
21 sittembre 2018Creek (Muscogee or Seminole): Creek (Muscogee or Seminole) ✧ MUS ✧ Muskogean family, tonal with nazalizations, 5000 speakers in Oklahoma and Florida
21 otowoskucee 2018Cree: Cree ✧ CRE ✧ Algonquian family. Formerly creolized with French & Scottish Gaelic. Official in Canada’s Northwest Territories, almost 100,000 speakers.
21 weweopizun 2018Crimean Tatar: Crimean Tatar ✧ CRH ✧ Half a million speakers. Although Turkic like Tatar, CT is not considered a Tatar dialect and they are not mutually intelligible.
21 ilk küz ayı -or- berim ayı 2018Croatian [Traditional]: Croatian [Traditional] ✧ HRV ✧ South Slavic, spoken in Croatia, Bosnia Herzegovina, and parts of Serbia. Uses the Roman alphabet as opposed to Serbian which uses Cyrillic.
21 rujan “Animal mating month” 2018Crow: Crow ✧ CRO ✧ Siouan family, Western, as of 2007 spoken by 3500 in the Crow Nation in southeastern Montana. Considered endangered, though schoolchildren are actively learning it and adolescents attend the Apsaalooke language camp for Crow language immersion.
21 basáanxalaachke 2018Cuicatec: Cuicatec ✧ CUX ✧ A language of the Oto-Manguean family spoken natively by 13,000 in western Oaxaca, Mexico. Cuicatec is tonal, forms verb tenses by attaching one of four different prefixes.
21 iyuu nóo 2018Cuman (Polovetsian): Cuman (Polovetsian) ✧ QWM ✧ Turkic language spoken by Cuman-Kipchaks in eastern Europe. Extinct by 1800. The invading Polovetsians portrayed in Borodin’s opera Prince Igor would have spoken this language.
21 qis ay 2018Curonian: Curonian ✧ XCU ✧ Extinct Balto-Slavic language spoken until the 16th century in parts of modern Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany.
21 sêptêmbirs 2018Czech (Bohemian): Czech (Bohemian) ✧ CZE ✧ West Slavic, mutually intelligible with Slovak. The same word, ruka, can refer to hand or arm.
21 září 2018Dagaare: Dagaare ✧ DGA ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur branch. Unusual consonant blends such as GB, KP, and MGM.
21 KyuuraawaesobO 2018Dakota (Dakhota): Dakota (Dakhota) ✧ DAK ✧ Siouan family, mutually intelligible with Lakota. Around 20,000 speakers in an area centered on eastern South Dakota and taking in parts of North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, and Montana.
21 Wiinapciŋwaŋka 2018Dalecarlian: Dalecarlian ✧ OVD ✧ North Germanic, endangered. Unlike Swedish (with which it isn’t mutually intelligible) it uses nasalized vowels (Ą, Ę, Į, Ų, Y̨, Ą̊ ) and like Icelandic uses eth (Ð). Used runes into the 20th century.
21 (september) 2018Dalmatian: Dalmatian ✧ DLM ✧ Romance language once spoken on the Adriatic east coast. Its last surviving native speaker was marine mail carrier Tuone Udaina, who died in a roadwork accident in 1898.
21 siaptembar 2018Danish [Premodern/Folk]: Danish [Premodern/Folk] ✧ DAN ✧ Traditional Danish before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions
21 Fiskemåned 2018Deg Xinag: Deg Xinag ✧ ING ✧ Athabaskan language, virtually extinct. Area around the lower Yukon River, Alaska.
21 Vinginh gitr’inihay “Month we pick berries” 2018Dena’ina (Tanaina) [Outer Inlet]: Dena’ina (Tanaina) [Outer Inlet] ✧ TFN ✧ Athabaskan, seriously endangered, Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula. Same word can refer to hand or arm.
21 benen qdidechigi 2018Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabascan): Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabascan) ✧ KOY ✧ Athabascan, spoken by about 300 in east central Alaska, 3 dialects
21 Nołdlaaghe Noghe’ 2018Denya: Denya ✧ ANV ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantoid, Mamfe. Spoken in Cameroon by around 11,000
21 sètemburu 2018Dhivehi (Maldivian): Dhivehi (Maldivian) ✧ DIV ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranic, uses the exclusive right-to-left Thāna script which unlike Arabic explicitly shows all vowels. Republic of Maldives.
21 (sepṫembaru) 2018Dinka [Northwestern]: Dinka [Northwestern] ✧ DIW ✧ Nilo-Saharan, spoken in Sudan and by a refugee population in Jacksonville, Florida.
21 orbeklai 2018Ditidaht (Nitinaht): Ditidaht (Nitinaht) ✧ DTD ✧ Wakashan family, Vancouver Island. No nasal consonants, virtually extinct.
21 k’eyicapax̣paał 2018Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ): Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ) ✧ DGR ✧ Na-Dené, Athabaskan. Canada Northwest Territories, 2600 speakers.
21 Åiwedats’ehtèe Zaà 2018Dukhan: Dukhan ✧ DKH ✧ A Turkic amalgam related to Tuvan, Buryat, and Tofalar (all q.v.) spoken, often mixed with Mongolian, by about 500 Dukha reindeer herders in northernmost Mongolia. (Language code DKH is unofficial.)
21 аylааr аy 2018Dutch [Old]: Dutch [Old] ✧ ODT ✧ Indo-European, Germanic, spoken 9th to 12th centuries ce. Literary examples include The Leiden Willeram, a commentary on the Song of Solomon, and Hebban olla vogala (“Have all birds begun nests…” ), both from c. 1100.
XXI (herfstmaand) MMXVIIIDzongkha: Dzongkha ✧ DZO ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, ≈ 170,000 native speakers (and an additional 470,000 non-native) in Bhutan where it is the only official language.
21 (spyi.zlaw.dgu.pa) 2018Edo (Bini): Edo (Bini) ✧ BIN ✧ Niger-Congo family. Spoken by Benin Empire descendents.
21 uki eho 2018Emilian-Romagnol (Sammarinese): Emilian-Romagnol (Sammarinese) ✧ EGL/RGN ✧ Romance language spoken in Italy (Emilia-Romagna region, Urbino, and Pesaro) and in San Marino. Its two principal dialects are Emiliano and Romangnolo, both of which separately recognized by UNESCO as “worthy of protection.”
21 setèmber 2018English [Old] (Anglo-Saxon): English [Old] (Anglo-Saxon) ✧ ANG ✧ Indo-European, Germanic, spoken 5th to 12th centuries ce. Four noun cases, three genders. Literary examples are Beowulf (975-1025) and the Charter of Cnut (c. 1017).
XXI (Hāligmōnað) MMXVIIIErromintxela: Erromintxela ✧ EMX ✧ A Basque/Romani hybrid language spoken by around a thousand Pyranees-dwelling Roma
21 burula 2018Ersu [Ganluo]: Ersu [Ganluo] ✧ ERS ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, around 13,000 speakers in western Sichuan. Like Nakhi (q.v.) this language employs a pictographic script for folkloric purposes, though in this case the colors carry additional lexographic meaning.
21 tɕu55i55ɬɑ33 2018Erzya: Erzya ✧ MYV ✧ Finno-Ugric, related to [but quite distinct from] Moksha (q.v.)
21 таштамков (tašhtokakov) 2018Eskayan: Eskayan ✧ ESY ✧ Famously obscure Philippine language, extinct but heavily studied. Possibly a Cebuano-based cryptolect.
21 sitibi 2018Estonian: Estonian ✧ EST ✧ Finno-Ugric. Features 3 vowel lengths, 14 noun cases. Among some speakers Estonian and Finnish are mutually intelligible though there are many “false friends,” i.e., words that look and sound identical but carry one meaning in Estonian but a different one in Finnish.
21 mihklikuu 2018Estonian [Southern]: Estonian [Southern] ✧ VRO ✧ Finno-Ugric. In many respects closer to Võro (q.v.) than standard Estonian.
21 süküskuu 2018Etruscan: Etruscan ✧ ETT ✧ Language isolate spoken on the Italian peninsula, last recorded use was in 410 ce. Roman emperor Claudius wrote several books on the language (all lost).
XXI (celi/masn) ⊕⊕XIIXEven (Lamut): Even (Lamut) ✧ EVE ✧ Altaic, Tungusic. Endangered, with 7000-odd speakers in Siberia. Doesn’t use articles.
21 ойчири унма (ojčiri unma) 2018Evenki (Solon): Evenki (Solon) ✧ EVN ✧ Tungusic, related to Even (q.v.) but four times as many speakers. In descending order of frequency, Evenki appears in Roman, Cyrillic, and Mongolian characters.
21 sirw.lasani 2018Ewe: Ewe ✧ EWE ✧ Niger-Congo family, tonal, spoken by 5 million in western Africa. A tilde nazalizes a vowel: ã, ẽ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ĩ, õ, and ũ.
21 Anyↄnyↄ 2018Extremaduran: Extremaduran ✧ EXT ✧ Romance language spoken in west central Spain. Some differences from Spanish/Castilian: Infinitive verbs end in L, questions are reinforced by prepending the particles “lo,” “lu,” “pu,” or “pui.”
21 setiembri 2018Eyak: Eyak ✧ EYA ✧ Famously imperiled Athabaskan language, whose last native speaker, Marie Smith Jones (Eyak: udAch' k'uqAXA'a'ch — “Sound that calls people from afar”), died in Anchorage, Alaska in 2008.
21 na·ɂdqǝx̱ah 2018Fe’fe’ (Nufi or Bafang): Fe’fe’ (Nufi or Bafang) ✧ FMP ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantoid. 120,000 speakers around Bafang, Cameroon.
21 kuku 2018Flemish [West-Vlams]: Flemish [West-Vlams] ✧ VLS ✧ A highly divergent Dutch dialect with 1.2 million speakers
21 september 2018Fon: Fon ✧ FON ✧ Niger-Congo, Gbe. Spoken by 2.2 million in Togo and Benin in over 50 dialects.
21 zõ sùn 2018Fox (Meskwaki): Fox (Meskwaki) ✧ SAC ✧ Algonquian, endangered, about 2000 speakers sprinkled through Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and Coahuila (Mexico). It has two indigenous writing systems, basically syllabics like those found in India, known as Fox I and Fox II.
21 sepitênopêha -or- sepitêmipêha 2018Frankish (Old Franconian): Frankish (Old Franconian) ✧ FRK ✧ Germanic language spoken in France between the 4th and 9th centuries, evolved into Old Dutch (q.v.). Charlemagne spoke a dialect of Frankish.
XXI Witumanoþ MMXVIIIFrisian [West Lauwers]: Frisian [West Lauwers] ✧ FRY ✧ Indo-European, West Germanic, considered to be the closest foreign language to English. 470,000 speakers in the Friesland province of the Netherlands.
21 hjerstmoanne “Autumn month” 2018Frisian [North] (Mooring): Frisian [North] (Mooring) ✧ FRR ✧ About 10,000 speakers in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany
21 september -or- härfstmoune “Autumn month” 2018Frisian [West Schiermonnikoog]: Frisian [West Schiermonnikoog] ✧ FRY ✧ Heard on the Island of Schiermonnikoog off northern Netherlands, seriously endangered with fewer than 100 speakers
21 hestmond 2018Friulian: Friulian ✧ FUR ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Spoken in northeastern Italy. When c is followed by anything other than an e or an i in Friulian, but must still retain the soft c sound (č, as in English cherry), it takes a cedilla — ç).
21 setembar 2018Fula: Fula ✧ FUL ✧ Niger-Congo family, western Africa, official in Senegal. Most commonly written with the Roman alphabet, less so with the Arabic, but a unique alphabet for Fula called Adlam arose in the 1980s and has been widely adopted.
21 silto 2018Fur: Fur ✧ FVR ✧ Tentatively attributed to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in south central Darfur in western Sudan.
21 Ʉróŋ 2018Futunan: Futunan ✧ FUT ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on Futuna Island and New Caledonia
21 sepetepeli 2018Gaelic [Irish] (Irish): Gaelic [Irish] (Irish) ✧ GLE ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic. Spoken as a first language along the western coast of Ireland. It was also once widely spoken in Newfoundland but disappeared there sometime in the early 20th century.
21 Mí Meán Fomhair “Middle of autumn” 2018Gaelic [Scottish Archaic]: Gaelic [Scottish Archaic] ✧ GLA ✧ As Scottish Gaelic below, but older
21 Mìos Meadhanach an Fhoghair 2018Gaelic [Scottish]: Gaelic [Scottish] ✧ GLA ✧ Like Irish Gaelic (q.v.), also Celtic, Goidelic. This is Highland Gaelic; Lowland Gaelic is extinct, one of its last known speakers having been Margaret McMurray who died ca. 1760.
21 An t-Sultain “Abundance” 2018Gagauz: Gagauz ✧ GAG ✧ Turkic language spoken in Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia
21 ӂевиз айы (ceviz ayı) 2018Galician: Galician ✧ GLG ✧ Sharply divergent Portuguese spoken in Galicia (northern Spain). Fidel Castroʼs father was Galician and emigrated to make his sugar cane fortune.
21 setembro 2018Gallong (Galo) [Lare]: Gallong (Galo) [Lare] ✧ ADL ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Tani branch, six dialects. Arunachal Pradesh, northeast India.
21 `hɨɨtə 2018Gallo: Gallo ✧ ROA-GAL ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’Oïl. Approx. 28,000 speakers in the upper Brittany region. Gallo bears some mutual intelligibility with Norman (q.v.) dialects, though it lacks their Old Norse influences.
21 setanbr 2018Garifuna: Garifuna ✧ CAB ✧ Arawakan language with French and Carib loans, Central America, 170,000 speakers. Men’s and women’s speech differ. Men’s Garifuna tends to borrow more heavily from Carib while women’s leans more toward Arawak.
21 nefu hati 2018Garo: Garo ✧ GRT ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Brahmaputran, spoken in the Garo Hills of Meghalaya and in parts of Assam and Tripura, India, and also in Bangladesh. In its Roman writing system the letters F, Q, V, X, Y, and Z are non-native and occur only in loans.
21 bilsini skugipa ja 2018Gaulish: Gaulish ✧ XTG ✧ Indo-European, Celtic. Pre-Roman France, extinct by 7th century ce. Modern French uses several hundred Gaulish loans, among them the words alouette (lark) and petit (small).
VII anagantii MMXVIIIGa: Ga ✧ GAA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Kwa division, first written in 1764. Tonal, three vowel lengths.
21 Gbo 2018Georgian: Georgian ✧ KAT ✧ Kartvelian group, lacks an F sound natively. Related to Svan (q.v.) but completely unintelligible with it.
კა სექტემბერი (sekt’emberi) ციჱGeorgian [Old]: Georgian [Old] ✧ KAT ✧ Georgian from approximately 800-1000 ce
კა ახალწლისა ენკენისთვე (axalts’lisa enk’enistve) ციჱGerman [Alsatian]: German [Alsatian] ✧ GSW ✧ Alsace in eastern France. 100,000 speakers, all bilingual with French. Unlike German, the Alsatian alphabet also includes the letters À and É.
21 Septamber 2018German [Alsatian Folk]: German [Alsatian Folk] ✧ GSW ✧ Previous to, or aside from, the modern neo-Roman.
21 Herbstmonat -or- Herbstmond -or- Scheiding 2018German [Old High]: German [Old High] ✧ GOH ✧ Earliest attested German language, c. 500-1050 ce. Old High German appears in the Oaths of Strasbourg, 12 February 842, between Louis the German and Charles the Bald.
XXI Herbistmānōd MMXVIIIGerman [Ripuarian] (Kölsch): German [Ripuarian] (Kölsch) ✧ KSH ✧ Indo-European, West Germanic, Central Franconian. Cologne region.
21 Sepptämmber -or- Septämber 2018German [mid 17th century]: German [mid 17th century] ✧ GER ✧ The High German shown on a 1665 calendar
21 Herbstmond 2018Gitxsan (Gitksan): Gitxsan (Gitksan) ✧ GIT ✧ Tsimshianic family, British Columbia, < 1000 speakers
21 hlox̱sa g̱enuu gwiikw 2018Gothic: Gothic ✧ GOT ✧ Indo-European, extinct by the 10th century. IE’s Germanic branch splits into West, North, and East; Gothic belonged to the latter, along with Vandalic and Burgundian which are both only poorly attested.
XXI (wintrufulliþs) MMXVIIIGourmantché: Gourmantché ✧ GUX ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, spoken by 900,000 in Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo. Its nouns use a system of circumfixes — prefix-suffix pairs that enclose them. All language names, for example, begin with mi- and end with -ma; thus Gourmantché becomes migourmantchema.
21 ciyia 2018Greenlandic (Kalaallisut): Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) ✧ KAL ✧ Language from the Eskimo-Aleut family, now official in Greenland
21 Septemberi 2018Griko (Grecanic Italiot Greek) : Griko (Grecanic Italiot Greek) ✧ GRE ✧ Variety of modern Greek with about 50% mutual intelligibility with it. About 28,000 speakers in the toe and heel of Italy.
21 Settèmbri 2018Guahiba: Guahiba ✧ GUH ✧ From the Guahiban family, 34,000 speakers in Colombia and in the Orinoco River area in Venezuela. Unusually complex stress patterns for syllables.
21 oji juameto “New shrubs bloom” 2018Guan [Dungan]: Guan [Dungan] ✧ DNG ✧ A Sino-Tibetan language that, unusually, uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Three tones. Spoken by 90,000 ethnic Dungans in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, it evolved from Mandarin Chinese but drew heavy influences from Turkic languages and Russian.
21 җюйүә (ʂyujyә) 2018Guaraní [Paraguayan]: Guaraní [Paraguayan] ✧ GUG ✧ Tupian family. This is the standard Guaraníx spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay. Genderless. Oldest writings date from 1639.
21 jasyporundy 2018Guernésiais: Guernésiais ✧ NRF ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’Oïl. A Norman dialect spoken by about 200 on the Channel Island of Guernsey. Victor Hugo contemporary George Métivier (1790–1881) was a widely celebrated author in Guernésiais.
21 séptembre 2018Guhu-Samane: Guhu-Samane ✧ GHS ✧ An isolate related to the Binanderean family, Papua New Guinea, five dialects recognized, 13,000 speakers.
21 Seteba 2018Guiqiong: Guiqiong ✧ GQI ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic. A preliterate, poorly documented language spoken in Sichuan and Tibet. Four tones (33, 35, 53, 55), borrows heavily from Chinese. There are about 6000 native speakers who switch to Chinese when they travel outside their villages.
21 gi35pu53 2018Gullah (Sea Islands Creole): Gullah (Sea Islands Creole) ✧ GUL ✧ English-based, Niger-Congo influences. The word “kumbaya” comes from Gullah.
21 Sectembuh 2018Gusilay: Gusilay ✧ GSL ✧ Niger-Congo family, Jola branch, spoken by 15,000 in southwest Senegal. Its speakers also use other languages such as Wolof (q.v.), Mandinka, and Pulaar but their literacy in Gusilay itself is less than 1%.
21 Fusaceer-Ebojok 2018Gutnish (Gotlandic): Gutnish (Gotlandic) ✧ - ✧ Endangered Swedish dialect spoken by between 2000 and 5000 on the islands of Gotland and Fårö (not to be confused with the Faroe Islands). Shows vowel shifts and much vocabulary that differs from Swedish.
21 septembar 2018Gwich’in: Gwich’in ✧ GWI ✧ Na-Dené family, Athabaskan. 700 speakers in Alaska + northwest Canada.
21 Dinjik Zhrii 2018Haida: Haida ✧ HAI ✧ Language isolate native to the Haida Gwaii archipelago off the coast of British Columbia, with 14 reported speakers. It has no adjectives, getting around that by using verbs to assign qualities.
21 Kálk Kungáay “Ice moon” 2018Haitian Creole: Haitian Creole ✧ HAT ✧ French-derived but borrows from Taíno, Portuguese, African languages
21 septanmb 2018Hakha Chin (Lai): Hakha Chin (Lai) ✧ CNH ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken in Burma, Bangladesh, and India. Tonal.
21 September thla 2018Hakka: Hakka ✧ HAK ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Uses NG sounds and final M, unlike, say, Mandarin Chinese.
21 giu ŋiet 2018Harari: Harari ✧ HAR ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Semitic, ≈ 25,000 speakers in Ethiopia. Once written with Arabic script, but nowadays with the Ethiopic abugida and the Roman alphabet.
21 sehtan-khá warhay 2018Havasupai-Hualapai: Havasupai-Hualapai ✧ YUF ✧ Yuman family, around 550 speakers in northwestern Arizona
21 Gmun Yeevg “Beginning of cold” 2018Herero: Herero ✧ HER ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken by around 200,000 of at least six different ethnicities in Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. Roman script was introduced by missionaries in the 19th century.
21 Ondengaṋi 2018Hiligaynon (Ilongo): Hiligaynon (Ilongo) ✧ HIL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Visaya group, spoken in Philippines.
21 (kangurolsol) 2018Hmong: Hmong ✧ HMN ✧ Hmong-Mien family. Seven tones, including creaky and breathy.
21 Cuaj hlis ntuj 2018Holikachuk: Holikachuk ✧ HOI ✧ Athabaskan language, central Alaska. Last fluent speaker died in March 2012.
21 Mininh K’it’on’ Deq’oy 2018Homshetsi (Hamshen): Homshetsi (Hamshen) ✧ AXM(?) ✧ Archaic Armenian dialect spoken by 14,000 in Turkey, written only since 1995. Homshetsi and modern Armenian are not mutually intelligible.
21 սիֆթեգյուզ (siftegüz) 2018Hopi: Hopi ✧ HOP ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, about 7000 native speakers in northeastern Arizona. Bitonal with four distinct dialects identified by linguist Benjamin Whorf that differ in their consonant inventory.
21 Nasanmuyaw “Full Harvest Moon” 2018Huichol [Wixarika]: Huichol [Wixarika] ✧ HCH ✧ Uto-Aztecan language with 45,000 speakers, native to west-central Mexico. Creates long “sentence words” with prefixes and suffixes.
21 ’ixaurixa -or- atanauka metseeri 2018Hungarian [Premodern]: Hungarian [Premodern] ✧ OHU ✧ Church-based Hungarian, before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions
21 szent mihály hava 2018Hungarian [Reform Era]: Hungarian [Reform Era] ✧ HUN ✧ Hungarian during the nationalistic fervor of 1825-1848
21 Őszelő 2018Iaai: Iaai ✧ IAI ✧ Spoken by around 4000 on Ouvéa Island, New Caledonia. Sports a highly unusual set of sounds for a Polynesian language, and stands alone in the world for its voiceless retroflex nasal.
21 ebitremba 2018Iatmül: Iatmül ✧ IAN ✧ Sepik family, spoken in four dialects by 8400 in the Sepik River Basin of Papua New Guinea. Iatmüls count in base 5, 10, and 20; their word for 5 translates as “one hand,” for 10, “two hands,” for 20, “one whole man.”
21 gujawa 2018Idu Mishmi (Chulikata): Idu Mishmi (Chulikata) ✧ CLK ✧ Sino-Tibetan, endangered. India’s Dibang Valley, 3 dialects.
21 ह़ुम् (hím) 2018Igbo: Igbo ✧ IBO ✧ Niger-Congo, tonal, proverb-heavy, Nigeria. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Amistad, Twelve Years a Slave, etc.) is Igbo.
21 ónwa íteghiten’áfò 2018Ingrian (Izhorian): Ingrian (Izhorian) ✧ IZH ✧ Finno-Ugric language with only 120 speakers around Gulf of Finland
21 sentiaabri 2018Ingush 1: Ingush 1 ✧ INH ✧ Northeast Caucasian family, Nakh branch, tonal. Related to Chechen (q.v.) and like that language it went through a Georgian, Arabic, and finally Cyrillic alphabet writing phase.
21 моажол (moažol) 2018Ingush 2: Ingush 2 ✧ INH ✧ Alternative terminology
21 михий бутт -or- тов бутт 2018Inuktitut [Nunavik]: Inuktitut [Nunavik] ✧ IKU ✧ A dialect of Inuktitut
21 Amiraijaut 2018Inuktitut: Inuktitut ✧ IKU ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, north of Canada’s tree line. There are some 35,000 speakers and, unlike the case with most “minority” languages, that number is growing. Its syllabary was first conceived by Moravian missionaries in the 19th century.
21 ᓯᑎᒻᐳᕆ (sitimpuri) 2018Inuktitut [Qikiqtaaluk]: Inuktitut [Qikiqtaaluk] ✧ IKU ✧ Inuktitut terminology used in the Baffin Region
21 Amiraijarvik 2018Inupiaq [North Slope]: Inupiaq [North Slope] ✧ IPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, extreme northwestern Alaska
21 tiffivik 2018Isan: Isan ✧ TTS ✧ A group of Lao dialects spoken in northeastern Thailand by ethnic Isans. Isan is often viewed to be of lower prestige than Thai.
21 ganyayon 2018Istriot (Rovignese): Istriot (Rovignese) ✧ IST ✧ Romance language spoken by around 400 on Croatia’s Istrian Peninsula, closely related to extinct Dalmatian (q.v.). Not to be confused with Istro-Romanian (1100 speakers) or the Istrian dialect of Venetian.
21 satenbre 2018Itelmen: Itelmen ✧ ITL ✧ The sole surviving Kamchatkan language, spoken by fewer than 100 in and around the villages Kovran and Verkhnee Khayryuzovo on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
21 коасухтакоач (koasuχtakoač) 2018Jèrriais: Jèrriais ✧ NRF ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Norse influences. A Norman dialect spoken by 3000 on the Channel Island of Jersey. Actress and socialite Lillie Langtry (1853-1929) quite famously spoke Jèrriais.
21 setembe 2018Japanese [Premodern]: Japanese [Premodern] ✧ OJP ✧ Dating from the Heian Period (794-1185)
21 長月 (nagatsuki) “Long autumn month” 2018Jaqaru: Jaqaru ✧ JQR ✧ With Aymara (q.v.), the other member of the Aymaran family, natively spoken by 740 in the Yauyos Province of the Lima Region in Peru. Like Aymara it relies solely on a, i, and u for vowels.
21 sitimbri 2018Jarai: Jarai ✧ JRA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language related to Cham (q.v.), spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia
21 blan dua rơpăn 2018Jerba Berber: Jerba Berber ✧ JBN ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Zenati branch, spoken on the Tunisian island of Jerba — the supposed home of the Lotus Eaters of Greek folklore.
21 shtámber 2018Jingpho (Kachin): Jingpho (Kachin) ✧ KAC ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Bramaputran. Kachin State, Burma, and Yunan Province, China. Five tones, commonly written with the Roman alphabet.
21 guptung 2018Jju: Jju ✧ KAJ ✧ Niger-Congo, West Plateau. 300,000 speakers in Nigeria’s Southern Kaduna state.
21 Hywan A̱kumviriyin 2018K’iche’ (Quiché): K’iche’ (Quiché) ✧ QUC ✧ Mayan family, spoken by around a million in Guatemala
21 ub’elej ik’ 2018Kabiye: Kabiye ✧ KBP ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur. Spoken by 1.2 million in Togo, Benin, and Ghana.
21 naku fenaɣ 2018Kabuverdianu (Cape Verdean): Kabuverdianu (Cape Verdean) ✧ KEA ✧ The oldest surviving creole, based on 15th century Portuguese
21 setenbru 2018Kabyle (Taqbaylit): Kabyle (Taqbaylit) ✧ KAB ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, spoken in Algeria. Masculine nouns begin with A (character ⵔ); feminine nouns begin and end with T (character ⵜ).
21 ⵛⵜⴻⵎⴱⴻⵔ (ctembeṛ) 2018Kadazan Dusun [Central Bundu-Liwan]: Kadazan Dusun [Central Bundu-Liwan] ✧ DTP ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by the Kadazan and Dusun people in Malaysia
21 Tulan Manom “Plant month” 2018Kainji [Piti-Atsam]: Kainji [Piti-Atsam] ✧ CCH/PCN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Platoid. Spoken by around 30,000 in Nigeria.
21 pen shadon 2018Kalapuya: Kalapuya ✧ KYL ✧ Tiny language family once spoken in Western Oregon, extinct
21 Atchiutchutin 2018Kalenjin (Nandi): Kalenjin (Nandi) ✧ KLN ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in east Africa’s Rift Valley
21 buret 2018Kanza (Kaw): Kanza (Kaw) ✧ KSK ✧ A language from the Siouan family spoken by the Kaw people of Kansas, nominally extinct. The last native speakers were Maud McCauley Rowe (d. 1978), Ralph Pepper (d. 1982), and Walter Kekahbah (d. 1983).
21 ophaⁿ kúyughabe 2018Kapingamarangi (Kirinit): Kapingamarangi (Kirinit) ✧ KPG ✧ Polynesian language with around 3000 speakers on the Kapingamarangi and Pohnpei Islands of Micronesia
21 hiwa malama 2018Kaqchikel: Kaqchikel ✧ CAK ✧ Mayan family, 450,000 speakers in Guatemala’s Central Highlands. Kaqchikel intensifies adjectives by reduplication — in other words, repeating them twice.
21 reb’elej ik’ 2018Karachay-Balkar: Karachay-Balkar ✧ KRC ✧ Turkic language spoken in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of the north Caucasus. Closely related to Kumyk (q.v.).
21 k’’ырk’’аууз ай (kyirkyauuz ay) 2018Karakalpak: Karakalpak ✧ KAA ✧ Turkic, closely related to Kazakh (q.v.), about 400,000 speakers in Uzbekistan
21 мийзан (miyzan) 2018Karang: Karang ✧ KZR ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Four dialects, 18,000 speakers in Camaroon.
21 few nząw 2018Karelian: Karelian ✧ KRL ✧ Finno-Ugric. Only non-Karelian spoilsports call it a Finnish dialect.
21 süvüskuu “Autumn month” 2018Karelian [Livvi/Olonets]: Karelian [Livvi/Olonets] ✧ KRL ✧ About 30,000 speakers, mostly clustered northeast of Saint Petersburg
21 syvyskuudu 2018Karen (S'gaw): Karen (S'gaw) ✧ KAR ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken by four million in Myanmar and Thailand
၂၁ (hsee mu) ၂၀၁၈Kaska: Kaska ✧ KKZ ✧ Na-Dené, Athabaskan. Fewer than 300 native speakers in towns in the Northwest Territories, Yukon Territory, and northern British Columbia. Tonal with contrastive vowel length and nazalization.
21 Kedā Ekedahʼā́zī Sā “Moose rutting month” 2018Kayan [Baram]: Kayan [Baram] ✧ KCT ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in central Borneo, in two dialects of weak interintelligibity: Baram and Rejang
21 bulan pitan 2018Kazakh: Kazakh ✧ KAZ ✧ Altaic, Turkic. Cyrillic alphabet, plans to switch to Roman.
21 қыркүйек (qırküyek) 2018Keresan: Keresan ✧ KEE/KJQ ✧ Language isolate group spoken in New Mexico. Some vowels are whispered.
21 kinati daawaatra 2018Ket: Ket ✧ KET ✧ The only surviving language from the Yeniseian family and seriously endangered, with 150 speakers in Siberia’s Yenisei River valley
21 ъъноӄ ӄип (ˤˤnoq qip;) 2018Khakas [Koybal]: Khakas [Koybal] ✧ KJH ✧ Turkic language spoken in the Khakassia Republic, north of Altai Mountains
21 d’âres-ai 2018Khakas [Sagay]: Khakas [Sagay] ✧ KJH ✧ Another dialect of Khakas
21 xïra kisçeñ ay 2018Khanty (Ostyak): Khanty (Ostyak) ✧ KCA ✧ Finno-Ugric language related to Mansi (q.v.) and Hungarian. 12,000 speakers in Russia’s Khanty–Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs and in the Tomsk Oblast. Khanty’s major dialects differ significantly and are not mutually intelligible.
21 қор нарәксәтә тыӆәс (qor nаrĕksĕtĕ tyl̦ĕs) 2018Khanty (Ostyak) [Eastern]: Khanty (Ostyak) [Eastern] ✧ KCA ✧ Eastern Khanty terms collected 1956-1957
21 n’ógotkynthytəíki “Female moose month” 2018Khasi: Khasi ✧ KHA ✧ Austro-Asiatic family, spoken in the Meghalaya state in India. Uses the Roman alphabet, deleting C, F, Q, V, X, and G (by itself) but adding Ng, Ï, and Ñ.
21 nailur 2018Khmer (Cambodian): Khmer (Cambodian) ✧ KHM ✧ Austro-Asiatic family, Mon-Khmer branch, heavy Sanskrit influences. Oldest inscription dates from 611 ce.
(kagna) Khoekhoe (Nama): Khoekhoe (Nama) ✧ NAQ ✧ A language from the Khoe family spoken by about 300,000 in Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. It’s a tonal language with 20 clicks and 11 other non-click consonants.
21 taraǁkhumûǁkhâb 2018Khowar: Khowar ✧ KHW ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, 450,000 speakers mostly in Pakistan. Five dialects.
21 khumpach 2018Kiga (Rukiga): Kiga (Rukiga) ✧ CGG ✧ Niger-Congo, Central Bantu. Uganda and Rwanda.
21 Okwamwenda 2018Kiliwa: Kiliwa ✧ KLB ✧ Yuman language, 50 speakers, Baja California. Word for Pacific Ocean is Kuñím.
21 ja’la’ kekuápa 2018Kiribati (Gilbertese): Kiribati (Gilbertese) ✧ GIL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, 120,000 speakers. Name pronounced KEER-i-bass, as natively this language has no S and so uses the digraph TI to indicate that sound from foreign loanss. Interestingly this includes the name they use for their own land, a local rendering of “Gilberts” after an early European explorer.
21 Tebetemb’a 2018Kokborok (Tripuri): Kokborok (Tripuri) ✧ TRP ✧ Sino-Tibetan language of India and Bangladesh. Uses high and low tones.
21 remchuku talni mung 2018Komi (Ziryan): Komi (Ziryan) ✧ KOM ✧ Uralic, Finno-Ugric. Spoken by 220,000 in Russia’s Komi Republic. Earliest known writings, 1372 ce.
21 кӧч (köč) 2018Kom: Kom ✧ BKM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Tri-tonal, 127,000 speakers in northwest Camaroon
21 njoñ fÏìsuè 2018Kongo: Kongo ✧ KON ✧ Bantu language spoken in Angola and both Congos. The words zombie and goober, and possibly funky, are Kongo loans.
21 sánza ya libwá 2018Korku: Korku ✧ KFQ ✧ Austro-Asiatic, Munda. 480,000 speakers in rural central and eastern India.
21 poṛa 2018Koyukon: Koyukon ✧ KOY ✧ Athabaskan, about 300 speakers total speakers around the middle Yukon and Koyukuk Rivers, first documented in 1898
21 Huyts’in’ lookk’a nogha’ 2018Kumeyaay (Central Diegueño): Kumeyaay (Central Diegueño) ✧ DIH ✧ Yuman family, spoken by ≈ 400 in southern California and the Baja
21 halakwol 2018Kumyk: Kumyk ✧ KUM ✧ Turkic language spoken by about 400,000 in Dagestan. Influenced by northeast Caucasian languages (Avar, Dargwa, Chechen) as well as Ossetian and Russian. (Not to be confused with Cuman, which is extinct.)
21 къочкъар (kočkar) 2018Kuna (Cuna or Guna): Kuna (Cuna or Guna) ✧ CUK ✧ Chibchan family, spoken by 60,000 Kuna people of Panama’s San Blas Islands and the northern coast of Colombia, who launched a successful rebellion in 1925 and won partial autonomy.
21 abbinnii “Medicinal plant abbin month” 2018Kurdish [Kurmanji/North]: Kurdish [Kurmanji/North] ✧ KMR ✧ Indo-European family, Indo-Iranian. The dialect of 75% of Kurdish speakers.
21 eylûl -or- îlon 2018Kurdish [Sorani/South]: Kurdish [Sorani/South] ✧ CKB ✧ The Kurdish dialect second in number of speakers to Kurmanji
21 aylûl 2018Kutenai (Ktunaxa): Kutenai (Ktunaxa) ✧ KUT ✧ Language isolate spoken by 100 (British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho). No distinction between voiced versus unvoiced consonants, word order is flexible.
21 kuʔǂmak’aku 2018Kven: Kven ✧ FKV ✧ A seriously endangered Finnic language spoken by a few thousand mostly in the communities of Storfjord and Porsanger in Northern Norway. Kven and Finnish are mutually intelligible.
21 septemperikuu 2018Kwak'wala: Kwak'wala ✧ KWK ✧ A language from the Wakashan family with around 500 speakers, native to the Queen Charlotte Strait off the northeastern tip of Vancouver Island. It exhibits an uncommonly wide consonant inventory, including ejectives.
21 'lix̱a̱m 2018Kwangali: Kwangali ✧ KWN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, spoken by 84,000 in the Okavango River area of Namibia and Angola. Unusually for a Bantu language it uses clicks, presumably borrowed from its Khoisan neighbors.
21 Sitarara 2018Kyrgyz: Kyrgyz ✧ KIR ✧ Altaic family, Turkic. Spoken by 4 million in Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China.
21 ayak oona 2018Lach: Lach ✧ ??? ✧ Either a dialect of Czech, Polish, or Silesian — depending on whom you believe. Óndra Łysohorsky (1905-1989), arguably the most celebrated Lach poet who resolutely refused to compose in either Polish or Czech, almost singlehandedly set the standard for literary Lach.
21 vřeśéń 2018Ladakhi (Bhoti): Ladakhi (Bhoti) ✧ LBJ ✧ A Sino-Tibetan language spoken by around 130,000 in India, Nepal, China, and Pakistan. Ladakhi and Tibetan are closely related but not mutually intelligible.
21 dawa gu pa 2018Ladin [Badiotto]: Ladin [Badiotto] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin is a Romance language related to Romansh (q.v.). This particular dialect is spoken by a few in the South Tyrol.
21 setëmber 2018Ladin [Cadorean]: Ladin [Cadorean] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin dialect of a handful of speakers in Cadore in the Italian province of Belluno bordering on Austria
21 setembre 2018Ladin [Fassa Valley]: Ladin [Fassa Valley] ✧ LLD ✧ Another Ladin dialect, 600 speakers in Trentino in the Italian Alpines
21 setẹmber 2018Ladin [Gardenese]: Ladin [Gardenese] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin dialect, 8000 speakers in the Dolomites of South Tyrol in northern Italy
21 setëmber 2018Ladin [Nones]: Ladin [Nones] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin dialect, 30,000 speakers in the Non Valley of northern Italy. Whether Nones should be considered a dialect of Ladin or simply another Gallo-Italic/Romance language on its own is still open to debate.
21 setèmber 2018Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish or Judezmo): Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish or Judezmo) ✧ LAD ✧ Medieval Spanish substrate + Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish loans. Spoken by Sephardic Jews worldwide. Ladino has traditionally used the 15th century Hebrew script called Rashi, shown here.
(septembre) Lahu: Lahu ✧ LHU ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken in China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos
21 šētēbà 2018Lakota: Lakota ✧ LKT ✧ Siouan-Catawban family, spoken by ≈ 6000 in the US Dakotas. Heard in the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves.
21 Canwape Ge Wi “Moon of changing leaves” 2018Lak: Lak ✧ LBE ✧ Northeast Caucasian, about 160,000 speakers in southern Dagestan
21 урчIилчинмур барз 2018Lango (Lwo): Lango (Lwo) ✧ LAJ ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Uganda. All numerals under 20 begin with A.
21 Kʉsaatʉ 2018Lao: Lao ✧ LAO ✧ Kra–Dai family, 6 tones. Many Indo-European loans via Pali/Sanskrit.
deuan gunya Latgalian: Latgalian ✧ LTG ✧ Baltic, 150,000 speakers. Related to Latvian, Samogitian, and Lithuanian (q.v.).
21 rudiņa mieness 2018Laz (Lazuri): Laz (Lazuri) ✧ LZZ ✧ A Kartvelian language spoken by ≈ 30,000 on the southeast shore of the Black Sea
21 st’aroşina 2018Leonese: Leonese ✧ ??? ✧ Endangered Romance language undergoing a revival in northwestern Spain. Oldest writings date from ca. 959-974 ce.
21 setiembre 2018Lepcha: Lepcha ✧ LEP ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, non-tonal, unique script. West Bengal, Nepal, Bhutan.
(gloo lavo) Lezgian: Lezgian ✧ LEZ ✧ Northeast Caucasian. Many throaty phonemes. Official in Dagestan.
21 мара (mara) 2018Lezgian [Premodern]: Lezgian [Premodern] ✧ LEZ ✧ Conjectured Lezgian terminology of yore
21 мара 2018Ligurian [Genoese]: Ligurian [Genoese] ✧ LIJ ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Northern Italy. Endangered. Not to be confused with ancient Ligurian, an extinct Celtic language.
21 settembre 2018Ligurian [Monégasque]: Ligurian [Monégasque] ✧ LIJ ✧ Ligurian dialect spoken by 5600 in Monaco including Princess Stephanie. Employs the non-Italian ü, œ, and ç.
21 septembre 2018Limburgish: Limburgish ✧ LIM ✧ Germanic language, Limburg & Rhineland areas. Quite unusually, it’s tonal.
21 September 2018Lingala: Lingala ✧ LIN ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, tonal. Spoken in both Congos.
21 sánzá ya libwa 2018Lisu: Lisu ✧ LIS ✧ Sino-Tibetan, related to Lahu (q.v.). Uses unusual Fraser alphabet from 1915 in which dots, commas, apostrophes, and bars serve to indicate tones. For Roman transcription tones are indicated by superscript numbers, as shown here.
21 (ku44 ha21) 2018Lithuanian: Lithuanian ✧ LIT ✧ Baltic, 3 million speakers. Unusually, its alphabet places Y after Į.
21 rugsėjis "rye sowing" 2018Livonian: Livonian ✧ LIV ✧ Uralic, akin to Finnish and Estonian (q.v.). No native, fluent speakers remain but increasing numbers are acquiring it as a second language and it’s now taught at universities in Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.
21 sigzhkú 2018Lombard [Eastern]: Lombard [Eastern] ✧ LMO ✧ Romance, spoken in northern Italy around Bergamo, Brescia, Mantua, Crema, and Trentino. Lombard and its dialects are not mutually intelligible with Italian.
21 setember 2018Lombard [Eastern Bergamasque]: Lombard [Eastern Bergamasque] ✧ LMO ✧ A subdivision of Eastern Lombard spoken by 700,000
21 setèmber 2018Lombard [Mantuan]: Lombard [Mantuan] ✧ LMO ✧ Lombard dialect spoken in the city and commune of Mantua in Lombardy
21 setenbar 2018Lombard [Western] (Insubric): Lombard [Western] (Insubric) ✧ LMO ✧ The Lombard spoken in southern Switzerland and northern Italy around Milan
21 setember 2018Louisiana Creole: Louisiana Creole ✧ LOU ✧ French-derived, African + other elements. Unlike French, verbs don’t conjugate.
21 sèptemb 2018Lower Tanana: Lower Tanana ✧ TAA ✧ Endangered Athabaskan language with a dozen or so speakers. Minto, Alaska.
21 nathdlagheenagha’ 2018Lozi: Lozi ✧ LOZ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, spoken in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Namibia, Botswana, and South Africa. It arose as a hybrid of two other Bantu languages, Luyana and Kololo.
21 Muimunene 2018Luba-Katanga: Luba-Katanga ✧ LUB ✧ Niger-Congo family/Bantu, spoken in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
21 Lutongolo 2018Lugbara: Lugbara ✧ LGG ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Uganda (west Nile region) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. First written in 1918, uses Roman alphabet except for Q and X.
21 Lokopere 2018Luo: Luo ✧ LUO ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Kenya and Tanzania. Barak Obama Sr. was Luo.
21 Dwe mar ochiko 2018Luxembourgish [Traditional]: Luxembourgish [Traditional] ✧ LTZ ✧ Indo-European, Germanic, French influences. Its CH is pronounced like English SH. “Moselle Franconian” is an umbrella term for Luxembourgish and its related West Germanic dialects.
21 Hierschtmount 2018Māori (Te Reo): Māori (Te Reo) ✧ MRI ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, closely related to Tahitian. Personal pronouns come in singular, dual, and plural.
21 Mahuru 2018Maa [Maasai]: Maa [Maasai] ✧ MAS ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in Kenya & Tanzania by 1.3 million. Maasai is highly tonal and uses implosives (which English speakers employ to imitate those cartoonish “glug, glug” sounds and the like).
21 kúshîn 2018Maa [Samburu]: Maa [Samburu] ✧ SAQ ✧ Maa dialect of the northern Kenya highlands, 240,000 speakers
21 Lapa le saal 2018Macassarese [Traditional, before 1605]: Macassarese [Traditional, before 1605] ✧ MAK ✧ Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 2.1 million, native to the South Sulawesi province of Indonesia. Terminology shown is that of the Pre-Islamic Kindgom of Goa.
XXI bulang Pociyai MMXVIIIMacedonian [Archaic/Folk]: Macedonian [Archaic/Folk] ✧ MKD ✧ Indo-European, South Slavic. Lacks the noun case system characteristic of most other Slavic languages. Not to be confused with Macedonian Greek, an unrelated Hellenic dialect spoken during the 1st millennium bce.
21 гроздобер (grozdober) “Grape harvesting” 2018Malagasy: Malagasy ✧ MLG ✧ Spoken in Madagascar but non-African (Malayo-Polynesian, from Borneo)
21 Septambra 2018Malagasy [Antankaraña]: Malagasy [Antankaraña] ✧ XMV ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Antankaraña in northern Madagascar
21 Hiahia 2018Malagasy [Sakalava]: Malagasy [Sakalava] ✧ SKG ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Sakalava in northern Madagascar
21 Asaramaimbo 2018Malagasy [Tandroy-Mahafaly]: Malagasy [Tandroy-Mahafaly] ✧ TDX ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Mahafaly in southwestern Madagascar
21 Septambra 2018Malecite-Passamaquoddy: Malecite-Passamaquoddy ✧ PQM ✧ Algonquian family, spoken in New Brunswick & Maine, endangered
21 matsehkiyewi-kisuhs 2018Maltese: Maltese ✧ MLT ✧ Unique Arabic/Sicilian hybrid, 370,000 speakers on Malta. Its cadence and inflection reminds many non-natives of Italian.
21 Settembru 2018Manchu: Manchu ✧ MNC ✧ Tungusic language spoken natively by fewer than 20 in northeast China, but also by several thousand as a second language due to recent revival efforts
(uyun biya) Mandinka: Mandinka ✧ MNK ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande branch, Manding group. Bitonal.
21 sekitema karoo 2018Mandinka [Traditional]: Mandinka [Traditional] ✧ MNK ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande branch, Manding group. Bitonal.
21 sunkaro 2018Mang: Mang ✧ ZNG ✧ Austro-Asiatic family, 3200 speakers in Lai Châu Province, Vietnam and neighboring areas in China. The outside world only discovered this language in 1974.
21 meː⁶ θiːn¹n 2018Manipuri: Manipuri ✧ MNI ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Spoken in India, Bangladesh, Burma. Unique script.
(poinu) Mankanya: Mankanya ✧ KNF ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bak branch, spoken natively by 75,000 in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal.
21 Pli pwajënţën pi pti 2018Mansi: Mansi ✧ MNS ✧ Finno-Ugric, related to Hungarian, 3000 speakers in central Siberia. Word order is fixed.
21 сукыр этпос (sukir etpos) 2018Manx: Manx ✧ GLV ✧ Celtic, Goidelic (related to Irish Gaelic), native to the Isle of Man. Its last native speaker was Ned Maddrell (1877-1974). The local folk band Briskee Brisht performs songs in both English and Manx.
21 Mean Fouyir 2018Mapudungun (Mapuche): Mapudungun (Mapuche) ✧ ARN ✧ Language isolate spoken in Chile and Argentina, writing system under dispute
21 pillel-cújen 2018Mari [Meadow] (Cheremis): Mari [Meadow] (Cheremis) ✧ MHR ✧ Finno-Ugric language spoken in Russia’s Mari Replublic. Nine noun cases, 470,000 speakers. The other chief dialect is Hill Mari, which in contrast to Meadow sticks to Russian/Neo-Latin Gregorian terms.
21 идым (idǝm) 2018Marshallese: Marshallese ✧ MAH ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, two main dialects, spoken on the Marshall Islands.
21 Jeptōṃba 2018Matlatzinca: Matlatzinca ✧ MAT ✧ From the Oto-Manguean family, spoken by 650 in and around San Francisco Oxtotilpa, Mexico. Matlatzinca is seriously endangered, though with 61 other languages it’s recognized as official.
21 muratanrat՚ anbë 2018Maxakalí: Maxakalí ✧ MBL ✧ Language with its own family spoken by a few hundred in Minas Gerais, Brazil
21 xetêm 2018Mayangna [Northern] (Tawakha): Mayangna [Northern] (Tawakha) ✧ YAN ✧ Misumalpan family, a dialect of Mayangna called Tawakha. Tawakha and Miskito (q.v.) are closely related and many Tawakha in the area (at the mouth of the river Wampú on the Atlantic side of Honduras) are trilingual between Tawakha, Miskito, and Spanish.
21 supa waiku 2018Mbuko: Mbuko ✧ MQB ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Chadic. 13,000 speakers in northern Camaroon.
21 kiya kuro 2018Meänkieli: Meänkieli ✧ FIT ✧ Endangered Finnish dialect group spoken in Sweden’s Norrbotten province
21 septemperi 2018Menominee: Menominee ✧ MEZ ✧ Algonquian family, spoken in northern Wisconsin, nearly extinct
21 Pawähän kësoq 2018Miami-Illinois: Miami-Illinois ✧ MIA ✧ Algonquian, originally midwestern US. Extinct but under revival.
21 mihšiiwia kiilhswa 2018Michif: Michif ✧ CRG ✧ A French-Cree hybrid, < 1000 speakers. North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba.
21 septámbr 2018Micmac: Micmac ✧ MIC ✧ Eastern Algonquian family, about 7000 speakers currently. At one time Micmac used a system of Egyptianesque hieroglyphics called Komqwejwi'kasikl.
21 Wikumkewiku’s 2018Min Dong [Fuzhou]: Min Dong [Fuzhou] ✧ CDO ✧ Sino-Tibetan, unintelligible with Mandarin or Cantonese, untra-complex tonality
21 dâ̤ gāu nguŏk 2018Mingrelian: Mingrelian ✧ XMF ✧ An endangered Kartvelian language related to Georgian and Laz (q.v.), with some mutual intelligibility with the latter. Georgian president Zviad Gamsakhurdia spoke Mingrelian.
კა ეკენია (ek’enia) ციჱMirandese: Mirandese ✧ MWL ✧ Romance language, at least 1000 years removed from Portuguese.
21 setembre 2018Miskito: Miskito ✧ MIQ ✧ From the small Misumalpan family, spoken by 150,000 in Honduras and Nicaragua. English loans are numerous in Miskito; Spanish, less so.
21 Wis Kati 2018Mizo (Lushai): Mizo (Lushai) ✧ LUS ✧ Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar, Bangladesh & India
21 mimkut thla 2018Mohawk: Mohawk ✧ MOH ✧ Iroquoian family, 3500 speakers in Ontario, Quebec, and northern New York State. Curiously, no labial (lip-produced) consonants.
21 seskehko:wa 2018Moksha: Moksha ✧ MDF ✧ Finno-Ugric language, spoken along the central Volga. There are three main dialects, of which the central “ä” is the literary standard.
IΛΛ sentjabrjkov III/ΛMongolian: Mongolian ✧ MON ✧ Mongolic, a family whose members include Buryat and Oirat (q.v.). Observes vowel harmony and lacks the standard L sound.
есдүгээр сар (jesdügäär sar) Montagnais Innu: Montagnais Innu ✧ MOE ✧ Algonquian language related to Cree (q.v.), spoken by 11,000 in Labrador and Quebec
21 ushkau-pishimu 2018Mossi (Mòoré): Mossi (Mòoré) ✧ MOS ✧ A Niger-Congo language spoken by 5 million, mostly in Burkina Faso
21 bon-biuungo 2018Motu [Premodern]: Motu [Premodern] ✧ MEU ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by 39,000 in central Papua New Guinea. Vowel-heavy like many Polynesian languages and lacking consonant blends.
21 Liiga 2018Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance): Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance) ✧ MXI ✧ A set of non-standardized, Late Latin-derived languages spoken in the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula (Al Andalus) between approximately the eighth and sixteenth centuries. Three writing systems.
XXI שותנבר سوتنبر šutánbar -or- šitínbar MMXVIIIMundang: Mundang ✧ MUA ✧ A Niger-Congo language spoken by 250,000 in southern Chad
21 fĩi dǝɓlii 2018Muya: Muya ✧ MVM ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Northern Qiangic; two chief dialects not mutually intelligible. There are 10,000 speakers, of which 2000 speak only Muya. China’s Sichuan Province, Kangbo and Jiulong, Ganzi Tibetan autonomous prefecture, Simian county, Ya’an district.
21 dε33wε55gu35pε53 2018Nāhuatl: Nāhuatl ✧ NAH ✧ Uto-Aztecan, from the original language group of the Aztecs, presently 1.7 million speakers. Of its many dialects, Huasteca Nāhuatl is the most heavily spoken.
21 tlachicnauhti 2018Nàmá (Khoekhoe): Nàmá (Khoekhoe) ✧ HQM ✧ Khoisan family. Consonants include 20 clicks. Formerly called Hottentot.
21 xoubǀguǁkhab -or- taraǀkhuumûǁkhâb 2018Nakhi (Naxi): Nakhi (Naxi) ✧ NXQ ✧ Sino-Tibetan, spoken in Yunnan, famous for its Dongba “picture” writing.
21 ggvmei -or- jeyui 2018Nanai (Gold): Nanai (Gold) ✧ GLD ✧ Tungusic. 4000 speakers, decendents of Manchurian Jurchen
21 пойкаӈко биа 2018Naskapi: Naskapi ✧ NSK ✧ Algonquian family, spoken by 1,230 in Quebec and Labrador. Uses the Cree syllabic writing system.
21 ᐅᔅᑲᐤ ᐱᓯᒻ (uskaaw-piisim na) "month caribou lose their antler velvet" 2018Navajo (Diné bizaad): Navajo (Diné bizaad) ✧ NAV ✧ Athabaskan family, southwest US. Tonal, uses ejectives.
21 Biniʼantʼą́ą́tsoh 2018Nawdm: Nawdm ✧ NMZ ✧ A language from the Niger-Congo family, Gur branch, spoken by the Losso people in Togo and Ghana.
21 duhool 2018Ndebele: Ndebele ✧ NBL ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Spoken by descendants of King Mzilikazi (1790-1868).
21 Mbozisi 2018Ndyuka (Aukan): Ndyuka (Aukan) ✧ DJK ✧ English-based creole spoken by the Maroon people of Suriname
21 neigin mun 2018Neapolitan: Neapolitan ✧ NAP ✧ Romance language named not after the city but the Kingdom of Naples, spoken in central Italy. The term paparazzo from Frederico Fellini’s film La Doce Vita (1960) came from the Abruzzo dialect of Neapolitan spoken by one of his screenwriters.
21 s’ttēmbr 2018Neapolitan [Tarantine]: Neapolitan [Tarantine] ✧ NAP ✧ A dialect of Neapolitan with Messapic roots, spoken by 300,000 in and around the city of Taranto in the Italian heel area.
21 settèmmre 2018Nenets: Nenets ✧ YRK ✧ Finno-Ugric family, Samoyedic (no, not the dog). Extreme northwest Russia. It’s moribund with only a handfull of speakers left.
21 sel’be yriy 2018Nez Perce: Nez Perce ✧ NEZ ✧ Plateau Penutian family, Idaho, < 200 speakers, revival underway
21 Pik’unmaayq’áal 2018Nganasan: Nganasan ✧ NIO ✧ Finno-Ugric family, Samoyedic. Extreme north central Russia, ≈ 1000 speakers.
21 kêu 2018Ngiemboon: Ngiemboon ✧ NNH ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid. Province de l'Ouest and Bamboutos in Cameroon.
21 saŋ ngwɔ̀ʼ mbÿɛ 2018Nheengatu: Nheengatu ✧ YRL ✧ Tupi-Guaraní family, spoken in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name means “good tongue.”
21 îasyporundyka 2018Nisga’a: Nisga’a ✧ NCG ✧ Tsimshianic family, seriously endangered, British Columbia (Canada)
21 Genuugwwikw 2018Niuean: Niuean ✧ NIU ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Niue. Unlike Hawaiian it uses no glottal stop.
21 Sepetema 2018Nivkh (Gilyak): Nivkh (Gilyak) ✧ NIV ✧ Language isolate spoken on western Sakhalin Island and adjacent mainland by around 1000. Nivkh is genderless and doesn’t have adjectives. It uses a modified Cyrillic alphabet with 46 letters.
21 ngarri long 2018Nkore: Nkore ✧ NYN ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Spoken by 2.3 million in southwestern Uganda.
21 nyairirwe 2018Nogai: Nogai ✧ NOG ✧ Turkic, spoken in southwestern Russia (Tuva area) by Golden Horde descendents
21 кырк кийик (kyrk kiyik) 2018Norman: Norman ✧ NRF ✧ Romance, Langue d’Oïl with a substantial Norse element, spoken by about 100,000 in Normandy. The Channel Island languages Guernésiais, Jèrriais, and Sercquiais (q.v.) descended from medieval Norman.
21 s’tembe 2018Nuer: Nuer ✧ NUS ✧ Nilo-Saharan. South Sudan, Ethiopia. Breathy vs. non-breathy vowels. Related to Reel (q.v.).
21 Tɛɛr 2018Nukuoro: Nukuoro ✧ NKR ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, about 860 speakers on Nukuoro Atoll and Pohnpei Island (Federated States of Micronesia). Five vowels, each of which can be long or short, and ten consonants total.
21 maailaba 2018Nyole [Ugandan]: Nyole [Ugandan] ✧ NUJ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, 340,000 speakers in the Tororo District of Uganda. It shares about 60% of its vocabulary with Kenyan Nyole.
21 Nasiisi 2018O’odham (Papago-Pima): O’odham (Papago-Pima) ✧ OOD ✧ From the Uto-Aztecan family, spoken by some 10,000 in south-central Arizona and northern Sonora. No L sound; word order is extremely fluid.
21 Waṣai Gakidag maşad “dry grass moon” 2018Occitan [Aranese]: Occitan [Aranese] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d'òc. Spoken in northeastern Spain’s Aran Valley.
21 seteme 2018Occitan [Gascon]: Occitan [Gascon] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d'òc. Spoken in Gascony in southern France.
21 seteme 2018Occitan [Provençal]: Occitan [Provençal] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, closely related to Catalan (q.v.). A Langue d'òc spoken in Southern France.
21 setèmbre 2018Occitan [Vivaro-Alpine]: Occitan [Vivaro-Alpine] ✧ OCI ✧ Seriously endangered Occitan dialect spoken in SE France and NW Italy.
21 septembre 2018Oirat [Kalmyk]: Oirat [Kalmyk] ✧ XAL ✧ Mongolic, grammatically genderless, earliest written samples dating from the 11th century. The Ewok speech in Return of the Jedi was inspired by the distinctive sound of Oirat.
21 ġaĥa 2018Ojibwe [Eastern]: Ojibwe [Eastern] ✧ OJG ✧ Algonquian family, 100,000 speakers (all dialects inclusive) in north-central US and Canada. Ojibwe tends to avoid borrowing terms from other languages.
21 Waabaagbagaa Giizis “Leaves Turning Moon” 2018Ojibwe [Western]: Ojibwe [Western] ✧ OJW ✧ The other major dialect division of Ojibwe
21 Manoominike Giizis “Ricing Moon” 2018Old Church Slavonic: Old Church Slavonic ✧ CHU ✧ Indo-European, Slavic, dating from the 9th century. The original model for the Cyrillic alphabet, it called itself словѣ́ньскъ ѩꙁꙑ́къ (slověnĭskŭ językŭ).
XXI (septębr) MMXVIIIOneida: Oneida ✧ ONE ✧ Iroquoian family, about 250 native speakers in Ontario, New York State, and an area around Green Bay, Wisconsin. Consonant inventory is relatively small: K, L, N, S, T, H, W, Y and a glottal stop signaled by an apostrophe.
21 Yeyʌthókwas “Someone harvests.” 2018Onondaga: Onondaga ✧ ONO ✧ Iroquoian family, about 50 speakers in Ontario and New York State
21 chereskô gona 2018Oroch: Oroch ✧ OAC ✧ Northern Tongusic language, eight (as of 2010) native speakers in Khabarovsk Krai in eastern Siberia and thus critically endangered, three dialects. Not to be confused with the Southern Tungusic language called Orok.
21 беэ гикку (bjey gikku) 2018Oromo: Oromo ✧ ORM ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. Non-Roman scripts once banned.
21 fuulbana 2018Ös (Chulym): Ös (Chulym) ✧ CLW ✧ Western Turkic language. Moribund, spoken by a few dozen in southwestern Siberia north of the Altay Mountains. Soviet-era school children were punished when caught speaking Ös.
21 karakal ai 2018Osage: Osage ✧ OSA ✧ This Oklahoma-based Siouan language went natively extinct in 2005 with the death of its last speaker, Lucille Roubedeaux. Revitalization efforts are underway. Like European languages such as Polish, Lithuanian, and Dalecarlian (q.v.), Osage features nasalized vowels.
21 mį́įǫpa lébrą hce wį́įke 2018Ossetian [Digor]: Ossetian [Digor] ✧ OSS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranic, spoken mainly by Moslems
21 rukhæn 2018Ossetian [Ironian]: Ossetian [Ironian] ✧ OSS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranic, spoken mainly by Christians
21 рухæны мæй (rukhæni mæy) 2018Ozolotepec: Ozolotepec ✧ ZAO ✧ Oto-Manguean family, Zapotecan group, spoken by 6500 in Oaxaca, Mexico. Zapotecan languages are tonal.
21 septiembr 2018Pökoot: Pökoot ✧ KLN ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Kalenjin. 264,000 speakers in Kenya, Uganda.
21 Tapach 2018Palauan: Palauan ✧ PAU ✧ Austronesian family, about 15,000 speakers. Palau, Guam, Mariana Islands.
21 Ongetiu el buil 2018Palor (Sili): Palor (Sili) ✧ FAP ✧ Niger-Congo family, 9,700 speakers (Thies area of Senegal)
21 septàmbar 2018Pame (Xi’iui): Pame (Xi’iui) ✧ PBS ✧ From the Oto-Manguean family, tonal, spoken by 11,000 in central Mexico’s state of San Luis Potosí. Pame speakers traditionally count in base-8 (octal), as they use their knuckles rather than their fingers.
21 ngum’au kiñgyiep pikié 2018Pashto [Eastern]: Pashto [Eastern] ✧ PUS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranic, spoken in northeastern Pakistan
21 roža 2018Pashto [Western]: Pashto [Western] ✧ PUS ✧ Pashto dialect spoken in western Afghanistan and Iran
21 do kuchni akhtar 2018Pawnee [Skiri]: Pawnee [Skiri] ✧ PAW ✧ Caddoan family, north-central Oklahoma, seriously endangered, fewer than a dozen elderly speakers. Along with Arikara (q.v.), we hear Pawnee spoken in the 2015 film The Revenant.
21 piíraʾuʾ raraahkaataʾispur 2018Pawnee [South Band]: Pawnee [South Band] ✧ PAW ✧ With Skiri above, the other dialect of Pawnee
21 piiraʾuʾ rarahkaataʾispu 2018Pecheneg: Pecheneg ✧ XPC ✧ A mysterious, poorly attested Turkic language with no known descendents, extinct by 1300
21 tivirem 2018Pemon (Arekuna): Pemon (Arekuna) ✧ AOC ✧ From the Cariban family, spoken by 30,000 in southeastern Venezuela, Brazil’s Roraima State, and Guyana. It was preliterate until the 20th century.
21 Korme kapüyi “Thunder month” 2018Penan-Nibong: Penan-Nibong ✧ PEZ/PNE ✧ Presumed Austronesian, spoken by 8000 on Borneo (Sarawak, Malaysia)
21 laseh pi’en 2018Pennsylvania “Dutch” (Deitsch): Pennsylvania “Dutch” (Deitsch) ✧ PDC ✧ A Palatinate German spoken by the Amish, many of whom not named Yoder
21 September 2018Penrhyn (Tongarevan): Penrhyn (Tongarevan) ✧ PNH ✧ Seriously endangered Polynesian language spoken by around 200, Northern Cook Islands
21 sepetema 2018Picard (Ch’ti or “Patois”): Picard (Ch’ti or “Patois”) ✧ PCD ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’Oïl. Extreme northern France.
21 septinb 2018Picard [Medieval]: Picard [Medieval] ✧ PCD ✧ As seen on the Astrolabe of Berselius (14th century)
XXI septēbre MMXVIIIPiedmontese: Piedmontese ✧ PMS ✧ Indo-European, Romance; 3 million speakers in northern Italy. Curiously, Piedmontese lacks ordinal numbers exceeding “sixth” and instead resorts to phrases (“the one that makes seven,” etc.) to express ordinals beyond that.
21 stèmber 2018Pingelapese: Pingelapese ✧ PIF ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by < 1000. Micronesia, Pingelap atoll. Offers specific words for every sequential day in a month — shown here in quotes.
21 (“apeleng”) meseneir 2018Pipil (Nawat): Pipil (Nawat) ✧ PPL ✧ Uto-Aztecan language under revival, El Salvador. There are now over 3000 speakers.
21 metzi chiknawi 2018Piro [Yine]: Piro [Yine] ✧ PIB ✧ Arawakan family, spoken by the 4000 ethnic Yine who live in the Peruvian Urubamba River Valley and taught in their schools alongside Spanish.
21 septyempre ksuru 2018Pitcairn-Norfolk: Pitcairn-Norfolk ✧ PIH ✧ An endangered Tahitian/English creole spoken on Pitcairn & Norfolk Islands
21 septemba 2018Plautdietsch (Low German): Plautdietsch (Low German) ✧ PDT ✧ North Sea Germanic, akin to Dutch. Spoken in northern Germany, eastern areas of the Netherlands, and by Mennonites worldwide.
21 Septamba -or- September 2018Pohnpeian: Pohnpeian ✧ PON ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, spoken by about 34,000 on Pohnpei Island in the Caroline Islands. Pohnpeian offers 30 sets of 1-to-9 numerals used when referring to different classes of objects such as stalks, small round things, bundles, gusts of wind, and songs.
21 septempe 2018Poitevin-Saintongeais: Poitevin-Saintongeais ✧ ??? ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’Oïl. Earliest known writings from 1400s.
21 sébtenbre 2018Polabian: Polabian ✧ POX ✧ West Slavic with Germanic influences. Last native speaker died in 1756. The protagonists in the Russian opera-ballet Mlada describe themselves as Polabians.
21 prenjă zaimă môn -or- pregniaseine mon -or- jisinmôn 2018Pomeranian [Kashubian]: Pomeranian [Kashubian] ✧ CSB ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic. Some 100,000 speakers living mostly in Germany & Poland.
21 séwnik 2018Pomeranian [Slovincian]: Pomeranian [Slovincian] ✧ CSB ✧ The other major dialect of Pomeranian, though unfortunately extinct since World War I
21 septèmbĕr 2018Pontic: Pontic ✧ PNT ✧ Indo-European, Hellenic. Spoken actively by 200,000 in northern Greece, Turkey, and diaspora communities worldwide. Many consider Pontic a Greek dialect, but orally the two are not mutually intelligible.
21 Σταυρίτες (Stavrites) 2018Potawatomi: Potawatomi ✧ POT ✧ Algonquian language of the Great Lakes Area (Michigan, Wisconsin, southern Ontario). One of its last native speakers, Cecilia Miksekwe Jackson (d. 2011), worked to document and teach Potawatomi. Revival efforts are currently underway.
21 mnomneké-gizes -or- skono-gizes 2018Proto-Germanic: Proto-Germanic ✧ ??? ✧ Reconstructed ancestor of all Germanic languages, last spoken c. 250 bce
XXI Harbistamenoþ MMXVIIIProto-Slavic: Proto-Slavic ✧ ??? ✧ Reconstructed ancestor of all Slavic languages, 5th to 8th centuries ce
XXI versn MMXVIIIPukapukan: Pukapukan ✧ PKP ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language from Danger Island (Cook Islands group). Over 4000 speakers.
21 Tepetema 2018Pumi [Qingua or Southern]: Pumi [Qingua or Southern] ✧ PMJ ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman. Spoken by highland ethnic Pumi in Yunnan.
21 qa55stĩ55ʒi13 2018Pumi [Taoba or Northern]: Pumi [Taoba or Northern] ✧ PMI ✧ The other chief dialect of Pumi. The two are not mutually intelligible.
21 gɯ35li55mei35 2018Purépecha (Tarascan): Purépecha (Tarascan) ✧ TSZ ✧ A language isolate of the descendents of the Purépecha civilization, which rivaled that of the Aztecs up until the European conquest. Still spoken natively by 125,000 in the southwestern Mexican state of Michoacán.
21 septiembri 2018Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi): Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi) ✧ KEK ✧ Mayan family, 800,000 speakers in Guatemala and Belize
21 sektiyemr 2018Qiang [Horpa/Ergong]: Qiang [Horpa/Ergong] ✧ ERO ✧ Sino-Tibetan family but non-tonal, 50,000 Sichuan-area speakers. Linguists consider it a “living fossil.”
21 ɦɛ gu pa 2018Qiang [Máwō]: Qiang [Máwō] ✧ CNG ✧ Sino-Tibetan family but non-tonal, 130,000 speakers in China’s Sichuan
21 rguəʂ 2018Qiang [Taoping]: Qiang [Taoping] ✧ QXS ✧ Sino-Tibetan family but tonal (unlike Ergong and Máwō above), 80,000 speakers
21 χguə241ʂı33 2018Quechua [Standard]: Quechua [Standard] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechuan family, spoken by Inca Empire descendents. Natively it lacks the vowels E and O.
21 ñiqin tarpuy killapi 2018Quechua [Huallaga]: Quechua [Huallaga] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechua dialect spoken in the Huánuco Province in Peru
21 sitimri 2018Quechua [Northern/Ecuadorian]: Quechua [Northern/Ecuadorian] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechua dialect, called Kitchwa, spoken in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru
21 kuya 2018Quechua [Southern/Cusco]: Quechua [Southern/Cusco] ✧ QUZ ✧ Modern terminology for the Quechua dialect spoken in the Peru’s Cusco region
21 tarpuy killapi 2018Quechua [Southern/Cusco Imperial]: Quechua [Southern/Cusco Imperial] ✧ QUZ ✧ This is the traditional terminology of the Inca Empire, citing its monthly celebrations
21 quya raymi “Festival of the Queen” 2018Quileute (Quillayute): Quileute (Quillayute) ✧ QUI ✧ The last language to survive from the Chimakuan family. Natively extinct, undergoing revival at the Quileute Tribal School in La Push, Washington. One quirk of Quileute is that it prefixes words according to the physical traits of the person being spoken to — cross-eyed, hunchbacked, short, lame, etc.
21 sat̕soʔaliḳtiyat 2018Rapa Nui (Pascuanese): Rapa Nui (Pascuanese) ✧ RAP ✧ Eastern Polynesian, Easter Island, 2700 native speakers. Major differences from other EP languages. Its native writing system, called Rongorongo, remains undeciphered.
21 oru matu’a 2018Reel (Atuot): Reel (Atuot) ✧ ATU ✧ Presumably Nilo-Saharan, related to Nuer (q.v.), spoken by some 50,000 Atuot people living near Yirol in South Sudan’s Eastern Lakes State.
21 Biildidɔ 2018Rennell-Bellona (Rennellese): Rennell-Bellona (Rennellese) ✧ MNV ✧ Relatively obscure Polynesian language, 2000 speakers, Solomon Islands
21 Sepeteba 2018Rgyalrong [Northwestern]: Rgyalrong [Northwestern] ✧ JYA ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Verbs marked with directional orientation cues. Sichuan.
21 zla wa rgu pɐ 2018Rohingya: Rohingya ✧ RHG ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian. Heavily persecuted, the Rohingya are toughing it out in Burma and in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
21 oón 2018Romani [Balkan Sofia Erli]: Romani [Balkan Sofia Erli] ✧ RMN ✧ Indo-Aryan language spoken by Romani in Bulgaria. There are around 760,000 Balkan Romani speakers as a whole, of which Sofia Erli is a subdivision.
21 septembro 2018Romani [Balkan Ursari]: Romani [Balkan Ursari] ✧ RMN ✧ A Balkan Romani spoken in Moldavia and Romania
21 septembrija 2018Romani [Kale Finnish]: Romani [Kale Finnish] ✧ RMF ✧ Indo-Aryan language, by way of Scotland, spoken by the Finnish Romani
21 hüöstako čoon 2018Romani [Kale Iberian] (Caló): Romani [Kale Iberian] (Caló) ✧ RMQ ✧ Indo-Aryan language spoken by Iberian Peninsula Romani. The characters singing the famous “Anvil Chorus” in Verdi’s opera Il trovatori would have likely represented Caló.
21 jentivar 2018Romani [Kale Welsh]: Romani [Kale Welsh] ✧ RMW ✧ Romani variety spoken in Wales until at least 1950, introduced by a group that arrived during the 15th century. The purported last native speaker was Manfri Frederick Wood (d. 1968).
21 rigerimaskero -or- rigerimasko munþos 2018Romanian [Old Church/Traditional]: Romanian [Old Church/Traditional] ✧ RON ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Pre-20th century.
21 răpciune “rapture” 2018Romansh [Grischun]: Romansh [Grischun] ✧ ROH ✧ Indo-European, Rhaeto-Romance. Called Rumantsch Grischun to distinguish it from Puter below.
21 settember 2018Romansh [Puter]: Romansh [Puter] ✧ ROH ✧ Romansch dialect spoken in the Engadine Valley, Switzerland.
21 settember 2018Rotokas: Rotokas ✧ ROO ✧ Spoken by ≈ 4000 in Papua New Guinea. Famous for its tiny sound inventory, its entire alphabet consists of A, E, G, I, K, O, P, R, S, T, U, and V.
21 vo resura vatarapa kekira 2018Russian [Premodern]: Russian [Premodern] ✧ RUS ✧ This was Russian before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions.
21 хмурень (χmuren’) “frowning” 2018Rusyn (Ruthene or Ruthenian): Rusyn (Ruthene or Ruthenian) ✧ RUE ✧ East Slavic, about 60,000 current speakers. Andy Warhol and Sandra Dee were of Rusyn extraction.
21 вересень (veresen’) “heather” 2018Rwanda-Rundi: Rwanda-Rundi ✧ KIN/RUN ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Tonal, official in Rwanda.
21 Nzeri 2018Sabaean (Sabaic or Himyarite): Sabaean (Sabaic or Himyarite) ✧ XSA ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Old South Arabian, language of the Queen of Sheba/Saba spoken in Yemen between ca. 1000 bce and the 6th century ce. Some of its successors (Mehri, Soqotri, etc.) still flourish.
XXI 𐩻𐩥𐩽𐩲𐩡𐩱𐩬 (ðū ʕlān) MMXVIIISalish, Coastal [Island Halkomelem] (Hulʼq̱ʼumiʼnumʼ): Salish, Coastal [Island Halkomelem] (Hulʼq̱ʼumiʼnumʼ) ✧ HUR ✧ A Salishan language spoken by about 200 on the east coast of Vancouver Island
21 P’uq’ulenhw 2018Salish, Coastal [Klallam]: Salish, Coastal [Klallam] ✧ CLM ✧ Salishan family, spoken in USA’s Pacific Northwest on the northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula.
21 čən̕θew̕ən 2018Salish, Coastal [North Straits]: Salish, Coastal [North Straits] ✧ STR ✧ Salishan family, Vancouver area. Six dialects, nearly extinct.
21 čən̕hə́nən̕ 2018Salish, Coastal [Puget Sound] (Lushootseed): Salish, Coastal [Puget Sound] (Lushootseed) ✧ LUT ✧ Another Salishan language, spoken by fewer than 100. The word geoduck (elephant clam) derives from Puget Sound Salish.
21 pədkʷəxʷic 2018Salish, Interior [Colville-Okanagan] (Syilx): Salish, Interior [Colville-Okanagan] (Syilx) ✧ OKA ✧ Southern British Columbia and northern Washington State. Syilx is spoken natively by about 600 of whom only a quarter are “deeply fluent” and mostly over 50; it’s considered moribund.
21 snqaʔt̓kʷís 2018Salish, Interior [Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead]: Salish, Interior [Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead] ✧ FLA/SPO ✧ Also called Montana Salish, spoken by about 100 elders in the Flathead Nation (central Montana), the Kalispel Reservation (northeastern Washington) and the Spokane Reservation. Critically endangered.
21 łx̣ʷłó spq̓niˀ 2018Salish, Interior [Shuswap]: Salish, Interior [Shuswap] ✧ SHS ✧ The northernmost Interior Salishan language, spoken natively by around 200 in central and southern British Columbia. Shuswap’s stress is conveniently predictable: the vowels U and I are always stressed, the schwa never is.
21 Pelltemllík “Spawned out month” 2018Sami [Inari]: Sami [Inari] ✧ SMN ✧ Finno-Ugric, 300 speakers, seriously endangered. The term “Lapp” for the Sami language group is considered derogatory and no longer used.
21 čohčâmáánu 2018Sami [Kildin]: Sami [Kildin] ✧ SJD ✧ A Sami spoken by about 600 in the Lovozero area of the Kola Peninsula
21 чеххчманну (čyehhčmannu) 2018Sami [Lule]: Sami [Lule] ✧ SMJ ✧ Spoken by between 1000 and 2000 around the Lule River in Sweden and in Norway’s Nordland County.
21 ragátmánno 2018Sami [Northern]: Sami [Northern] ✧ SME ✧ The most widely spoken Sami, ≈ 20,000 speakers
21 čakčamánu 2018Sami [Skolt]: Sami [Skolt] ✧ SMS ✧ Seriously endangered, 400 speakers mostly around Sevettijärvi, Finland. Oldest writings date from 1884.
21 čohččmannu 2018Sami [Southern]: Sami [Southern] ✧ SMA ✧ Seriously endangered, 500 speakers in Norway’s Snåsa and Hattfjelldal districts
21 skïereden 2018Samlandish (Old Baltic Prussian): Samlandish (Old Baltic Prussian) ✧ PRG ✧ Indo-European, Balto-Slavic (as opposed to Germanic, the other, entirely unrelated “Prussian”). Extinct by 1800, in large part because many of its speakers died from plague epidemics and famines during the period 1709-1711.
21 Sillin 2018Samogitian: Samogitian ✧ SGS ✧ Indo-European, Baltic, spoken in western Lithuania. A Lithuanian dialect to some, a separate language to others. Related to Curonian and Latgalian (q.v.).
21 siejė -or- rogsiejis 2018Sango: Sango ✧ SAG ✧ Ubangian-derived creole, 3 tones, central Africa, 450,000 native speakers. Along with French, Sango is an official language of the Central African Republic.
21 bêzöngö 2018Sanskrit: Sanskrit ✧ SAN ✧ One of the oldest attested Indo-European languages. Modern representatives of its sub-branch include Hindi, Bengali, Nepali, and approximately 220 others, collectively spoken by 800-900 million.
२१ नवममास (navamamāsa) २०१८Santali: Santali ✧ SAT ✧ Austroasiatic-Munda language spoken in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Uses Ol Chiki alphabet devised in the early 20th century.
᱒᱑ ᱥᱮᱯᱛᱮᱢᱵᱨ ᱒᱐᱑᱘Saramaccan: Saramaccan ✧ SRM ✧ Portuguese/English/Dutch creole + African traits. Suriname.
21 wajamáká líba 2018Sardinian: Sardinian ✧ SRD ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Its earliest known writings date from c. 1080. Sardinian and Italian are not mutually intelligible.
21 cabidànne 2018Sardinian [Olianese]: Sardinian [Olianese] ✧ SRD ✧ Sardinian dialect spoken in Oliena in the province of Nuoro (east-central region)
21 capidanni 2018Sassarese: Sassarese ✧ SDC ✧ A transitional dialect between Sardinian and Corsican, officially recognized in Sardinia and spoken by 100,000 on the northwest coast. Unlike Italian, the trigraph sch is pronounced like the German ch or the Greek χ.
21 cabidànnu 2018Saxwe: Saxwe ✧ SXW ✧ Niger-Congo family, Gbe group, spoken by 170,000 in Benin
21 Ozotasun 2018Secoya (Pai Coca): Secoya (Pai Coca) ✧ SEY ✧ Tucanoan family, spoken by 1200 in Peru and Ecuador along the Putumayo and Vaupés Rivers. Nouns can be animate, inanimate, personal, or supernatural/spiritual. Secoya culture and language are under serious threat from the petroleum industry.
21 yëi 2018Sedang: Sedang ✧ SED ✧ Austroasiatic language native to Laos & Vietnam, 100,000 speakers. Famously huge vowel inventory.
21 khế tơchên 2018Seediq [Truku/Taroko]: Seediq [Truku/Taroko] ✧ TRV ✧ Formosan, Atayalic. Indigenous language from northern Taiwan.
21 mngari idas 2018Sekani [Fraser Lake]: Sekani [Fraser Lake] ✧ SEK ✧ Athabaskan language spoken by a few dozen in British Columbia. Bitonal. The name Sekani comes from Tse’Khene meaning “people of the rock.”
21 Ges’tlah Ooza 2018Sekani [McLeod Lake]: Sekani [McLeod Lake] ✧ SEK ✧ Another Sekani variant
21 Khuda inza 2018Selkup: Selkup ✧ SEL ✧ Uralic, Samoyedic. Yamalo-Nenets region in Siberia, 1500 speakers. Distinguishes between long and short vowels.
21 нỳчам ч´āбъ тäкуң иррет (nùčam č´aab” täkuñ irret) “month rain comes” 2018Serbian [Orthodox]: Serbian [Orthodox] ✧ SRP ✧ Serbian Orthodox Church tradition
21 михољски (miχol'sky) 2018Serbian [Premodern/Folk]: Serbian [Premodern/Folk] ✧ SRP ✧ Serbian folk tradition, pre-19th century
21 гроздобер (grozdober) 2018Sercquiais (Sarkese): Sercquiais (Sarkese) ✧ NRF ✧ Indo-European, Romance. A Norman dialect spoken by about 20 on the Channel Island of Sark.
21 septãb 2018Seri: Seri ✧ SEI ✧ Indigenous language isolate spoken by < 1000 in Mexico. Uses nine definite articles that depend on the relative movement of the object.
21 azoj imal icózim quih ano caap 2018Seychellois Creole: Seychellois Creole ✧ CRS ✧ French-based creole of the Seychelles, around 70,000 speakers
21 septanm 2018Shan: Shan ✧ SHN ✧ Kra–Dai language, tonal. Spoken in Burma, Thailand, and China. It has a trill [IPA r] but uses it only rarely, mostly for loans. Many speakers can’t make it and substitute an L sound.
(lunsip sawng) Shawiya Berber: Shawiya Berber ✧ SHY ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, spoken in and around the Awras Mountains of eastern Algeria. Preliterate until recently.
21 štenber 2018Shawnee: Shawnee ✧ SJW ✧ An Algonquian language with fewer than 200 speakers in Oklahoma. Two genders, animate and inanimate.
21 Ha'shimini kiishthwa “Papaw Moon” 2018Sherpa: Sherpa ✧ XSR ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Spoken by 150,000 in Nepal, Tibet, and Kashmir. Tonal.
21 dāwā guwā 2018Shixing: Shixing ✧ SXG ✧ A scantily documented Sino-Tibetan language of the Sichuan and the Tibet Autonomous Regions. Spoken by fewer than 2000, two thirds of whom are quite inconveniently monolingual in Shixing.
21 guɐ33ɬɯ55 2018Shona: Shona ✧ SNA ✧ Bantu language spoken by over 8 million, official in Zimbabwe
21 Gunyana 2018Shor: Shor ✧ CJS ✧ Turkic, 10,000 speakers in Siberia’s Kemerovo Province. Mongolian and Russian loans.
21 yurtyun au or yarysh au 2018Shoshoni [Panamint]: Shoshoni [Panamint] ✧ SHH ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, natively spoken by 1000 in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Features some whispered vowels. Sacagawea, who translated for Lewis and Clark, was Shoshoni.
21 wanükkim müattsi 2018Shuar: Shuar ✧ JIV ✧ Jivaroan family, 35,000 jungle-dwelling speakers in Ecuador’s Morona-Santiago and Pastaza Provinces. Heaven forbid you confuse it with Shiwiar, though they belong to the same family.
21 namúr 2018Sicilian: Sicilian ✧ SCN ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Arabic and Greek influences with pre-Indo-European roots. One departure from Italian is that Sicilian uses the vowels E and O far less frequently.
21 sittèmmiru 2018Sikaiana: Sikaiana ✧ SKY ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by 750 on the small, isolated atol Sikaina in the Solomon Islands. Features two vowel lengths, so two words that differ only by that feature can have unrelated meanings.
21 Septepa 2018Silesian: Silesian ✧ SZL ✧ West Slavic, spoken in Poland and the Czech Republic. Some authorities consider it a dialect of Polish, others don't. In any case about a dozen sub-dialects of Silesian are cited, one unique to Panna Maria, Texas.
21 vřeśyń 2018Siona (Bai Coca): Siona (Bai Coca) ✧ SNN ✧ Tucanoan family, spoken by 500 Siona people in Colombia and Ecuador along the Putumayo River. They are akin to the Secoya Pai Coca speakers (q.v.) and under similar threat.
21 yẽi 2018Slovene [Standard Premodern]: Slovene [Standard Premodern] ✧ SLV ✧ Indo-European, South Slavic, standardized from various dialects during the 18th century. Unlike other Slavics, Slovene offers three numbers — singular, dual, and plural. Not to be confused with Slovak, which is WEST Slavic and close to Czech (q.v.).
21 kimovec “nodding fruit” 2018Slovene [Prekmurian Premodern]: Slovene [Prekmurian Premodern] ✧ SLV ✧ Prekmurian is a Slovene dialect spoken in northeastern Slovenia and western Hungary. It’s sufficiently divergent both culturally and linguistically that many consider it a separate language.
21 miháošček 2018Somali: Somali ✧ SOM ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Cushitic. Employs vowel harmony and three tones.
21 bisha sagaalaad -or- dhaafa -or- kalahaan 2018Sorbian (Lusatian or Wendish) [Lower]: Sorbian (Lusatian or Wendish) [Lower] ✧ WEN ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic, spoken by 10,000 in lower Saxony (Brandenburg)
21 požnjenc 2018Sorbian (Lusatian or Wendish) [Upper]: Sorbian (Lusatian or Wendish) [Upper] ✧ WEN ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic, spoken by 40,000 in upper Saxony
21 požnjenc 2018Sotho (Sesotho): Sotho (Sesotho) ✧ SOT ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantu, spoken in Lesotho (where it’s the official language) and South Africa. It’s tonal, and its novel sound inventory includes ejectives, clicks, and a uvular trill.
21 Loetse 2018Sotho [Northern] (Pedi): Sotho [Northern] (Pedi) ✧ SOT ✧ Another dialect of Sotho, South Africa.
21 Letše -or- Lewedi 2018Southern Min (Minnan): Southern Min (Minnan) ✧ NAN ✧ Sino-Tibetan, spoken in China’s Fujian province
21 káu-goe̍h 2018Standard Moroccan Berber (Tamazight): Standard Moroccan Berber (Tamazight) ✧ ZGH ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber
21 ⵛⵓⵜⴰⵏⴱⵉⵔ 2018Sudovian (Yotvingian): Sudovian (Yotvingian) ✧ XSV ✧ Indo-European, Baltic, unfortunately extinct by 1600. It was mutually intelligible with Samlandish (q.v.).
21 rugsējis -or- septēmberis 2018Svan: Svan ✧ SVA ✧ Kartvelian family (Like Georgian, Mingrelian, and Laz), spoken in the Svaneti region of Georgia by around 30,000, who call it lushnu nin. It has no written standard.
კა მჷკახ (məkIaხ) ციჱSwazi: Swazi ✧ SSW ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Swaziland (official), Lesotho, Mozambique, and South Africa.
21 iNyoni 2018Swedish [Traditional/Folk]: Swedish [Traditional/Folk] ✧ SWE ✧ North Germanic, descended from Old Norse. This is the premodern terminology.
21 höstmånad 2018Syriac Aramaic: Syriac Aramaic ✧ SYC ✧ Northwest Semitic, spoken by Syrian Christians in Turkey, Iraq, and Syria. Its script shares its ancestry with the Arabic and maps to it almost one-to-one; the style shown here is called Serṭā.
21 (eelul) 2018Tabasaran: Tabasaran ✧ TAB ✧ Northeast Caucasian language notable for its vast noun case inventory. Natively it lacks the vowel O, palochka character (Ӏ) makes preceding consonant an ejective.
21 гъиран (ʕiran) 2018Tacana: Tacana ✧ TNA ✧ Western Tacanan family, 1800 speakers along the Beni & Madre de Dios rivers in Bolivia
21 badhi sukuta kimisha 2018Tachelhit (Shilha or Sussian): Tachelhit (Shilha or Sussian) ✧ SHI ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, southern Morocco. Writings date from 16th century ce.
21 (šutambir) 2018Taki Taki (Sranan Tongo): Taki Taki (Sranan Tongo) ✧ SRN ✧ An English/Dutch/Portuguese/West African Creole spoken in Suriname. The second verse of Suriname’s national anthem is sung in Taki Taki.
21 September -or- Neigimun 2018Talinga (Lubwisi): Talinga (Lubwisi) ✧ TLJ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, 99,000 speakers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (where they call it Talinga) and Uganda (where they call it Lubwisi)
21 Kwamwenda 2018Tamahaq: Tamahaq ✧ THV ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Northern Tuareg language spoken in Algeria, western Libya, and northern Niger. Three dialects, 77,000 speakers.
21 setenber 2018Tamil: Tamil ✧ TAM ✧ Dravidian family, India. Split off from Malayalam 9th century ce. Pronouns offer several levels of politeness.
௰௰௧ செப்டம்பர் (čepṯambar) ௲௲௰௮Tanacross: Tanacross ✧ TCB ✧ Athabaskan language with about 30 speakers (middle Tanana River, Alaska)
21 wunenh ch’et’ąˇą’ dit-tsiig 2018Tasawaq (Ingelshi): Tasawaq (Ingelshi) ✧ TWQ ✧ Tentatively assigned to Nilo-Saharan, Songhay, though heavily influenced by Berber languages. 8000 speakers, Niger.
21 sektanbur 2018Tatar [Kazan]: Tatar [Kazan] ✧ TAT ✧ Turkic, spoken in Tatarstan. Has used Arabic, Roman, & Cyrillic alphabets.
21 sentäber 2018Telugu: Telugu ✧ TEL ✧ Dravidian family, Andhra Pradesh, India. Oldest text, 575 ce.
౨౧ సెప్టెంబర్ ౨౦౧౮Temne: Temne ✧ TEM ✧ Bantu language spoken in Sierra Leone, tonal
21 Gbó̱tko̱ 2018Teso (Ateso): Teso (Ateso) ✧ TEO ✧ Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Kenya, Uganda
21 Osokosokoma 2018Tetum (Tetun): Tetum (Tetun) ✧ TET ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language with Portuguese influences, East Timor.
21 setembru 2018Thadou: Thadou ✧ TCZ ✧ An endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken by 230,000 in Manipur and Assam in northeast India and in Myanmar. There are about a dozen mutually intelligible dialects.
21 lhalam 2018Thai: Thai ✧ THA ✧ Now assigned to the Kra–Dai family, previously considered Sino-Tibetan. Five speech registers: Street, Formal, Rhetorical, Religious, Royal. Through Buddhism, Thai inherited lots of Sanskrit and Pali, making it partially Indo-European.
๒๑ กันยายน (kanyaayon) ๒๐๑๘Tibetan [Dégé]: Tibetan [Dégé] ✧ BOD ✧ The Tibetan dialect spoken in China’s Sichuan Province
༢༡ da13wa53gu31ba53 ༢༠༡༨Tibetan [Standard or Lhasa]: Tibetan [Standard or Lhasa] ✧ BOD ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Three speech registers: Phal-skad (informal), Zhe-sa (polite/respectful), Chos-skad (religious, as it appears in scriptures). There are nominally two tones, though their pitch contours can vary within words of one syllable.
༢༡ ta13wa13ku13ba53 ༢༠༡༨Tibetan [Written]: Tibetan [Written] ✧ BOD ✧ Written Tibetan quite famously diverges from its spoken form. Writing conventions had fossilized while the speech evolved over many centuries, such that the oral version of a word can be entirely different from the written.
༢༡ zla ba dgu pa ༢༠༡༨Ticuna: Ticuna ✧ TCA ✧ Possibly a language isolate, spoken by 50,000 in Brazil, Peru, and Colombia. Six vowels (A, E, I, O, U and Ü), nine tones, glottal stops indicated by X.
21 bawearü tauemacü 2018Tigrinya: Tigrinya ✧ TIR ✧ Afro-Asiatic, South Semitic. Ethiopia & Eritrea.
21 (meskerem) 2018Tlingit: Tlingit ✧ TLI ✧ Na-Dené family, USA Pacific northwest, nearly extinct
21 Dis Yádi 2018Tocharian B (Kuchean): Tocharian B (Kuchean) ✧ TXB ✧ Tocharian was an early branch of Indo-European, extinct since the ninth century. Tocharian A and B scripts have been unearthed in Xinjiang, northwest China. Tocharian B reckoned the months as ordinals — first through twelfth — so that’s basically what you see here.
XXI ñunte meñe MMXVIIITofalar (Karagas): Tofalar (Karagas) ✧ KIM ✧ A moribund, mildly tonal Turkic language closely related to Tuvan (q.v.) with about 90 speakers in the Irkutsk region. Uses a modified Cyrillic alphabet of 42 characters.
21 эъттіӈ ай (èttіŋ ay) 2018Tokelauan [Traditional]: Tokelauan [Traditional] ✧ TKL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, about 4300 speakers in American Samoa (on Tokelau and Swains Island) and New Zealand. Tokelauan and Tuvaluan are mutually intelligible.
21 Faka-Afu 2018Tongan: Tongan ✧ TON ✧ Malayo-Polynesian. Only one vowel per syllable, no blended consonants.
21 Sepitema 2018Trinitario: Trinitario ✧ TRN ✧ Arawakan family, Southern, Moxo, northeastern Bolivia. The Endangered Languages Project reports 3100 speakers.
21 sejtyemre 2018Trique [Chicahuaxtla]: Trique [Chicahuaxtla] ✧ TRC ✧ Dialect of Trique heard in San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Oaxaca, Mexico. 6000 speakers.
21 styémbrée 2018Trique [Copala]: Trique [Copala] ✧ TRC ✧ Oto-Manguean family, Mixtecan branch, spoken by ethnic Trique in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Mexico and migrants in San Quintín valley, Baja California. There are 26,000 speakers of Trique in general, 15,000 of the Copala dialect.
21 yavii titáa 2018Tsafiki (Tsachila or Colorado): Tsafiki (Tsachila or Colorado) ✧ COF ✧ Barbacoan family, spoken by 2300 ethnic Tsachilas in Ecuador. Natively Tsafiki only had concise terms for the numbers 1 through 5; for higher numbers it has since borrowed from Spanish.
21 sino lu pe 2018Tsimshian [Coast]: Tsimshian [Coast] ✧ TSI ✧ Indigenous language spoken by around 240 in British Columbia and Alaska. Possibly an isolate.
21 Ha’lila᾿x simaay “Time to harvest berries” 2018Tsonga: Tsonga ✧ TSO ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. Uses whistling sounds and a single click.
21 Ndzhati 2018Tswana (Setswana): Tswana (Setswana) ✧ TSN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu; official in Botswana, Zimbabwe, and South Africa. In a manner similar to Gourmantché (q.v.), Tswana nouns divide into classes (nine in this case) and each noun takes a prefix corresponding to that class, providing a clue to its meaning.
21 Lwetse 2018Tuareg [Tamasheq]: Tuareg [Tamasheq] ✧ TAQ ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber. Complex “avoidance” behavior in communication.
21 (šetember) 2018Tumbuka: Tumbuka ✧ TUM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Speakers in Malawi, Zambia, & Tanzania.
21 Seputembala 2018Turkish [Meskhetian]: Turkish [Meskhetian] ✧ TUR ✧ Dialect spoken by Meskheti disapora throughout Russia
21 бегрюм (begryum) 2018Turkish [Ottoman]: Turkish [Ottoman] ✧ TUR ✧ Turkish of the Ottoman Empire before 20th century reforms
21 әйлүл 2018Turkish [Standard]: Turkish [Standard] ✧ TUR ✧ Altaic family, earliest Old Turkic inscriptions found in Mongolia
21 eylül -or- hac ayı 2018Turkmen 1 [Pre-Niyazov]: Turkmen 1 [Pre-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ Altaic family, Turkic. Largely intelligible with Azeri and Turkish, 9 million speakers.
21 sentýabr 2018Turkmen 2 [Post-Niyazov]: Turkmen 2 [Post-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ As decreed by dictator Saparmurat Niyazov (1940-2006)
21 Ruhnama (book Niyazov wrote) 2018Turkmen 3 [Post-Post-Niyazov]: Turkmen 3 [Post-Post-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ Back by popular demand!
21 sentýabr 2018Tuscarora: Tuscarora ✧ TUS ✧ There were only 3 reported speakers of this Northern Iroquoian language in 2007, so it may well be extinct or nearly so. Nominally its range is the Six Nations Reserve in southern Ontario and the Lewiston Tuscarora (“hemp people”) reserve in New York State.
21 rahθeʔkyeháh 2018Tuvan: Tuvan ✧ TYV ✧ Turkic language with Mongolian loans, spoken in Tuva
21 тос ай (tos ay) 2018Tyap (Katab): Tyap (Katab) ✧ KCG ✧ Niger-Congo, West Plateau. 200,000 speakers, Nigeria.
21 Zwat Akubunyung 2018Tzotzil: Tzotzil ✧ TZO ✧ Mayan family, Cholan-Tzeltalan branch, spoken by 400,000 in Chiapas, Mexico
21 septyembre 2018Uab Meto: Uab Meto ✧ AOZ ✧ Malayo-Polynesian family, unusual gender distinctions, spoken by 800,000 Atoni people in Indonesian West Timor
21 fun-sio’ 2018Ubykh: Ubykh ✧ UBY ✧ Extinct Northwest Caucasian language notable for its staggering consonant inventory and richness in idioms. Its last native speaker was Circassian exile Tevfik Esenç (1904-1992).
21 [September unknown] 2018Udmurt (Votyak): Udmurt (Votyak) ✧ UDM ✧ Uralic family, related to Komi (q.v.). 500,000 speakers in the central Urals. Natively lacks an F sound, which it uses only for names and Russian loans.
21 куарусён 2018Ukrainian: Ukrainian ✧ UKR ✧ Indo-European, East Slavic, Polish affinities
21 вереснь (veresen) “heather” 2018Ukrainian [Premodern]: Ukrainian [Premodern] ✧ UKR ✧ Older Ukrainian
21 ревун “the roar”-or- зарев “star” 2018Ulwa: Ulwa ✧ ULW ✧ Misumalpan family, Sumo group. About 400 speakers in eastern Nicaragua.
21 butnih waikaku 2018Unami [Lenape]: Unami [Lenape] ✧ UNM ✧ Nominally extinct Algonquian language of the New Jersey area Lenape people
21 Kichitahkok Kishux “Real Autumn Month” 2018Upper Kuskokwim: Upper Kuskokwim ✧ KUU ✧ Athabaskan, only 40 speakers (Alaska). Features a voiceless N sound.
21 tilanyano’o’ 2018Upper Tanana [Tetlin]: Upper Tanana [Tetlin] ✧ TAU ✧ Athabaskan, related to Tanacross (q.v.), fewer than 100 speakers. Tetlin, Alaska.
21 Diniign ndagn Saa 2018Urhobo: Urhobo ✧ URH ✧ Niger-Congo, Edoid, spoken by a half million living near the Niger River or in boats on it. They worship ancestors and also the water spirit Ohworhu.
21 urhiórin 2018Uyghur: Uyghur ✧ UIG ✧ Turkic, loans from Persian, Russian, Chinese. Spoken in China’s Xinjiang region.
21 toqquzinchi ay 2018Võro: Võro ✧ VRO ✧ Finno-Ugric, related to Veps (q.v.), seriously endangered
21 süküskuu 2018Võro [Seto]: Võro [Seto] ✧ VRO ✧ Võro/Estonian dialect spoken by 12,500 in Setomaa (Estonia/Russia). Germanic influences.
21 september -or- mihklikuu 2018Vai: Vai ✧ VAI ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande. Tonal, 75,000 speakers, Liberia.
21 ꕢꕌ (saah) 2018Venda: Venda ✧ VEN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu branch. 800,000 speakers in southern Africa
21 Khubvumedzi 2018Venetian: Venetian ✧ VEC ✧ Veneto region. Has un-Italian sounds ç (like Greek θ) and, as also in Polish, ł (like English w).
21 setenbre 2018Veps: Veps ✧ VEP ✧ Finno-Ugric, ≈ 6300 speakers mostly near the Gulf of Finland
21 sügüz’ku 2018Vietnamese (Annamese): Vietnamese (Annamese) ✧ VIE ✧ Austro-Asiatic family, at one time written with Chinese-derived script called Chữ nôm
21 tháng chín 2018Vosgien [La Bresse]: Vosgien [La Bresse] ✧ ??? ✧ Romance, Langue d’Oïl, Lorraine subgroup. Vosgien dialects were spoken in France in Vosges, St. Quirin, eastern Badonviller, and two Alsace Departments. Extinct, though much of its unique vocabulary lives on.
21 septembre 2018Vosgien [La Haye]: Vosgien [La Haye] ✧ ??? ✧ Another Vosgien dialect
21 sèptamb 2018Vosgien [Ville sur Illon]: Vosgien [Ville sur Illon] ✧ ??? ✧ And yet another
21 sèptamp 2018Votic (Votian or Vote): Votic (Votian or Vote) ✧ VOT ✧ Finno-Ugric, < 20 speakers in two villiages near Narva, Estonia
21 sent’aabri 2018Wallisian (East Uvean): Wallisian (East Uvean) ✧ WLS ✧ Polynesian, spoken by around 10,000 on Wallis Island of Wallis and Futuna. Related to Rennellese and Tongan (q.v.).
21 sepetepeli 2018Walloon: Walloon ✧ WLN ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’Oïl whose writings date back to 1500s. Despite its traditional label as a dialect, Walloon and French show little mutual intelligibility.
21 setimbe 2018Walser: Walser ✧ WAE ✧ Germanic, uppermost Swiss alps. Its CH is very roughly articulated.
21 Herbštmánet 2018Waorani (Sabela or Auishiri): Waorani (Sabela or Auishiri) ✧ AUC ✧ A language isolate spoken by 2000 mostly Huaorani natives in Ecuador’s Napo, Orellana and Pastaza Provinces plus possibly some “uncontacted” people nearby
21 nenkitede 2018Warao: Warao ✧ WBA ✧ This is an endangered language isolate spoken by 32,000 on Trinidad and along the northeast coast of South America in a thin strip ranging over Guyana, Suriname, and Venezuela. The 2015 Venezuelan film Gone with the River is in Warao.
21 waniku mojo matana orabakaya 2018Waray-Waray [premodern]: Waray-Waray [premodern] ✧ WAR ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Central Visayan. Philippines.
21 (tambalanga) 2018Wayuu (Goajiro): Wayuu (Goajiro) ✧ GUC ✧ Arawakan family, Northern, spoken by 305,000 in northwestern Venezuela and northeastern Colombia. Fewer than 1% of the Wayuu are literate in their own language.
21 settiempüre 2018Welsh (Cymric): Welsh (Cymric) ✧ CYM ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Brythonic. Many speakers not named Jones.
21 Medi 2018Winnebago (Ho-Chunk): Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) ✧ WIN ✧ Siouan family, native to an area stretching from the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan to east central Minnesota. As in some European languages like Polish and Lithuanian, nasalized vowels are contrastive and marked with ogoneks (a/ą, i/į, u/ų).
21 Hųųwą žuuk wiira 2018Wolof: Wolof ✧ WOL ✧ Niger-Congo language. Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania. The terms “okay” and “hep cat” may possibly have come from Wolof.
21 koor 2018Wymysorys (Wilamowicean/Vilamovian): Wymysorys (Wilamowicean/Vilamovian) ✧ WYM ✧ Germanic language with a few dozen mostly elderly speakers in Wilamowice, Poland. A graduate student at the University of Warsaw named Tymoteusz Król works to revive and promote the language.
21 september 2018Xhosa: Xhosa ✧ XHO ✧ Niger-Congo, many unusual consonants including 15 clicks
21 eyoMsintsi 2018Xincan [Jutiapa]: Xincan [Jutiapa] ✧ XIN ✧ From a family of moribund/extinct language isolates, spoken by a handfull in Guatamala though no longer fluently. Lots of Mayan loans.
21 ʔuštu ʔawa 2018Yakut (Sakha): Yakut (Sakha) ✧ SAH ✧ Northern Turkic, grammatically genderless, spoken in northern Siberia
21 балаҕан ыйа (bahlaghan uhyah) 2018Yanesha’ (Amuesha): Yanesha’ (Amuesha) ✧ AME ✧ Arawakan family. Spoken by about 7000 Yanesha’ in the Peruvian Amazon. Vowels are A, E, and O, each of which can be long, short, or glottalized. (U only occurs with QU, a Spanish holdover convention to signal a K sound.)
21 o’cayonquëm̃ 2018Yangben (Central Yambasa): Yangben (Central Yambasa) ✧ YAV ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid, spoken by 17,000 in Cameroon
21 imɛŋ i puɔs 2018Yi (Nuosu): Yi (Nuosu) ✧ III ✧ Tibeto-Burman language spoken by ethnic Yi in China and southeast Asia
21 (gguma) 2018Yiddish (Judaeo-German): Yiddish (Judaeo-German) ✧ YID ✧ Arose from Old High German (q.v.) during the ninth century. It uses Hebrew script adapted to indicate vowels explicitly. There are currently about 3 million speakers worldwide.
21 סעפּטעמבער (september) 2018Yoruba: Yoruba ✧ YOR ✧ Niger-Congo family, spoken in Nigeria and Benin. Heavy Arabic influences.
21 Oṣù Owewe -or- Oṣu Kẹsan 2018Yuchi: Yuchi ✧ YUC ✧ Native American language of unknown ancestry, virtually extinct, Oklahoma
21 Tsogalinetsee 2018Yukaghir [Tundra]: Yukaghir [Tundra] ✧ YKG ✧ A moribund two-language family, spoken by a few dozen in the Russian Far East
21 yossomo čal’d’edörd’e 2018Yupi’k [Mid-Alaskan]: Yupi’k [Mid-Alaskan] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, ≈ 13,000 speakers
21 Amirairvik 2018Yupik [Pacific Gulf]: Yupik [Pacific Gulf] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, 2 dialects, ≈ 500-1000 speakers
21 Qakiiyat Iraluat 2018Yupik [St Lawrence]: Yupik [St Lawrence] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, Bering Strait area, < 300 speakers
21 Kumlavik 2018Zarma (Dyerma): Zarma (Dyerma) ✧ DJE ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Songhay group. Spoken in southwest Niger.
21 me haw 2018Zaza (Zazaki or Dimli): Zaza (Zazaki or Dimli) ✧ ZZA ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian. 2,000,000 speakers, mostly in Turkey.
21 paiza verêne -or- eylule 2018Zhuang: Zhuang ✧ ZHA ✧ Kra–Dai family, 6 tones, spoken in China’s Guangxi region
21 nin gouj 2018Zou (Zo) [India]: Zou (Zo) [India] ✧ ZOM ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Kuki-Chin, spoken by 82,000 in Myanmar, India, and by the Bom people in Bangladesh. This is the particular Zou spoken in India.
21 nóuta hà 2018Zou (Zomi) [Chin Hills]: Zou (Zomi) [Chin Hills] ✧ ZOM ✧ This is the Zou spoken in those areas other than India.
21 nóuta hà 2018Zulu: Zulu ✧ ZUL ✧ Bantu language widely spoken in southern Africa. Uses clicks.
21 uMandulo 2018Zuni: Zuni ✧ ZUN ✧ An isolate spoken by 9500 in New Mexico. Strangely, there may be a 13th-century Japanese connection.
21 li’dekwakkwya ts’ana 2018
Illustration: The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, mid-15th century French Gothic illuminations produced in the Low Countries.
Months captioned in two common vernaculars of that time and place, Medieval Picard and Old Dutch.
Notes
1. They didn't, though, not to mention the fact Pope Gregory wouldn’t enter the picture for several more centuries. Etruscans marked dates pretty much like the Romans did; i.e., so many days leading up to the nones or ides, or preceding the start of the next month. The very word “ides,” as a matter of fact, likely derives from an Etruscan term for “divide.”
2. In a handful of cases, especially with New World indigenous languages, the month-by-month correspondence between their systems and the modern Gregorian one was less than clear but informally accepted according to listings I’ve used as sources. Of course those of many cultures bear no such correspondence and so you won’t see them here. Gregorian reckoning may well have become the temporal lingua franca, but there’s nothing inherently sacred about it!
3. Our source for the Gaulish system is the Coligny calendar dating from the 2nd century ce, discovered in France in 1897.
1. They didn't, though, not to mention the fact Pope Gregory wouldn’t enter the picture for several more centuries. Etruscans marked dates pretty much like the Romans did; i.e., so many days leading up to the nones or ides, or preceding the start of the next month. The very word “ides,” as a matter of fact, likely derives from an Etruscan term for “divide.”
2. In a handful of cases, especially with New World indigenous languages, the month-by-month correspondence between their systems and the modern Gregorian one was less than clear but informally accepted according to listings I’ve used as sources. Of course those of many cultures bear no such correspondence and so you won’t see them here. Gregorian reckoning may well have become the temporal lingua franca, but there’s nothing inherently sacred about it!
3. Our source for the Gaulish system is the Coligny calendar dating from the 2nd century ce, discovered in France in 1897.
Mohalu ↑
Special thanks:
Douglas Q. Adams (Tocharian B)
Ansuharijaz (Frankish and Proto-Germanic reconstructions)
Bernard Comrie and Timur Maisak (Bagvalal)
Can Dai Quang (Cham)
Eliza Jones, James Kari, Mildred Buck, plus others of the Alaska Native Language Center
Michael Krauss and Marie Smith Jones (Eyak)
Le Projet Babel (Vosgien)
Lin Ying-Chin, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Tibetan, Pumi, Qiangic languages)
Patsou’s Des Mots et des Langues
Peace Corps language handbooks
Qinglian Zhao (Naxi)
Apay Tang (Truku dialect of Seediq)
Tomedes — Smart Human Translation (Homshetsi)
Suzanne Weryackwe of Arizona State University (Havasupai-Hualapai)
… and literally hundreds of other sources
Douglas Q. Adams (Tocharian B)
Ansuharijaz (Frankish and Proto-Germanic reconstructions)
Bernard Comrie and Timur Maisak (Bagvalal)
Can Dai Quang (Cham)
Eliza Jones, James Kari, Mildred Buck, plus others of the Alaska Native Language Center
Michael Krauss and Marie Smith Jones (Eyak)
Le Projet Babel (Vosgien)
Lin Ying-Chin, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Tibetan, Pumi, Qiangic languages)
Patsou’s Des Mots et des Langues
Peace Corps language handbooks
Qinglian Zhao (Naxi)
Apay Tang (Truku dialect of Seediq)
Tomedes — Smart Human Translation (Homshetsi)
Suzanne Weryackwe of Arizona State University (Havasupai-Hualapai)
… and literally hundreds of other sources
