Sunday 18 August 2019
[din pet] 2019 ▭
২০১৯ ▭
[maryamtri] 2019
[ɔ̀gouʿ] 
▭
balan dalipăn 
▭
[Galoni] “Fruit drying up” 2019 ▭
agusti 2019 ▭
[ōgasṫ] 2019 ▭
(oogstmaand) “Harvest Month” MMXVIIII ▭
[spyi.zlaw.brgyad.pa] 2019
Wēodmōnað “Plant month” MMXVIIII ▭
hermi ⊕⊕XIX ▭
2019
[hailagamenoþs] MMXVIIII ▭
[lubad-lubad] 2019
[ağustos] 2019 ▭
(hira) -or- pwīlà 2019 ▭
[augus] 2019 ▭
[ɣuct] 2019 ▭
[lah ku] 
▭
[seiha] 
▭
[agosto] 2019 ▭
[deuan singha] 
▭
[purvim lavo] 
▭
[he21 ha21] 2019
[žakun biya] 
▭
[hiyangei] 
▭
наймдугаар сар [najmdugaar sar] 
▭
[aakaast-piisim na] 2019
[ðū ‘lxrāf] MMXVIIII ▭
[lunsipet] 
▭
[avgust] MMXVIIII
[ɣuct] 2019 ▭
[’ābākh] 
[γušt] 2019
2019 ▭
2019
[ghušet] 2019 ▭
kɔnde 2019 ▭
hungodhungod 2019 ▭
[hxitma] 2019 ▭
Tachimachizuki ↓
Lilian day 2175860.6100
ere’s today’s date in 840 languages and dialects, complete with a profile of each.
I’m favoring languages, both living and dead, 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.)
Heading 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. A video screen icon link ( ▭ ) lets you hear how some of these languages sound.
What’s almost unbelievable 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 displaying is a prorated 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. I’ve also fudged Tocharian a bit by pulling its 12-month year about two weeks back to synchronize what that mysterious culture considered its first month, naimaññe meñe, with our February.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.).
18 август [avgust] 2019 ▭Abenaki [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.
18 Temezôwas “Cutter” 2019Abkhazian (Abkhaz): Abkhazian (Abkhaz) ✧ ABK ✧ Northwest Caucasian, closely related to Abaza (q.v.). 100,000 speakers in Georgia’s heavily contested Abkhazia region, many more in diaspora communities elsewhere. Abkhazian has 58 consonants, six of which are various types of K/Q sounds.
18 на́нҳәа [nanẖãa] 2019 ▭Abui: 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.
18 tifen ia 2019 ▭Acehnese: Acehnese ✧ ACE ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Chamic, 3.5 million speakers in Aceh Province, Sumatra, Indonesia. Previously used an Arabic script but through influence of Dutch colonizers switched to Roman, adding é, è, ë, ö, and ô.
18 Buleuën Lapan 2019 ▭Acholi: 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.
18 Dwe me aboro 2019Achuar-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, they switch to Spanish.
18 wampuash 2019Achuar-Shiwiar [Shiwiar Chicham]: Achuar-Shiwiar [Shiwiar Chicham] ✧ ACU ✧ The other dialect of Achuar-Shiwiar
18 tsunki 2019Adele (Gidire): Adele (Gidire) ✧ ADE ✧ Niger-Congo family, Kwa, geographically of the Ghana Togo Mountain languages, 37,000 speakers in Togo and Ghana. Most are bilingual in Ewe (q.v.).
18 ɔbansaa-dɩrɛ 2019Afar (Qafár af): Afar (Qafár af) ✧ AAR ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. Spoken in Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia by 1.5 million. Ethiopic and Arabic scripts have been used to write Afar, though a Roman alphabet standard, shown here, was formalized in 1970.
18 Liiqen 2019 ▭Aghem (Wum): Aghem (Wum) ✧ AGQ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Cameroon, 27,000 speakers. Aghem speakers traditionally used leopard-skin carpets.
18 ndzɔ̱ŋɔ̱kwîfɔ̱e 2019Aghul (Agul): Aghul (Agul) ✧ AGX ✧ Northeast Caucasian, 30,000 speakers mostly in Southern Dagestan. There is a contrast between “tense” and “weak” consonants.
18 мулал [mulal] 2019Ahom: Ahom ✧ AHO ✧ Kra–Dai family, Brahmaputra river valley, nearly extinct though widely studied. Unique script.
18 [din pet] 2019 ▭Ahtna [Central]: Ahtna [Central] ✧ AHT ✧ Athabaskan, around 80 speakers (all dialects combined), Alaska’s Copper River. Incorporates about 100 Russian loanwords.
18 hwtsiic na’aaye’ “Leaves fall” 2019 ▭Ahtna [Lower]: Ahtna [Lower] ✧ AHT ✧ Another dialect of Ahtna
18 ben ditsigi “Leaves brown” 2019Ahtna [Upper, Mentasa]: Ahtna [Upper, Mentasa] ✧ AHT ✧ Another dialect of Ahtna
18 nadaeggi uk’edi na’aaye’ 2019Ainu: Ainu ✧ AIN ✧ Aboriginal language of Japanese archipelago, ancestry unknown, nearly extinct natively. Counts in base 20.
18 シニヨラプ [siniyorap] 2019 ▭Aja {Benin-Togo}: Aja {Benin-Togo} ✧ AJG ✧ Niger-Congo, Gbe, spoken by half a million Aja people in Benin and Togo. Closely related to Ewe and Fon (q.v.); not to be confused with the Nilo-Saharan language Aja.
18 vuvɔ -or- vuvɔfu 2019Akan (Twi): Akan (Twi) ✧ AKA ✧ Niger-Congo Language native to Ghana and Ivory Coast, also brought to South America by slaves
18 Difuu-Ɔsandaa 2019 ▭Akha [Puli/Standard]: Akha [Puli/Standard] ✧ AHK ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Loloish, 600,000 speakers in Burma’s Shan State, northern Laos, and northern Thailand. Four tones shown by hacheks and circumflexes above and below vowels (-̌ -̂ -̬ -̭) but also the letter m, which too can be tonal.
18 leǔ sî 2019Alabama (Alibamu): Alabama (Alibamu) ✧ AKZ ✧ Muskogean language, distantly related to Choctaw (q.v.), spoken in Texas. Regular versus nasalized vowels, contrastive vowel length.
18 hasiholtina istontótchìina 2019Albanian [Gheg]: Albanian [Gheg] ✧ SQI ✧ Indo-European language with its very own branch. Unlike many languages it uses both the unvoiced and voiced “th” sounds (IPA symbols θ, ð).
18 gusht 2019 ▭Albanian [Tosk] (Arberesh): Albanian [Tosk] (Arberesh) ✧ ALS ✧ Albanian dialect spoken in Italy, partial interintelligibility with Gheg Albanian (q.v.)
18 gusht 2019 ▭Aleut [Atkan]: Aleut [Atkan] ✧ ALE ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, Aleut branch, native to the Alaskan Peninsula and the Aleutian, Commander, and Pribilof Islands. Aleut in total has around 150 speakers. Two groups survive, Atkan being the smaller.
18 Sadignam tugidaa “Fat pup month” -or- Aagustax̂ 2019 ▭Algonquin: Algonquin ✧ ALQ ✧ Algonquian family, closely related to (but divergent from) Ojibwe (q.v.). 1800 speakers in Quebec and Ontario.
18 wedétegágemen gizis “Blueberry month” 2019Altai (Gorno-Altai): Altai (Gorno-Altai) ✧ ATV ✧ Turkic, Siberian Turkic branch, around 50,000 speakers in Russia’s Altai Republic where it is official. Previously written with the Roman alphabet, it has used the Cyrillic since 1938.
18 куран ай [kuran ay] 2019 ▭Aluku: 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.
18 ayti mun fu baka yali 2019Alutiiq [Kodiak]: Alutiiq [Kodiak] ✧ EMS ✧ An Eskimo-Aleut language, indigenous to the Alaska and Kenai Peninsulas and Kodiak Island, with around 200 native speakers. Two chief dialects, Kodiak (shown here) and Chugach.
18 Alagnat Iraluat “Berries’ moon” 2019 ▭Amharic: Amharic ✧ AMH ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, spoken in Ethiopia by 22 million. Not to be confused with Aramaic (q.v.).
18 ነሐሴ [nähase] 2019 ▭Amis: Amis ✧ AMI ✧ Austronesian, East Formosan, the most popular aboriginal Taiwanese language at 181,000 speakers along the island’s eastern coast. Five dialects.
18 miheca falo 2019Anejom̃ (Aneityum): Anejom̃ (Aneityum) ✧ ATY ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, spoken by several hundred people on Aneityum/Anatom, Vanuatu’s southernmost island. Vowel and consonant lengths are contrastive; noun genders are animate vs inanimate.
18 niag acen “Nasty wild cane” 2019Angami (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.
18 Chi rê o krö 2019 ▭Anii: 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.
18 ɭjikǝuka kaŋɔrɔ 2019Apache [Jicarilla]: Apache [Jicarilla] ✧ APJ ✧ Athabaskan family, New Mexico, about 500 speakers, tonal. Unusually rich sound inventory (34 consonants, 16 vowels) including ejectives and an N sound which like a vowel can carry tones.
18 Awóoshdo 2019 ▭Apache [Western]: Apache [Western] ✧ APW ✧ Athabaskan family, SE Arizona, 14,000 native speakers. Acute accents indicate a high tone on a vowel.
18 Bine pánts’ǭǭsé “Slender harvest” 2019 ▭Apatani (Tani): Apatani (Tani) ✧ APT ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Western Tani, 45,000 native speakers in India’s Arunachal Pradesh. Tonal, both vowel and consonant lengths are contrastive. Most nouns have 2 syllables.
18 miilo piilo -or- halo piilo 2019 ▭Arabic [Levantine]: Arabic [Levantine] ✧ APC ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Semitic. Descended from Ancient North Arabian.
١٨ آب [āb] ٢٠١٩ ▭Arabic [Libyan]: Arabic [Libyan] ✧ AYL ✧ An alternative terminology established under Muammar Gaddafi. Aside from that, this dialect has been influenced by Maltese and Sicilian.
١٨ هانيبال [hānībāl] ٢٠١٩ ▭Arabic [Moroccan] (Darija): Arabic [Moroccan] (Darija) ✧ ARY ✧ From the Maghrebi subgroup of Arabic, heavily influenced by Berber languages along with French and Spanish. Between 50% and 70% of Moroccans speak Darija.
١٨ شهر تمنية [sheher tmenya] ٢٠١٩Aragonese (“fabla”): Aragonese (“fabla”) ✧ ARG ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Spoken by 25,500 in Northern Aragon, endangered, mutually intelligible with Spanish.
18 agosto 2019Arapaho: Arapaho ✧ ARP ✧ Algonquian, Arapahoan branch, natively spoken by 1000 mostly living on the Wind River Indian Reservation in Wyoming. Closely related to Gros Ventre (q.v.). Uses a ȝ, rendered either as the Roman letter yogh or the numeral 3, for the unvoiced th sound (IPA θ).
18 niinihoonkooɂ “Yellow leaves” 2019 ▭Arikara: 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.
18 [August unknown] 2019Aromanian (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, more Slavic.
18 avgustu -or- angušt 2019 ▭Arosi: Arosi ✧ AIA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Solomonic, spoken by 6800 on Makira (San Cristobal) Island, east of Guadalcanal in the Solomons.
18 ngasito’o -or- waro ngangara 2019Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Lyonnais Bressan]: Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Lyonnais Bressan] ✧ FRP ✧ Arpitan is a group of Gallo-Romance languages heard in parts of France, western Switzerland, and northwestern Italy. This dialect is spoken in Bresse, Ain west; Revermont, French Jura southwest; and Saône-et-Loire east.
18 eu -or- or 2019Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Savoyard]: Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Savoyard] ✧ FRP ✧ An Arpitan dialect spoken around Savoy in western France
18 out 2019 ▭Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Stéphenois]: Arpitan (Franco-Provençal) [Stéphenois] ✧ FRP ✧ An Arpitan dialect spoken around Saint-Étienne in eastern central France
18 oût 2019Assiniboine 1 (Nakota): Assiniboine 1 (Nakota) ✧ 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.
18 cąpá waštešte hąwí -or- cąpásapsaba hą́wi 2019Assiniboine 2 (Nakota): Assiniboine 2 (Nakota) ✧ ASB ✧ Alternative terminology
18 opéži gašná hą́wi -or- wašáša hą́wi 2019Asturian: Asturian ✧ AST ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Northern Spain (Oviedo/Gijón area). Three genders.
18 agostu 2019 ▭Atayal: Atayal ✧ TAY ✧ Austronesian family, Northern Formosan, Atayalic, an indigenous language of northern Taiwan with 84,000 speakers. Two major dialects.
18 tay mspat byacing 2019Atikamekw: Atikamekw ✧ ATJ ✧ Algonquian family, Cree complex, 5500 speakers in southwestern Quebec
18 otatokon pisimw 2019Atong {India/Bangladesh}: Atong {India/Bangladesh} ✧ AOT ✧ Unlike many Sino-Tibetan languages, this one is non-tonal. Spoken by 10,000 in NE India and adjacent regions of Bangladesh, most of whom are bilingual in Garo (q.v.). Not to be confused with the Niger-Congo Atong language.
18 agos 2019Atsugewi: Atsugewi ✧ ATW ✧ This [possibly] Hokan, Shasta–Palaihnihan language of California went extinct with the death of Medie Webster in 1988. Atsugewis saw the Big Dipper as Coyote’s cane; the Milky Way, the Devil’s trail.
18 cĭnehwu barbícakas “Sun-is-going-back moon” 2019Austro-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.
18 August 2019 ▭Avar [Premodern/Folk]: Avar [Premodern/Folk] ✧ AVA ✧ Northeast Caucasian language spoken in Dagestan and Azerbaijan. Uses either Cyrillic or Arabic characters.
18 къубух1илъ قۇبۇحێڸ [k″ubuχḣil″] 2019 ▭Awa Pit (Cuaiquer): Awa Pit (Cuaiquer) ✧ KWI ✧ Barbacoan family, seriously endangered, spoken by 13,000 on the Pacific slopes of the Andes in Colombia and Ecuador by the Awa-Kwaiker people. Most Awa-Kwaiker men also speak Spanish; most women and children, only Awa Pit.
18 akua 2019Aymara: 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.
18 thaya phaxsi -or- llumpaqa 2019 ▭Bafia: Bafia ✧ KSF ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken by 60,000 in southwestern Cameroon. Mostly oral, but efforts at establishing a written standard are underway.
18 ŋwíí akǝ táaraa 2019Bagirmi: Bagirmi ✧ BMI ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, approx. 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.
18 Nap marta 2019Bagvalal (Bagulal): Bagvalal (Bagulal) ✧ KVA ✧ Northeast Caucasian, seriously endangered, 1500 speakers in Dagestan’s Tsumadinsky District. Features ejectives and nazalized vowels. Outside the home, speakers rely on Avar (q.v.) or Russian.
18 а́вгустбос̄ӏ [ávgustboss̓] 2019Bahasa Banjar: Bahasa Banjar ✧ BJN ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by the Banjarese of South Kalimantan in Indonesia
18 Agustus 2019 ▭Bakweri (Kpwe or Mokpwe): Bakweri (Kpwe or Mokpwe) ✧ BGM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu Zone A, 25,000 speakers in Cameroon
18 Mbowa Njoke 2019Baluchi (Balochi): Baluchi (Balochi) ✧ BAL ✧ Indo-Iranian language related to Kurdish (q.v.). Uses Pashto and Roman script.
18 saxán 2019 ▭Bambara: Bambara ✧ BAM ✧ Niger-Congo, Mande. Two tones, many French loans. Same word used for hand and arm.
18 Uti 2019 ▭Bariai: Bariai ✧ BCH ✧ Austronesian family, Ngero group, 1400 speakers in Papua New Guinea
18 paur aingei 2019Basaa: Basaa ✧ BAS ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Four tones, 230,000 speakers in Camaroon. (Not to be confused with Bassa, below.)
18 hïìkañ 2019Bashkir: Bashkir ✧ BAK ✧ Turkic language spoken in Bashkortostan between the Volga and Urals. Uses no articles.
18 урағай [uraɣai] 2019Basque [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.
18 agorril -or- dagonil -or- abuztu 2019 ▭Basque [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.
18 dagonil 2019Basque [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.
18 agorrila 2019Bassa: 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.)
18 Káná-Vɛ́nɛ́ 2019Batak: Batak ✧ BYA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian family. Unique script, spoken in north Sumatra. Each day from 1 through 30 has its own name, shown here in angle quotes.
18 《muda ni holom》 sipaha lima 2019 ▭Bats (Batsbi or Tsova-Tush): Bats (Batsbi or Tsova-Tush) ✧ BBL ✧ Northeast Caucasian, Nakh branch but unintelligible with Chechen or Ingush (q.v.). Approx. 2500 speakers. Vowels can be nazalized, and both vowels and consonants can be either long or short.
იჱ აგუისტ [aguist] ცით ▭Belarusian: Belarusian ✧ BEL ✧ East Slavic, closely related to Ukrainian [q.v.]. Though Belarusian is official in Belarus, only about 12% of the population uses it. Unlike Russian, it employs the characters І, Ї, and Ў.
18 жніўня [žniwnya] 2019 ▭Belep (Nyâlayu): Belep (Nyâlayu) ✧ YLY ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, Northern New Caledonian, 1600 speakers in and around New Caledonia’s Belep Islands. Unlike its neighbors, Belep vowel length is not contrastive.
18 mwanok pwanem nua pwajen 2019Bemba (Chibemba): Bemba (Chibemba) ✧ BEM ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantu. Tonal, spoken in Zambia.
18 akasantobo 2019Bena: Bena ✧ BEZ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Northeast Bantu, spoken in south central Tanzania
18 pa mwedzi gwa nane 2019Beothuk: Beothuk ✧ BUE ✧ Possibly Algonquian, spoken by a reclusive indigenous Newfoundland tribe, extinct since 1829 with the death of its last speaker, Shanawdithit. Information on Beothuk month names, shown here, is sketchy.
18 wadawhegh 2019 ▭Berta [Mayu]: Berta [Mayu] ✧ WTI ✧ Nilo-Saharan (tentatively), native to the Benishangul-Gumuz region of Sudan and Ethiopia. Of all five Berta dialects there are 370,000 speakers.
18 zigí sqúllá ógast 2019Bété [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.
18 'napɛ -ngbɔɔta -leyi 2019Beti [Ewondo] (Kolo): Beti [Ewondo] (Kolo) ✧ EWO ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantu, tonal, with half a million speakers of this dialect in Cameroon. It serves as a lingua franca, though French is gradually displacing it.
18 ngɔn mwom 2019Bezhta (Kapucha): Bezhta (Kapucha) ✧ KAP ✧ Preliterate Northeast Caucasian language spoken by around 6800 in Southern Dagestan.
18 август [avgust] 2019Biete (Biate): Biete (Biate) ✧ BIU ✧ A Sino-Tibetan, Kuki-Chin language spoken by 30,000 in NE India (Meghalaya, Assam, Mizoram, Manipur, and Tripura). Related to Mizo (q.v.).
18 Thlazîng 2019Bishnupriya Manipuri: Bishnupriya Manipuri ✧ BPY ✧ Indo-Aryan, 120,000 native speakers, not to be confused with Sino-Tibetan Meitei, also known as Manipuri (q.v.). Uses the rather uncommon Eastern Nagari script.
১৮ ২০১৯ ▭Bislama: Bislama ✧ BIS ✧ A creole combining English with Austronesian lanugages. Official in Vanuatu.
18 Okis 2019 ▭Blackfoot (Siksika): Blackfoot (Siksika) ✧ BLA ✧ Algonquian family, unusual pitch system. Montana and Southern Alberta.
18 iitáyiitsimaahkao’p 2019 ▭Blin (Bilen): Blin (Bilen) ✧ BYN ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. 70,000 speakers around Keren, Eritrea. Related to Tigrinya (q.v.) and Tigre (Tigrayit).
18 [maryamtri] 2019Bonggi (Kamus Bonggi): Bonggi (Kamus Bonggi) ✧ BDG ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, North Bornean, 1400 speakers on the Banggi and Balambangan islands in Malaysia’s Kudat District.
18 buaidn waluh 2019Breton (Armoric): Breton (Armoric) ✧ BRE ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Brythonic. Spoken in Brittany, related to Welsh and Cornish (q.v.).
18 mis eost 2019 ▭Bukhori (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. Modifies the Hebrew alphabet to show vowels explicitly.
18 אַבגוּסט [avgust] 2019Bulgar: Bulgar ✧ XBO ✧ Presumably Turkic, extinct since medieval times, unrelated to modern Bulgarian (which is South Slavic). Bulgar’s modern descendent is Chuvash (q.v.).
XVIII djimesh ae MMXVIIIIBulgarian [Eastern Rup, 19th century]: Bulgarian [Eastern Rup, 19th century] ✧ BUL ✧ South Slavic. From the south-central Bulgarian town of Asenovgrad.
18 бугродиčкя [bugrodičkya] 2019Bulgarian [Rhodope, pre-1945]: Bulgarian [Rhodope, pre-1945] ✧ BUL ✧ Another Bulgarian, here from the Rhodope Mountains around Smolyan
18 иѣгусъ [iegusa] 2019 ▭Burgundian (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.
18 août 2019Burmese: Burmese ✧ MYA ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Spoken in Myanmar/Burma, tonal. Unusual sounds such as unvoiced Ms and Ns. Script favors arcs and circles because the ancient Burmese wrote on palm leaves and straight lines would risk splitting them.
[ɔ̀gouʿ] ▭Burum (Somba-Siawari): Burum (Somba-Siawari) ✧ BMU ✧ Trans-New Guinea family, Finisterre–Huon, Western Huon, spoken by 9000 in Papua New Guinea’s Morobe Province on the Huon Peninsula. Its alternate name cites its two dialects, Somba and Siawari.
18 kömunjaŋ 2019Burushaski: Burushaski ✧ BSK ✧ A language isolate spoken by 90,000 in Northern Pakistan and Jammu and Kashmir in India. Three dialects: Hunza, Nagar, and Wershikwar. Actions must often specify how loud something was.
18 sambula 2019 ▭Burushaski [Wershikwar]: Burushaski [Wershikwar] ✧ BSK ✧ Native to the Yasin Valley, spoken by some 20,000 of the 90,000 total for Burushaski in general. More divergent than Hunza and Nagar, Wershikwar is seen by some as a separate language.
18 sumbula 2019Buryat [Premodern]: Buryat [Premodern] ✧ BUA ✧ Mongolic language related to Mongolian and Oirat (q.v.). China, Mongolia, and eastern Russia.
18 наймадугаар һара [najmadugaar ḥara] 2019 ▭Caddo: 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.
18 [August unknown] 2019Carrier (Dakelh): Carrier (Dakelh) ✧ CRX ✧ Na-Dené family, Athabaskan. A few hundred speakers in British Columbia.
18 ges07l uzʔ 2019Catalan: 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.’
18 d’agost 2019 ▭Cayuga: 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.
18 Jíhs·gę̲h·neh “Fireflies, etc.” 2019Cerma: Cerma ✧ CME ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, 63,000 speakers in Burkina Faso and Côte d'Ivoire. Three dialects: Banfora, Niangoloko, and Soubakanié Dougou.
18 hĩɛfĩɛŋo 2019Cham [Eastern]: Cham [Eastern] ✧ CJM ✧ Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian. 300,000 speakers in Vietnam. Related to Rade (q.v.), oldest-attested Austronesian language with inscriptions dating back to the fourth century CE.
balan dalipăn ▭Chamorro [Premodern]: Chamorro [Premodern] ✧ CHA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, 58,000 speakers in the Marianas, about half of those in the US territory of Guam. This is their pre-Spanish terminology as cited by Louis Claude de Freycinet in 1819.
18 Tenhos “Stormy or angry” 2019Chamí Emberá: Chamí Emberá ✧ CMI ✧ From the Chacoan family, Emberá branch, 7800 speakers. The Chamí Emberá represent about 2% of Colombia’s indigenous population.
18 ‘ixawil agosto 2019Chang (Mochungrr): Chang (Mochungrr) ✧ NBC ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Brahmaputran branch, 62,000 Scheduled Chang Naga tribe speakers in Nagaland, NE India. Uses the Roman alphabet, introduced in 1928.
18 Monglit 2019Chatino [Zona Alta]: Chatino [Zona Alta] ✧ CLY ✧ Zapotecan language spoken by 23,000 in Southern Oaxaca, Mexico. It has ten tones and uses nasal vowels.
18 ko' ta'a bi' na'an 2019Chayahuita: 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 area education is bilingual Chayahuita/Spanish.
18 santarosa yoqui 2019Chechen 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.
18 пахун [paḫun] 2019 ▭Chechen 2: Chechen 2 ✧ CHE ✧ A second alternative terminology for Chechen, inspired by the native Vainakh religion
18 эгиш бутт [egiš butt] “Falling produce month” 2019 ▭Chechen 3: Chechen 3 ✧ CHE ✧ A third alternative terminology for Chechen, entirely secular and related to the seasons
18 марсхьокху бутт [marsḫoqu butt] “Month of sickle reaping” 2019 ▭Cherokee [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.
18 [Galoni] “Fruit drying up” 2019 ▭Chewa (Chichewa or Nyanja): Chewa (Chichewa or Nyanja) ✧ NYA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantoid. Spoken in Malawi and Zambia. Unusually complex gender system.
18 mwezi wa Ogasiti 2019Cheyenne: Cheyenne ✧ 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.
18 Oeneneeše’he 2019 ▭Chickasaw: Chickasaw ✧ CIC ✧ Muskogean family, approx. 75 speakers total in Oklahoma, USA. Same word used for hand and arm.
18 Akus 2019Chilcotin: Chilcotin ✧ CLC ✧ Athabaskan, approx. 860 native speakers in Chilcotin Country, central British Columbia. Chilcotin is bitonal and exhibits consonant harmony.
18 Ts'eman 2019Chimané [Mosetén]: Chimané [Mosetén] ✧ CAS ✧ Language isolate (?) spoken by around 2000 north of La Paz, Bolivia. Same word used for hand and arm.
18 khen’khanyatyi’ ïwaj 2019 ▭Chinook Jargon (Wawa): Chinook Jargon (Wawa) ✧ CHN ✧ A trading language that thrived in the Pacific Northwest during the 19th century. Used both Native American- and European-derived vocabulary, though evidence suggests it existed in a purely indigenous form before European contact.
18 Ogyust 2019Chiwere (Iowa-Otoe-Missouria): Chiwere (Iowa-Otoe-Missouria) ✧ IOW ✧ Western Siouan, akin to Winnebago (q.v.), natively extinct since 1996 though there are some 40 mostly older semi-fluent speakers. Kansas, Missouri, and Oklahoma. Males and females speak with two different styles or registers.
18 Huma Yochingep 2019Choctaw: Choctaw ✧ CHO ✧ Muskogean, related to Chickasaw (q.v.). South-central USA, 18,000 speakers.
18 Akgs 2019 ▭Choyo (Queyu): Choyo (Queyu) ✧ QVY ✧ A Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic language of Yajiang and Xinlong Counties in Sichuan with approx. 7000 speakers. Choyo is closely related to another Qiangic language, Zhaba, spoken by a similar number in Yajiang and Daofu Counties.
18 da35wa55dʑe35pq53 2019Chukchansi: Chukchansi ✧ ??? ✧ Of uncertain family, classified as Yokutsan, Nim. Endemic to California’s San Joaquin Valley. Only eight native speakers listed as of 2011, but currently taught in area elementary schools.
18 Xap’eelataw 2019Chukchi: Chukchi ✧ CKT ✧ Chukotko-Kamchatkan family, about 10,000 speakers in extreme eastern Siberia. Uses vowel harmony. Also, words cannot begin or end with consonant blends.
18 айпийъат [ajpij”at] 2019 ▭Chuukese (Trukese): Chuukese (Trukese) ✧ CHK ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, spoken by around 50,000 ethnic Chuukese on the Chuuk Islands of the Carolines plus Pohnpei and Guam. Remarkably, begins some words with doubled consonants.
18 Óókos -or- Aakos 2019Chuvash: Chuvash ✧ CHV ✧ Turkic, spoken in the Urals. Features “hard” versus “soft” words. Genderless.
III/X çурла [śurla] IIII/X✳✳ ▭Cimbrian: Cimbrian ✧ CIM ✧ A Germanic language spoken by approx. 400 in NE Italy whose grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation render it unintelligible to Standard High German speakers. Italian has largely displaced it.
18 agosto -or- agòsten 2019 ▭Circassian (Cherkess) [Adyghe]: Circassian (Cherkess) [Adyghe] ✧ ADY ✧ Northwest Caucasian language. Has 50-60 consonant sounds, mutually intelligible with Circassian [Kabardian] (q.v.).
18 шышъхьаIу [šəŝḥāʔw] 2019 ▭Circassian (Cherkess) [Kabardian]: Circassian (Cherkess) [Kabardian] ✧ KBD ✧ The other major Circassian dialect, also called East Circassian. Mutually intelligible with Circassian [Adyghe] (q.v.).
18 шыщхьэIу [šəšḥaʔw] 2019 ▭Cofán: Cofán ✧ CON ✧ A seriously endangered language isolate spoken by 2400 Cofán people in Sucumbíos Province in NE Ecuador and neighboring Colombia. Natively it counts in base 5.
18 tavaite 2019Comanche [Eastern]: Comanche [Eastern] ✧ SWB ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, Numic; native to Texas, New Mexico, Kansas, Colorado, and Oklahoma; some two dozen speakers currently. Comanche was one of the languages used by the Code Talkers during World War II.
18 Tahma mua “Summer moon” -or- Ukuiyuba mua “New fall moon” 2019Comorian [Maore] (Shimaore): Comorian [Maore] (Shimaore) ✧ SWB ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. 80,000 speakers on French islands of Mayotte.
18 utu 2019Coptic: Coptic ✧ COP ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Ptolemaic Egyptian. Extinct as vernacular, used for Coptic Orthodox liturgy. Its Greek-derived alphabet adds modifications pulled from Egyptian hieroglyphics. (The Coptic calendar is non-Gregorian though these are the language’s Gregorian terms.)
18 Ⲁⲩⲅⲟⲩⲥⲧⲟⲥ [aγgoγstos] 2019 ▭Cornish: Cornish ✧ COR ✧ Celtic, Brythonic. Cornwall and Isles of Scilly, natively extinct but nowadays actively studied and taught. Like all Celtic languages, a Cornish noun undergoes mutations which are changes in its initial consonant sound that depend on its role in a sentence.
18 mys Est 2019 ▭Corsican: Corsican ✧ COS ✧ Indo-European, Romance, and unlike Sardinian (q.v.) this language is mutually intelligible with Italian. Spoken on Corsica, endangered.
18 aòstu 2019 ▭Cotabato Manobo [Dulangan Manobo]: Cotabato Manobo [Dulangan Manobo] ✧ MTA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by 30,000 in the Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato Provinces of Mindinao, Philippines. The Tasaday, once decried as a hoax tribe but now confirmed, speak a dialect of Cotabato Manobo.
18 agustu 2019Cree: Cree ✧ CRE ✧ Algonquian family. Formerly creolized with French & Scottish Gaelic. Official in Canada’s Northwest Territories, almost 100,000 speakers.
18 opunhopizun “Ducklings begin to fly” 2019 ▭Creek (Muscogee or Seminole): Creek (Muscogee or Seminole) ✧ MUS ✧ Muskogean family, tonal with nazalizations, 5000 speakers in Oklahoma and Florida
18 hiyo-rakko “Big harvest” 2019Crimean 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.
18 arman ayı 2019 ▭Croatian [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.
18 kolovoz “Harvest wagon driving” 2019Crow (Apsáalooke): Crow (Apsáalooke) ✧ CRO ✧ Siouan family, Western, as of 2007 spoken by 3500 in the Crow Nation in SW Montana. Considered endangered, though schoolchildren are actively learning it and adolescents attend the Apsaalooke language camp for Crow language immersion.
18 aléekaashe 2019 ▭Cuicatec: Cuicatec ✧ CUX ✧ A language of the Oto-Manguean family spoken natively by 13,000 in western Oaxaca, Mexico. Tonal (shown with superscript numerals), forms verb tenses by attaching one of four different prefixes.
18 a3go2sto4 -or- iyuu nini 2019Cuman (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.
18 song kz ay 2019 ▭Curonian: Curonian ✧ XCU ✧ Extinct Balto-Slavic language spoken until the 16th century in parts of modern Latvia, Lithuania, and Germany.
18 augusts 2019Czech (Bohemian): Czech (Bohemian) ✧ CZE ✧ West Slavic, distinct from but mutually intelligible with Slovak: Czech borrows more German; Slovak, Ukrainian and Hungarian. In both Czech and Slovak the same word, ruka, can refer to hand or arm.
18 srpen “sickle” 2019 ▭Dagaare: Dagaare ✧ DGA ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur branch. Unusual consonant blends such as GB, KP, and MGM.
18 KyuuraaneesobO 2019Dagur (Daur): Dagur (Daur) ✧ DTA ✧ Mongolic family, spoken by 96,000 Daur in Inner Mongolia’s Hailar District and China’s Qiqihar and Tacheng Prefectures. Exhibits vestiges of vowel harmony.
18 jakumbie 2019Dakota (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.
18 Wiišahdoǧaŋ 2019Dalecarlian (Elfdalian): Dalecarlian (Elfdalian) ✧ 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). The Swedish-developed video game Minecraft features Dalecarlian.
18 agusti 2019 ▭Dalmatian: Dalmatian ✧ DLM ✧ Extinct Romance language once spoken on the Adriatic east coast. Its last native speaker, marine mail carrier Tuone Udaina, died in a roadwork accident in 1898 but linguists had had time to study him extensively.
18 aguast 2019 ▭Dangaléat: Dangaléat ✧ DAA ✧ Afro-Asiatic, East Chadic, 60,000 speakers in Central Chad. Vowel length is contrastive, uses implosive consonants.
18 tolpondo 2019Danish [Premodern/Folk]: Danish [Premodern/Folk] ✧ DAN ✧ Traditional Danish before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions
18 Høstmåned 2019Dan: Dan ✧ DNJ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande, 1.6 million speakers in Côte d'Ivoire and Liberia plus another 800 in Guinea. Tonal. Three dialects, Gweetaawu, Blowo, and Kla; though the latter is often considered a separate language.
18 ˈUtö -or- ˈˈzɛ 2019 ▭Deg Xinag: Deg Xinag ✧ ING ✧ Athabaskan language, virtually extinct. Area around the lower Yukon River, Alaska.
18 Lighan no’ “Silver salmon month” 2019Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabascan): Denaakk’e (Koyukon Athabascan) ✧ KOY ✧ Athabascan, spoken by approx. 300 in east central Alaska, 3 dialects
18 Menenh Nok’et’on’dedaaghee 2019 ▭Dena’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.
18 benen k’enedlidi 2019Denya: Denya ✧ ANV ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantoid, Mamfe. Spoken in Cameroon by around 11,000
18 uti 2019Dhivehi (Maldivian): Dhivehi (Maldivian) ✧ DIV ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, uses the exclusive right-to-left Thāna script which unlike Arabic explicitly shows all vowels. Republic of Maldives.
18 [ōgasṫ] 2019 ▭Digaro Mishmi (Darang/Taraon): Digaro Mishmi (Darang/Taraon) ✧ MHU ✧ “Possibly” Sino-Tibetan, 35,000 speakers in India’s Arunachal Pradesh and China’s Zayü County.
18 xɑ55 lo53 liɯm35 2019Dinka [Northwestern]: Dinka [Northwestern] ✧ DIW ✧ Nilo-Saharan, spoken in Sudan and by a refugee population in Jacksonville, Florida.
18 lal 2019Ditidaht (Nitinaht): Ditidaht (Nitinaht) ✧ DTD ✧ Wakashan family, Vancouver Island. No nasal consonants, virtually extinct.
18 paak’ʷisčiʔsabaał 2019Djimini (Jinmini): Djimini (Jinmini) ✧ DYI ✧ Niger-Congo, Senufo, 96,000 speakers in Ivory Coast’s Debakala Department
18 tugutaan 2019Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì): Dogrib (Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì) ✧ DGR ✧ Na-Dené, Athabaskan. Canada Northwest Territories, 2600 speakers.
18 Dzêndeà Zaà 2019 ▭Duala: Duala ✧ DUA ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken natively by 90,000 (and as an acquired language by 2 million) in Cameroon. The language is tri-tonal and first appeared in print in 1862.
18 diŋgindi 2019Dukhan: Dukhan ✧ DKH ✧ A Turkic amalgam related to Tuvan, Buryat, and Tofalar (all q.v.) spoken, often mixed with Mongolian, by approx. 500 Dukha reindeer herders in Northernmost Mongolia. (Language code DKH is unofficial.)
18 eki tоstааr аy 2019Dupaningan Agta: Dupaningan Agta ✧ DUE ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language of uncertain classification, spoken in the Philippines' Cagayan and Isabela provinces in northeastern Luzon by approximately 1,400 semi-nomadic Negrito hunter-gatherers
18 make-walu a bulan 2019Duru [Dii]: Duru [Dii] ✧ DUR ✧ Niger-Congo, Leko-Nimbari, Duru, between 50,000 and 60,000 speakers in Cameroon. Dii Duru divides further into eight recognized dialects.
18 nààg bún ní 2019Dusun (Bunduliwan): Dusun (Bunduliwan) ✧ DTP ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language, standardized by the Kadazandusun Cultural Association Sabah, and spoken by 140,000 in Malaysia and Brunei.
18 Tulan Magus “Seed month” 2019Dutch [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 ca. 1100.
XVIII (oogstmaand) “Harvest Month” MMXVIIII ▭Dutch [Old Flemish] (Vlaams): Dutch [Old Flemish] (Vlaams) ✧ ODT ✧ The Dutch dialect majority language of Northern Belgium, spoken also in Hauts-de-France and Zeeland, by some 6.5 million. This is its premodern terminology. Unlike standard Dutch, it’s usually shown capitalized.
XVIII Koornmaand “Corn Month” MMXVIIIIDyula (Jula): Dyula (Jula) ✧ DYU ✧ Niger-Congo, Western Mande, East Manding, spoken by 6.9 million in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, and Mali. Used as a trade language, akin to Bambara (q.v.) and mutually intelligible with it.
18 cɔɔcɔɔkalo “Month of frequent rains” 2019Dzongkha (Bhutanese): Dzongkha (Bhutanese) ✧ DZO ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, approx. 170,000 native speakers (and an additional 470,000 non-native) in Bhutan where it is the only official language.
18 [spyi.zlaw.brgyad.pa] 2019Edo (Bini): Edo (Bini) ✧ BIN ✧ Niger-Congo family. Spoken by Benin Empire descendents.
18 uki ohie 2019Embu (Kîembu): Embu (Kîembu) ✧ EBU ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. Spoken by 320,000 in two dialects, northeast of Nairobi, Kenya.
18 Mweri wa kanana 2019Emilian-Romagnol (Sammarinese): Emilian-Romagnol (Sammarinese) ✧ EGL/RGN ✧ Romance language spoken in Italy (Emilia-Romagna region, Urbino, and Pesaro) and in San Marino. Recognized by UNESCO as “worthy of protection,” E-R is said to be entirely unintelligible with Italian.
18 agòst 2019 ▭Emilian-Romagnol [Ferrarese]: Emilian-Romagnol [Ferrarese] ✧ EGL/RGN ✧ E-R dialect heard in the Province of Ferrara which includes the city of Comacchio.
18 agóst 2019Enets (Entsy) [Forest]: Enets (Entsy) [Forest] ✧ ENF and ENH ✧ Moribund Samoyedic language spoken by 70 out of 260 ethnic Enets of Krasnoyarsk Krai in central Siberia. Sixty of those speak the Forest shown here; ten, Tundra. Unusual destinative noun case that refers to things a person should expect for him- or herself.
18 нԑлюк' дири (nälyukJ diri) “Swarms of midges month” -or- дедю дири (dyedyu diri) “geese month” 2019 ▭English [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).
XVIII Wēodmōnað “Plant month” MMXVIIII ▭Erromangan (Sie)[Folk/Traditional]: Erromangan (Sie)[Folk/Traditional] ✧ ERG ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, spoken by 1900 on Vanuatu’s Erromango Island. This was traditional before Erromangan borrowed quasi-English month names from Bislama (q.v.).
18 Movcorovoh 2019Erromintxela: Erromintxela ✧ EMX ✧ A Basque/Romani hybrid language spoken by around a thousand Pyranees-dwelling Roma
18 agorilla 2019Ersu [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.
18 pa55i55ɬɑ33 2019Erzya: Erzya ✧ MYV ✧ Uralic, Mordvinic, 37,000 speakers, related to [but quite distinct from] Moksha (q.v.). It uses the exact same Cyrillic alphabet as the Russian version though the letters Х, Щ, Ъ, and Ь only occur in loans.
18 умарьков [umar’kov] 2019 ▭Eskayan: Eskayan ✧ ESY ✧ Famously obscure Philippine language, extinct but heavily studied. Possibly a Cebuano-based cryptolect.
18 tatubi -or- tatuo 2019Estonian: Estonian ✧ EST ✧ Uralic, Finnic. Features 3 vowel lengths, 15 noun cases. To practiced speakers Estonian and Finnish (q.v.) 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.
18 lõikuskuu 2019 ▭Estonian [Southern] (Seto): Estonian [Southern] (Seto) ✧ VRO ✧ In many respects closer to Võro (q.v.) than standard Estonian, spoken by 12,500 in the Setomaa region (Estonia/Russia). Germanic influences.
18 põimukuu “Harvesting month” 2019Etruscan: Etruscan ✧ ETT ✧ Assigned to the hypothetical Tyrrhenian family (along with at least two other long-extinct, poorly attested languages), spoken on the Italian peninsula in classical times. Written right-to-left, the Etruscan language lacked the sounds of O, D, B, and G.
XIIX hermi ⊕⊕XIX ▭Even (Lamut): Even (Lamut) ✧ EVE ✧ Altaic, Tungusic. Endangered, with 7000-odd speakers in Siberia. Doesn’t use articles.
18 ойчири чордакич [ojčiri čordakič] 2019 ▭Evenki (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.
18 lirkin 2019 ▭Ewe: Ewe ✧ EWO ✧ Niger-Congo family, tonal, spoken by 5 million in western Africa. A tilde nazalizes a vowel: ã, ẽ, ɛ̃, ɔ̃, ĩ, õ, and ũ.
18 Dasiamime 2019Extremaduran: 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.”
18 agostu 2019 ▭Fang: Fang ✧ FAN ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantoid, one million speakers predominantly in Equatorial Guinea and Gabon, beyond that in Cameroon, São Tomé and Príncipe, and The Republic of the Congo. Tonal, eight major dialects, spelling not currently standardized.
18 ngon-môme 2019Fe’fe’ (Nufi or Bafang): Fe’fe’ (Nufi or Bafang) ✧ FMP ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantoid. 120,000 speakers around Bafang, Cameroon.
18 mànga’nshi 2019Finnish: Finnish ✧ FIN ✧ Uralic, Finnic, 5.4 million speakers in Scandinavia and Russia. Preliterate until the 16th century, highly inflected (15 noun cases), consonants and vowels can be long or short.
18 elokuu “Crop month” 2019Flemish [West-Vlams]: Flemish [West-Vlams] ✧ VLS ✧ A highly divergent Dutch dialect with 1.2 million speakers
18 ogustus 2019 ▭Fon: Fon ✧ FON ✧ Niger-Congo, Gbe. Spoken by 2.2 million in Togo and Benin in over 50 dialects.
18 avivɔ sùn 2019Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk): Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk) ✧ SAC ✧ Algonquian, endangered, approx. 2000 speakers distributed through Oklahoma, Kansas, Iowa, and Coahuila (Mexico). It has two indigenous writing systems known as Fox I and Fox II, shown below.
18 âkishta 2019 ▭Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk) I: Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk) I ✧ SAC ✧ Fox as above, written with the Fox I script. This is an abugida — halfway between an alphabet and a syllabary — like the many used in India.
18 k·dt 2019Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk) II: Fox (Meskwaki or Sauk) II ✧ SAC ✧ Fox as above, written with the Fox II script, a true alphabet showing consonants and vowels explicitly.
18 2019Frafra (Gurenɛ): Frafra (Gurenɛ) ✧ GUR ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, Mooré, spoken by 720,000 in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Its alphabet doesn’t use c, j, q, or x, but adds ɛ, ɔ, ŋ, and ɣ. Akin to Mossi (q.v.).
18 sa-lika wõrga 2019Frankish (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.
XVIII Aranmanoþ MMXVIIIIFrisian [North] (Mooring): Frisian [North] (Mooring) ✧ FRR ✧ About 10,000 speakers in the Schleswig-Holstein region of Germany
18 august -or- beeridmoune “Harvest month” 2019 ▭Frisian [West]: Frisian [West] ✧ FRY ✧ Indo-European, West Germanic, considered to be the closest foreign language to English. 470,000 speakers in the Friesland province of the Netherlands.
18 rispmoanne “Harvest month” 2019 ▭Frisian [West Schiermonnikoog]: Frisian [West Schiermonnikoog] ✧ FRY ✧ Heard on the Island of Schiermonnikoog off Northern Netherlands, seriously endangered with fewer than 100 speakers
18 euchstmond 2019Friulian: Friulian ✧ FUR ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Spoken by half a million in NE Italy near the Slovenian border. 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).
18 avost 2019 ▭Fula: 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.
18 juko 2019 ▭Fur: Fur ✧ FVR ✧ Tentatively attributed to the Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in south central Darfur in western Sudan.
18 Koróŋ 2019Futunan: Futunan ✧ FUT ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on Futuna Island and New Caledonia. Its words for hand and arm are identical.
18 akusito 2019Fuyu Kyrgyz (Manchurian Kirghiz): Fuyu Kyrgyz (Manchurian Kirghiz) ✧ ??? ✧ Turkic. Not a dialect of Kyrgyz, but instead closer to Khakas (q.v). Spoken by fewer than a dozen in Heilongjiang, China, 300 km northwest of Harbin.
18 sigïs ay 2019 ▭Gaelic [Irish] (Irish): Gaelic [Irish] (Irish) ✧ GLE ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Goidelic. Spoken as a first language along the western coast of Ireland, also widely spoken in Newfoundland until the early 1900s.
18 Mí Lúnasa (A druidic festival) 2019 ▭Gaelic [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.
18 An Lùnasdal “Dedicated to the god Lugh” 2019 ▭Gaelic [Scottish Archaic]: Gaelic [Scottish Archaic] ✧ GLA ✧ As Scottish Gaelic above, but older
18 Ciad Mhìos an Fhoghair 2019Gagauz: Gagauz ✧ GAG ✧ Turkic language spoken in Moldova, Ukraine, Turkey, Russia
18 харман айы [harman ayı] 2019Galician: Galician ✧ GLG ✧ Sharply divergent Portuguese spoken in Galicia (Northern Spain). Fidel Castroʼs father was Galician and emigrated to make his sugar cane fortune.
18 agosto 2019 ▭Gallong (Galo) [Lare]: Gallong (Galo) [Lare] ✧ ADL ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Tani branch, at least four dialects though likely more, 30,000 speakers. Arunachal Pradesh, NE India.
18 `hwo -or- `hɨo 2019Gallo: 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 displays Celtic influences as opposed to Old Norse.
18 aost 2019 ▭Garifuna: 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.
18 widü hati 2019 ▭Garo: 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.
18 bilsini chetgipa ja 2019Gaulish: 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).
IIII rivri MMXVIIII ▭Ga: Ga ✧ GAA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Kwa division, first written in 1764. Tonal, three vowel lengths.
18 Manyawale 2019Gciriku (Rumanyo): Gciriku (Rumanyo) ✧ DIU ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, 36,000 speakers along the Okavango River in Angola, Botswana, and Namibia. Most Bantu languages don’t have clicks, but Gciriku uses half a dozen, typically in place names and in words that refer to natural features.
18 Shivóyedi 2019Georgian: Georgian ✧ KAT ✧ Kartvelian family, lacks an F sound natively. Closely related to Svan (q.v.) but completely unintelligible with it. Nouns are classed not as masculine and feminine, but intelligent and unintelligent.
იჱ აგვისტო [agwist’o] ცით ▭Georgian [Old]: Georgian [Old] ✧ KAT ✧ Georgian from approximately 800-1000 CE
იჱ მარიამობისთვე [mariamobistve] “Virgin Mary feastday month” ცითGerman [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.
18 Äugscht -or- Oigscht -or- Àuigscht 2019 ▭German [Alsatian Folk]: German [Alsatian Folk] ✧ GSW ✧ Previous to, or aside from, the modern neo-Roman.
18 Erntemonat -or- Ernting -or- Sichelmond -or- Bisemond 2019German [Brazilian Pomeranian]: German [Brazilian Pomeranian] ✧ NDS ✧ Not to be confused with West Slavic Pomeranian, this is a Low German dialect spoken in the Brazilian State of Santa Catarina, chiefly in Pomerode by 90% of its residents.
18 im Agúst 2019German [Old High]: German [Old High] ✧ GOH ✧ Earliest attested German language, ca. 500-1050 CE. Old High German appears in the Oaths of Strasbourg, 12 February 842, between Louis the German and Charles the Bald.
XVIII Aranmānōd MMXVIIII ▭German [Plautdietsch]: German [Plautdietsch] ✧ PDT ✧ North Sea Germanic, Low German, akin to Dutch. Spoken in Northern Germany, eastern areas of the Netherlands, and by Mennonites worldwide.
18 August -or- Augustus 2019 ▭German [Ripuarian] (Kölsch): German [Ripuarian] (Kölsch) ✧ KSH ✧ Indo-European, West Germanic, Central Franconian. Cologne region.
18 Aujußß -or- Oujoß 2019German [Walser]: German [Walser] ✧ WAE ✧ Germanic, uppermost Swiss alps. Its CH is quite roughly articulated.
18 Öigšte 2019 ▭German [mid 17th century]: German [mid 17th century] ✧ GER ✧ The High German shown on a 1665 calendar
18 Augstmond 2019Gitxsan (Gitksan): Gitxsan (Gitksan) ✧ GIT ✧ Tsimshianic family, British Columbia, < 1000 speakers
18 hlox̱sa lak'insxw 2019Gothic: 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.
XVIII [hailagamenoþs] MMXVIIII ▭Gourmantché: Gourmantché ✧ GUX ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, spoken by 900,000 in Benin, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Togo. Its nouns use circumfixes — prefix-suffix pairs that enclose them. Language names, for example, begin with mi- and end with -ma; thus Gourmantché becomes migourmantchema.
18 cinii 2019Greenlandic (Kalaallisut): Greenlandic (Kalaallisut) ✧ KAL ✧ Language from the Eskimo-Aleut family, now official in Greenland
18 Aggusti 2019 ▭Griko (Grecanic Italiot Greek): Griko (Grecanic Italiot Greek) ✧ GRE ✧ Variety of modern Greek with approx. 50% mutual intelligibility with it. About 28,000 speakers in the toe and heel of Italy.
18 Agùsto 2019 ▭Gros Ventre (Atsina): Gros Ventre (Atsina) ✧ ATS ✧ Algonquian, Arapahoan language of the Gros Ventre people of Montana, natively extinct since 1981 but currently spoken in revival by 45 individuals. Closely related to Arapaho (q.v.) but with a wider consonant inventory.
18 tɔ́ɔ́yóúúnɔɂɔ́-ɂ “It’s fall” 2019Guahibo: Guahibo ✧ GUH ✧ From the Guahiban family, 34,000 speakers in Colombia and in the Orinoco River area in Venezuela. Unusually complex stress patterns for syllables.
18 koni juameto “Changing leaves” 2019 ▭Guan [Dungan]: Guan [Dungan] ✧ DNG ✧ A Sino-Tibetan language that, unusually, uses the Cyrillic alphabet. Three tones. Spoken by 90,000 in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan, it evolved from Mandarin Chinese but drew heavy influences from Turkic languages and Russian.
18 bайүә [bаjyә] 2019Guaraní [Paraguayan]: Guaraní [Paraguayan] ✧ GUG ✧ Tupian family. This is the standard Guaraní spoken in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay. Genderless. Oldest writings date from 1639.
18 jasypoapy 2019 ▭Guernésiais: Guernésiais ✧ NRF ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’oïl. A Norman dialect spoken by approx. 200 on the Channel Island of Guernsey. Victor Hugo contemporary George Métivier (1790–1881) was a widely celebrated author in Guernésiais.
18 avout 2019 ▭Guhu-Samane: Guhu-Samane ✧ GHS ✧ An isolate related to the Binanderean family, Papua New Guinea, five dialects recognized, 13,000 speakers.
18 Augusu 2019Guiqiong: Guiqiong ✧ GQI ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic. A preliterate, poorly documented language spoken in Sichuan and Tibet. Four tones (33, 35, 53, 55). There are approx. 6000 native speakers, who switch to Chinese when they travel outside their villages.
18 dʑε35pu53 2019Gullah (Sea Islands Creole): Gullah (Sea Islands Creole) ✧ GUL ✧ English-based, Niger-Congo influences. The word “kumbaya” comes from Gullah, and some characters in Daughters of the Dust (1991) speak Gullah over English captions.
18 Augus' 2019 ▭Gungu (Lugungu): Gungu (Lugungu) ✧ RUB ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantoid, Great Lakes Bantu, 49,000 speakers in Buliisa, Hoima, and Masindi districts in North Western Uganda. No dictionary existed until 2012.
18 Mweri̱ Gwamunaanei 2019Gusii (Ekegusii or Kisii): Gusii (Ekegusii or Kisii) ✧ GUZ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Northeast Bantu, spoken by 2.2 million in western Kenya’s Gusii district. Contrastive vowel lengths.
18 Riete 2019 ▭Gusilay: 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%.
18 Fubojok 2019Gutnish (Gotlandic): Gutnish (Gotlandic) ✧ - ✧ Endangered North Germanic language some assign to its own sub-branch, spoken by between 2000 and 5000 on the islands of Fårö (not to be confused with the Faroe Islands) and Gotland. Shows vowel shifts and much vocabulary differing significantly from Swedish.
18 agusti -or- aggusti 2019Gwere (Lugwere): Gwere (Lugwere) ✧ GWR ✧ Niger-Congo, Great Lakes Bantu, 410,000 speakers in Uganda.
18 Gwamunaana -or- Nampindi 2019Gwich’in [Western]: Gwich’in [Western] ✧ GWI ✧ Na-Dené family, Athabaskan. 700 speakers in Alaska + NW Canada.
18 Khii Zhrii -or- Vanh dich'ilii 2019 ▭Haida: 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.
18 K’íit’aas Kungáay “Cedar bark for hat and baskets” 2019Haitian Creole: Haitian Creole ✧ HAT ✧ Based on 18th century French with influences from other Romance languages, English, Taíno, and African languages such as Asante, Edo, Fongbe, Fulani, and Kikongo. Spoken by 8.9 million, partially interintelligible with French.
18 out -or- dawou -or- daou 2019Hakha Chin (Lai): Hakha Chin (Lai) ✧ CNH ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken in Burma, Bangladesh, and India. Tonal.
18 August thla 2019Hakka: Hakka ✧ HAK ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Taiwan, SE China, diaspora communities worldwide. Uses NG sounds and final M, unlike, say, Mandarin Chinese.
18 八月 bat5 ŋiet6 2019 ▭Hani (Ho): Hani (Ho) ✧ HNI ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Lolo-Burmese branch, spoken by the 760,000 Ho people in Burma, Southern China, Laos, and Vietnam. Tones shown with superscripts: 24 (rising), 31 (low-falling), 33 (mid-level), and 55 (high-level).
18 ɣɔ33 la33 2019Harari: Harari ✧ HAR ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Semitic, approx. 25,000 speakers in Ethiopia. Once written with Arabic script, but nowadays with the Ethiopic abugida and the Roman alphabet.
18 sot-khá warhay 2019 ▭Havasupai-Hualapai: Havasupai-Hualapai ✧ YUF ✧ Yuman family, around 550 speakers in NW Arizona. About 200 Havasupai (“people of the blue-green waters”) live in the Grand Canyon village of Supai, Arizona, accessible only by foot, mule, or helicopter.
18 Ghwo Baa Hway “Rain with thunder and lightning” 2019Hawaiian [Premodern]: Hawaiian [Premodern] ✧ HAW ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Marquesic, 24,000 native speakers on the Hawaiian Islands, terminology cited in 1895 for Hawaii as a whole: The first was used by fishermen; the second, by farmers.
18 Mahoe Mua -or- Ikua 2019 ▭Hawaiian [Premodern Kauai]: Hawaiian [Premodern Kauai] ✧ HAW ✧ Premodern Hawaiian terminology native to the Island of Kauai.
18 Mahoe Hope 2019Hawaiian [Premodern Maui]: Hawaiian [Premodern Maui] ✧ HAW ✧ Premodern Hawaiian terminology native to the Island of Maui.
18 Nana 2019Hawaiian [Premodern Oahu]: Hawaiian [Premodern Oahu] ✧ HAW ✧ Premodern Hawaiian terminology native to the Island of Oahu.
18 Welehu 2019Heiltsuk-Oowekyala [Heiltsuk]: Heiltsuk-Oowekyala [Heiltsuk] ✧ HEI ✧ Wakashan family, spoken natively by 60 people in the vicinity of Bella Bella and Klemtu at the northern coast of British Columbia. Two discourse styles. The Yílístis Society devised this Gregorian terminology in 1978.
18 ǧváx̌ʔṇx̌ “Dog salmon season” 2019Herero (Otjiherero): Herero (Otjiherero) ✧ 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.
18 Okatjose 2019Hidatsa: Hidatsa ✧ HID ✧ Western Siouan, spoken by 200 (6 are monoglots) in North and South Dakota and Montana. A relatively modest sound inventory of five vowels, two dipthongs, and ten consonants.
18 Máagada Aruʔóodi Mirísh 2019Hiligaynon (Ilongo): Hiligaynon (Ilongo) ✧ HIL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Visaya group, spoken in Philippines. The indigenous abugida script shown here, Baybayin, dates from the 13th century.
18 [lubad-lubad] 2019Hmong Daw [White Miao]: Hmong Daw [White Miao] ✧ MWW ✧ Hmong-Mien family, native to mountainous areas in SE Asia. Seven tones, including creaky and breathy. Hmong Daw has an unvoiced M sound, signified in English by the digraph HM — hence the spelling of the name.
18 Yim hlis ntuj 2019 ▭Holikachuk: Holikachuk ✧ HOI ✧ Athabaskan language, central Alaska. Its last fluent speaker, Wilson “Tiny” Deacon, died in March 2012.
18 Nadathiq’iz Mininh Iligh 2019Homshetsi (Hamshen): Homshetsi (Hamshen) ✧ AXM(?) ✧ Archaic Armenian dialect spoken by 14,000 in Turkey, preliterate until 1995. Homshetsi and modern Armenian are not mutually intelligible.
18 [ağustos] 2019 ▭Hopi: Hopi ✧ HOP ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, approx. 7000 native speakers in NE Arizona. Bitonal with four distinct dialects identified by linguist Benjamin Whorf that differ in their consonant inventory.
18 Paamuya “Joyful moon” 2019 ▭Hrê: Hrê ✧ HRE ✧ Austroasiatic family, Bahnaric, Sedang-Todrah, 94,000 speakers among the Hrê/H’re people of Vietnam’s Binh Dinh, Gia Lai, Kon Tum, and Quang Ngai provinces. Its closest living relative is Sedang (q.v.).
18 khê rahem 2019Huichol [Wixarika]: Huichol [Wixarika] ✧ HCH ✧ Uto-Aztecan language with 45,000 speakers, native to west-central Mexico. Creates long “sentence words” with prefixes and suffixes.
18 ’ixitarixa -or- atahaika metseeri 2019 ▭Hungarian [Premodern religious]: Hungarian [Premodern religious] ✧ OHU ✧ Church-based Hungarian, before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions
18 kisasszony hava “Single woman month” 2019Hungarian [Premodern secular]: Hungarian [Premodern secular] ✧ OHU ✧ Secular Hungarian, before it adopted neo-Latin month conventions
18 újkenyér hava “Fresh bread month” 2019 ▭Hungarian [Reform Era]: Hungarian [Reform Era] ✧ HUN ✧ Hungarian during the nationalistic fervor of 1825-1848
18 nyárutó 2019Huron (Wendat) [17th-18th centuries]: Huron (Wendat) [17th-18th centuries] ✧ WYA ✧ Iriquoian family, Five Nations, Huronian, native to Quebec. As recorded by French Jesuits from the 1650s to 1740s. No native speakers but currently under revival.
18 a8ennenh8t “Corn opens” 2019Iaai: Iaai ✧ IAI ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, spoken by around 4000 on Ouvéa Island, New Caledonia. Sports a highly unusual set of sounds for a Polynesian (or any) language, and stands alone in the world for its voiceless retroflex (tongue curled backwards) nasal.
18 ogos 2019Iatmül: 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.”
18 agi՚ bo 2019Iban: Iban ✧ IBA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken natively by 790,000 ethnic Dyak in Malaysia’s state of Sarawak, Indonesia’s province of West Kalimantan, and Brunei. Uses the Roman alphabet, though a syllabary devised during the 1950s is undergoing revival.
18 kelebun 2019Idu Mishmi (Chulikata): Idu Mishmi (Chulikata) ✧ CLK ✧ Sino-Tibetan, endangered. India’s Dibang Valley District of Arunachal Pradesh, 3 dialects.
18 (hira) -or- pwīlà 2019 ▭Igbo: Igbo ✧ IBO ✧ Niger-Congo, tonal, proverb-heavy, Nigeria. Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor (Amistad, Twelve Years a Slave, etc.) is Igbo.
18 ónwa ásaton’áfò 2019Ik: Ik ✧ IKX ✧ Nilo-Saharan, Kuliak branch, 7500 speakers in Uganda along the northwest border of Kenya. Severely endangered. Features implosives, an example of which is the way English speakers imitate those cartoonish “glug-glug” sounds.
18 Ɗiwamúce -or- Iɗátáŋɛ́r -or- Lósʉ́ɓán 2019Ingrian (Izhorian): Ingrian (Izhorian) ✧ IZH ✧ Uralic, Finnic language with only 120 speakers around Gulf of Finland
18 aukusti 2019 ▭Ingush 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.
18 мангал [mangal] 2019 ▭Ingush 2: Ingush 2 ✧ INH ✧ Alternative terminology
18 мяцхали бутт [myacχali butt] 2019Inuktitut: 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.
18 [augus] 2019 ▭Inuktitut [Nunavik]: Inuktitut [Nunavik] ✧ IKU ✧ A dialect of Inuktitut
18 Aujaliruuti 2019Inuktitut [Qikiqtaaluk]: Inuktitut [Qikiqtaaluk] ✧ IKU ✧ Inuktitut terminology used in the Baffin Region
18 Saggaruut 2019Inupiaq [North Slope]: Inupiaq [North Slope] ✧ IPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, extreme NW Alaska. Including all Inupiaq dialects, there are about 2000 native speakers.
18 aqavirvik 2019 ▭Inupiaq [Malemiut]: Inupiaq [Malemiut] ✧ IPK ✧ Inupiaq dialect native to NW Alaska’s Kotzebue Sound, around the towns of Deering, Kivalina, Kotzebue, and Kobuk
18 tiŋŋivik “Time to fly away” -or- amiġaiqsivik -or- atchak 2019 ▭Iraqw: Iraqw ✧ IRK ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, spoken by 600,000 in the Tanzania’s Arusha Region. Three genders, sentences end with a verb. An apostrophe indicates a glottal stop; a slash, a throaty hiss with a creaky voice.
18 tlamboo/amo 2019Istriot (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.
18 augoûsto 2019Itelmen: 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.
18 кихсуакоюч [kiχsuakoyuč] 2019Iu Mien (Yao): Iu Mien (Yao) ✧ IUM ✧ Hmong-mien family, spoken by 840,000 of a Yao subgroup called the Iu Mien in China, Laos, Thailand, Vietnam, and diaspora communities in the US. Tonal, several voiceless nasals as well as a voiceless L.
18 betv hlaax 2019Izere [Ibor]: Izere [Ibor] ✧ IZR ✧ Niger-Congo family, Plateau, between 50,000 and 100,000 speakers total. Of its five dialects, Ibor Izere is the most heavily influenced by modern world exposure.
18 àwúdìng 2019Jèrriais: 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.
18 âot 2019 ▭Japanese [Premodern]: Japanese [Premodern] ✧ OJP ✧ Dating from the Heian Period (794-1185)
18 葉月 [hazuki] “Month of leaves” 2019Japhug [Kamnyu Village]: Japhug [Kamnyu Village] ✧ OJP ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, Rgyalgrongic, as spoken in Mbarkham County in Sichuan, China. Borrows heavily from Chinese, but non-tonal.
18 βɟɤtpa jamar 2019Jaqaru: 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 its only vowels are a, i, and u.
18 agustu 2019Jarai: Jarai ✧ JRA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language related to Cham (q.v.), spoken in Vietnam and Cambodia
18 blan sơpăn 2019Jebero (Shiwilu): Jebero (Shiwilu) ✧ JEB ✧ Cahuapanan family, moribund, spoken by a few dozen elders. The Jeberos number around 2500 and live along the Río Platanayacu and the Río Marañon in the district of Jeberos, in Peru.
18 SantaRosa-duker 2019Jemez (Towa): Jemez (Towa) ✧ TOW ✧ Tanoan family, spoken by 3000 exclusively in Jemez Pueblo, New Mexico. Tonal. No written standard; transcription discouraged.
18 pǎkwǎp̂â “Festival month” 2019Jerba 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.
18 ghusht 2019Jingpho (Kachin): Jingpho (Kachin) ✧ KAC ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Bramaputran. Kachin State, Burma, and Yunan Province, China. Five tones, commonly written with the Roman alphabet.
18 gupshi 2019 ▭Jju: Jju ✧ KAJ ✧ Niger-Congo, West Plateau. 300,000 speakers in Nigeria’s Southern Kaduna state.
18 Hywan A̱ninai 2019Jola-Fonyi: Jola-Fonyi ✧ DYO ✧ Niger-Congo family, Central Jola group, spoken by 410,000 in Senegal and The Gambia. The 2004 Oscar-nominated short film Binta and the Great Idea, made in collaboration with UNICEF, is in French and Jola.
18 ut 2019Jurchen: Jurchen ✧ DTA ✧ Extinct language from the Tungusic family which evolved into Manchu (q.v.) around the 17th century. It used its own unique Chinese-style script.
18 j̆akun bie 2019Kabiye: Kabiye ✧ KBP ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur. Spoken by 1.2 million in Togo, Benin, and Ghana.
18 lutɔzɔ fenaɣ 2019Kabuverdianu (Cape Verdean Creole): Kabuverdianu (Cape Verdean Creole) ✧ KEA ✧ The oldest surviving creole, based on 15th century Portuguese, native to the Island nation of Cabo Verde, 870,000 speakers
18 agostu 2019 ▭Kabwa (Ekikabwa): Kabwa (Ekikabwa) ✧ CWA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Northeast Bantu, 14,000 speakers in Tanzania’s Mara Region adjacent to Lake Victoria.
18 Egundya mbubha 2019Kabyle (Taqbaylit): Kabyle (Taqbaylit) ✧ KAB ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, spoken in Algeria. Masculine nouns begin with A (character 
); feminine nouns begin and end with T (character 
).
18 ); feminine nouns begin and end with T (character ). [ɣuct] 2019 ▭Kaili [Ledo] (Ledo Kaili): Kaili [Ledo] (Ledo Kaili) ✧ LEW ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Celebic, native to Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. Of the 13 Kaili dialects, Ledo, with 350,000 speakers, carries the highest prestige. Uses the Roman alphabet, though f, q, and x are non-native and reserved for loans.
18 bula uvalu 2019Kako (Mkako): Kako (Mkako) ✧ KKJ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. Spoken by around 120,000 who are mostly Batouri and Ndélélé in Cameroon, including smaller numbers in the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo. Three main mutually intelligible dialects.
18 fɛ 2019Kalapuya: Kalapuya ✧ KYL ✧ Tiny language family once spoken in Western Oregon, extinct
18 Akupiu 2019Kalenjin (Nandi): Kalenjin (Nandi) ✧ KLN ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in east Africa’s Rift Valley
18 kipkogaga 2019 ▭Kalinga [Lubuagan]: Kalinga [Lubuagan] ✧ KNB ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Philippine, Central Cordilleran. Kalinga is spoken by 110,000 Igorot people, 12,000 of whom speak this particular dialect in Kalinga Province. The special letter y with a bar (y̶) is pronounced with the tongue extending further forward.
18 bisbis 2019 ▭Kamba {Kenya}: Kamba {Kenya} ✧ KAM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken in Kenya and Tanzania. First recorded in audio in 1911. Not to be confused with Kaamba {Congo}, Kamba {New Guinea}, and yet another Kamba {Bolivia}.
18 Mwai wa nyaanya 2019Kanji [Piti-Atsam]: Kanji [Piti-Atsam] ✧ CCH/PCN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Platoid. Spoken by around 30,000 in Nigeria.
18 pen awurr 2019Kankanaey [Northern]: Kankanaey [Northern] ✧ XNN ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken on Luzon in the Philippines. Kankanaey has 240,000 speakers, Northern Kankanaey, 94,000. This dialect is spoken in the Philippines' western Mountain Province, Ilocos Sur Province, and Abra Province in the Tubo municipality.
18 banyagaw (Refers to a red caterpillar) 2019Kanza (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).
18 ta he baxóⁿbe 2019Kapingamarangi (Kirinit): Kapingamarangi (Kirinit) ✧ KPG ✧ Polynesian language with around 3000 speakers on the Kapingamarangi and Pohnpei Islands of Micronesia
18 walu malama 2019Kaqchikel: Kaqchikel ✧ CAK ✧ Mayan family, 450,000 speakers in Guatemala’s Central Highlands. Kaqchikel intensifies adjectives by reduplication — in other words, repeating them twice.
18 ruwaqxaq ik’ 2019Karachay-Balkar: Karachay-Balkar ✧ KRC ✧ Turkic language spoken in the Kabardino-Balkaria region of the north Caucasus. Closely related to Kumyk (q.v.).
18 k’’ырk’’ар ай [kyirkyar ay] 2019 ▭Karakalpak: Karakalpak ✧ KAA ✧ Turkic, closely related to Kazakh (q.v.), approx. 400,000 speakers in Uzbekistan
18 сүмбиле [su’mbile] 2019 ▭Karang: Karang ✧ KZR ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Four dialects, 18,000 speakers in Camaroon.
18 few mahpuŋ 2019Karbi: Karbi ✧ MJW ✧ Sino-Tibetan, half a million speakers in the northeastern parts of both India and Bangladesh. Two main dialects, rated “vulnerable” by UNESCO.
18 Paipai 2019Karelian [Standard]: Karelian [Standard] ✧ KRL ✧ Uralic, Finnic. Only non-Karelian spoilsports call it a Finnish (q.v.) dialect. 36,000 speakers.
18 elokuu “Harvest month” 2019 ▭Karelian [Livvi/Olonets]: Karelian [Livvi/Olonets] ✧ OLO ✧ About 30,000 speakers, mostly clustered northeast of Saint Petersburg, adjacent to the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga.
18 elokuudu 2019Karen [S'gaw]: Karen [S'gaw] ✧ KAR ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken by four million in Myanmar and Thailand. Five tones, uses a true alphabet derived from the Burmese script.
[lah ku] ▭Karuk: Karuk ✧ KYH ✧ A language isolate native to NW California’s Siskiyou, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties. As of 2007 a dozen native speakers remained along with 30 or so who had acquired it, largely through the efforts of the Karuk Language Restoration Committee.
18 irákuusra -or- itáharahan 2019Kasena (Kasem): Kasena (Kasem) ✧ XSM ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, 250,000 speakers in Ghana and Burkina Faso.
18 dʋ-liu cana 2019Kaska: 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.
18 Ededegāʼ Sā “Turning white month” 2019Kayan [Baram]: Kayan [Baram] ✧ KCT ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in central Borneo, in two dialects of weak interintelligibity. Not to be confused with Sino-Tibetan Kayan, also known as Padaung.
18 bulan saya’ 2019Kazakh: Kazakh ✧ KAZ ✧ Altaic, Turkic. Cyrillic alphabet. In 2017 Kazakh president Nursultan Nazarbayev decreed that the language will switch completely to the Roman alphabet by 2025.
18 тамыз [tamız] 2019 ▭Kemedzung (Dumbo): Kemedzung (Dumbo) ✧ DMO ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid, 3500 speakers in western Cameroon
18 nsandɨ 2019Kenyah [Lepo’ Tau]: Kenyah [Lepo’ Tau] ✧ ??? ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, North Bornean, Kenyah, Highland B group. There are about a dozen Kenya dialects spoken on Borneo. Lepo’ Tau is preliterate and hasn’t been studied to any great extent.
18 bulan aya 2019Keresan: Keresan ✧ KEE/KJQ ✧ Language isolate group spoken in New Mexico. Some vowels are whispered. 10,000 speakers.
18 y’aamuni daawaatra 2019 ▭Ket: Ket ✧ KET ✧ The only surviving language from the Yeniseian family and seriously endangered, with 150 speakers in Siberia’s Yenisei River valley
18 ульбънна ӄип [ul’bˤnna qip] 2019 ▭Khakas [Koybal]: Khakas [Koybal] ✧ KJH ✧ Turkic language spoken by 43,000 (most of whom are bilingual in Russian) in the Khakassia Republic, north of the Altai Mountains
18 od-ai 2019Khakas [Sagay]: Khakas [Sagay] ✧ KJH ✧ Another dialect of Khakas
18 ot ayï 2019Khanty (Ostyak): Khanty (Ostyak) ✧ KCA ✧ Uralic 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.
18 питәӆ войәҳ тыӆәс [pitĕl̦ woyĕx̌ tyl̦ĕs] 2019 ▭Khanty (Ostyak) [Eastern]: Khanty (Ostyak) [Eastern] ✧ KCA ✧ Eastern Khanty terms collected 1956-1957
18 n’áryɣjuɣlúvtiki “Fresh leaves month” 2019Kharia: Kharia ✧ KHR ✧ Austroasiatic family, Munda branch, about 300,000 speakers in mainland India, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Nepal. Not closely related to any other Munda language.
18 gʰur.se.rel 2019Khasi: Khasi ✧ KHA ✧ Austroasiatic family, spoken by about one million 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.
18 'nái-lár 2019 ▭Khmer (Cambodian): Khmer (Cambodian) ✧ KHM ✧ Austroasiatic family, Mon-Khmer branch, heavy Sanskrit influences. Oldest inscription dates from 611 CE.
[seiha] ▭Khowar (Chitrali): Khowar (Chitrali) ✧ KHW ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, 450,000 speakers mostly in Pakistan. Five dialects, month names can vary from one Chitrali village to another.
18 muž mas -or- siri lehti -or- χol kremi 2019K’iche’ (Quiché): K’iche’ (Quiché) ✧ QUC ✧ Mayan family, spoken by 2.3 million in Guatemala, 13 percent of whom are monolingual. The famous Popol Vuh (Book of the people) was written in Classical K’iche’.
18 uwajxaq ik’ 2019 ▭Kiga 1 (Rukiga): Kiga 1 (Rukiga) ✧ CGG ✧ Niger-Congo, Central Bantu. Uganda and Rwanda. Prefixes indicate the class of a noun, e.g.: nu- indicates person; ki-, customs; ru-, languages (hence Kiga => Rukiga).
18 Okwamunaana 2019Kiga 2 (Rukiga): Kiga 2 (Rukiga) ✧ CGG ✧ Alternate Kiga terminology, considered “Classical”
18 Kicuransi “Cooling of the earth” -or- Kamena “Lotion wasted” 2019Kikuyu (Gikuyu): Kikuyu (Gikuyu) ✧ KIK ✧ Niger-Congo, Northeast Bantu, 6.6 million speakers in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. Three tones: high, low, low-rising. Spoken by a character in the 1983 Star Wars movie Return of the Jedi.
18 Mwere wa kanana 2019Kiliwa: Kiliwa ✧ KLB ✧ Yuman language, 50 speakers, northern Baja California. Word for Pacific Ocean is Kuñím.
18 ja’la’ mí 2019Kiowa: Kiowa ✧ KIO ✧ One of seven languages belonging to the Tanoan family, seriously endangered, 100 speakers in western Oklahoma. Uses aspirated and ejective consonants; vowels can be oral or nasal, long or short.
18 Thahp goon oak-kiah p’aw “Time when deer, antelope, elk shed antlers” 2019Kiribati (Gilbertese): Kiribati (Gilbertese) ✧ GIL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, 120,000 speakers. Its alphabet has 13 letters. “Kiribati” is pronounced KEER-i-bass, as natively this language has no S and so uses the digraph TI to indicate that sound from foreign loans.
18 Aokati 2019 ▭Koasati (Coushatta): Koasati (Coushatta) ✧ CKU ✧ A Muskogean language, tonal, spoken by 200 Coushatta people who live just north of Elton, LA and near Livingston, TX. Akin to Alabama (q.v.) though the two aren’t mutually intelligible.
18 akáska -or- hasí stontoccí:nan 2019Kơho: Kơho ✧ KPM ✧ Austroasiatic, Bahnaric, spoken in twelve dialects by 200,000 in Vietnam’s Lâm Đồng Province. Vowel length is contrastive; prefix tön- makes a passive verb active.
18 kəənhaj pʰaːm 2019Kokborok (Tripuri): Kokborok (Tripuri) ✧ TRP ✧ Sino-Tibetan language of India and Bangladesh. Uses high and low tones.
18 remchar talni mung 2019Komi (Ziryan): Komi (Ziryan) ✧ KOM ✧ Uralic, Permic. Spoken by 220,000 in Russia’s Komi Republic. Many would follow, but this was the first language to derive its own alphabet from the Cyrillic.
18 моз [moz] 2019 ▭Komo: Komo ✧ XOM ✧ Nilo-Saharan (possibly), Koman; 10,000 speakers in Sudan, 8500 in Ethiopia. Three tones, uses ejective and implosive consonants.
18 pay kkoshkkolo ayuk a sʉ 2019Kom: Kom ✧ BKM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Tri-tonal, 127,000 speakers in NW Camaroon
18 njoñ kfÏìmsÏì 2019Kongo: Kongo ✧ KON ✧ Bantu language spoken in Angola and both Congos. The words zombie and goober, and possibly funky, are Kongo loans.
18 sánza ya mwámbe 2019Konso: Konso ✧ KXC ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, spoken by 240,000 South of Lake Chamo in Ethiopia. Serves as a lingua franca in the area.
18 sessayʃa 2019Korku: Korku ✧ KFQ ✧ Austroasiatic, Munda. 727,133 speakers in rural central and eastern India. UNESCO considers Korku “vulnerable to extinction” as it’s being rapidly displaced by Hindi.
18 jiroti 2019Kosraean (Kusaiean): Kosraean (Kusaiean) ✧ KOS ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, spoken by 8000 on Kosrae of the Caroline Islands (where it’s the official language) and Nauru. Possessive pronouns (my, your, etc.) vary according to the subject being referenced.
18 ohkuhs 2019Kpelle: Kpelle ✧ KPE ✧ Niger-Congo, Western Mande, three dialects, 1.3 million speakers total in Guinea and Liberia. Three tones.
18 Manaai 2019Kposo (Ikposo): Kposo (Ikposo) ✧ KPO ✧ Niger-Congo, Kwa, 160,000 speakers in Togo and Ghana. Consonant blends KP and GB frequently occur, along with ƔL.
18 ipuatsyo 2019Ksingmul: Ksingmul ✧ PUO ✧ Austroasiatic, Mon-Khmer, spoken by 27,000 ethnic Ksingmul (Xinh Mul in Vietnamese) in Vietnam and Laos.
18 bluən peːt 2019Kumeyaay (Central Diegueño): Kumeyaay (Central Diegueño) ✧ DIH ✧ Yuman family, spoken by approx. 400 in Southern California and the Baja
18 halanitca 2019Kumyk: Kumyk ✧ KUM ✧ Turkic language spoken by approx. 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.
18 туршу [turšu] 2019 ▭Kuna (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.
18 gignii “Sparrow hawks month” 2019Kurdish [Kurmanji/North]: Kurdish [Kurmanji/North] ✧ KMR ✧ Indo-European family, Indo-Iranian. The dialect of 75% of Kurdish speakers.
18 ab -or- gelawêj 2019 ▭Kurdish [Kurmanji/North/Ezdiki]: Kurdish [Kurmanji/North/Ezdiki] ✧ KMR ✧ The Yezidi people speak Kurmanji Kurdish; to distinguish themselves they call their own language Ezdiki. These are the Yezidis' preferred Gregorian month names.
18 t’ebax 2019Kurdish [Sorani/South]: Kurdish [Sorani/South] ✧ CKB ✧ The Kurdish dialect second in number of speakers to Kurmanji
18 âb 2019 ▭Kusasi (Kusaal) [Western or Mowed]: Kusasi (Kusaal) [Western or Mowed] ✧ KUS ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, 17,000 speakers in Burkina Faso. Tonal. There is also an Eastern dialect spoken in Ghana.
18 naa-dɩɩʋk wãrɩk 2019Kutenai (Ktunaxa): Kutenai (Ktunaxa) ✧ KUT ✧ Language isolate spoken by 100 (British Columbia, Montana, and Idaho). No distinction between voiced vs unvoiced consonants, word order is flexible.
18 k¢iǂmitiǂq’ǂikwaʔit 2019Kuu-Kizhi: Kuu-Kizhi ✧ ??? ✧ Turkic, Central Turkic, Northern Altay Proper. Around 2000 speakers in Russia’s Altay Republic along the Lebed’ River. Scant information on this.
18 [August unknown] 2019Kven: 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 (q.v.) are mutually intelligible.
18 aukustikuu 2019 ▭Kwak'wala: Kwak'wala ✧ KWK ✧ A language from the Wakashan family with around 500 speakers, native to the Queen Charlotte Strait off the NE tip of Vancouver Island. Uncommonly wide consonant inventory, including ejectives.
18 x̱a̱msx̱a̱msdi 2019Kwangali: 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, likely borrowed from its Khoisan neighbors.
18 Siwogedi 2019Kwasio: Kwasio ✧ NMG ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu Zone A, Mvumboic, spoken by 26,000 in the coastal area north and south of the Cameroon/Equatorial Guinea border. Tonal.
18 ngwɛn lɔmbi 2019Kyrgyz: Kyrgyz ✧ KIR ✧ Turkic, Kipchak, spoken by 4 million in Kyrgyzstan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China.
18 Баш оона [başoona] 2019 ▭Lach: 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 its literary standard.
18 śérpjéń 2019Ladakhi (Bhoti or Balti): Ladakhi (Bhoti or Balti) ✧ 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.
18 dawa gyad pa 2019 ▭Ladin [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.
18 agost 2019Ladin [Cadorean]: Ladin [Cadorean] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin dialect of a handful of speakers in Cadore in the Italian province of Belluno bordering on Austria
18 agosto 2019Ladin [Fassa Valley]: Ladin [Fassa Valley] ✧ LLD ✧ Another Ladin dialect, 600 speakers in Trentino in the Italian Alpines
18 aọst 2019Ladin [Gardenese]: Ladin [Gardenese] ✧ LLD ✧ Ladin dialect, 8000 speakers in the Dolomites of South Tyrol in Northern Italy
18 agost 2019 ▭Ladin [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.
18 agost 2019Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish or Judezmo): Ladino (Judaeo-Spanish or Judezmo) ✧ LAD ✧ Medieval Spanish substrate + Hebrew, Arabic, Turkish loans. Spoken by Sephardic Jews worldwide. Traditionally written with the 15th century Hebrew script called Rashi, shown here.
18 [agosto] 2019 ▭Lahu: Lahu ✧ LHU ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, spoken in China, Thailand, Myanmar, and Laos
18 ɔgûɂ 2019Lakota: Lakota ✧ LKT ✧ Siouan-Catawban family, spoken by approx. 6000 in the US Dakotas. Heard in the 1990 movie Dances with Wolves.
18 Wasuton Wi “Moon of seeding plants” 2019 ▭Lak: Lak ✧ LBE ✧ Northeast Caucasian, approx. 160,000 speakers in Southern Dagestan. Heavy influences from Russian, Turkish, Arabic, and Persian.
18 мяйлчинмур барз [myaylčinmur barz] 2019Lama: Lama ✧ LAS ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, Gurunsi, 260,000 speakers in Benin and Togo in three dialects. Three tones: high, low, falling.
18 ñʋsǝ honɖɔ 2019Lao [Standard]: Lao [Standard] ✧ LAO ✧ Kra–Dai family, 6 tones. As in Thai, many Indo-European loans via Pali/Sanskrit.
[deuan singha] ▭Lao [Isan]: Lao [Isan] ✧ TTS ✧ A group of Lao dialects spoken in NE Thailand by ethnic Isans. Like Lao in general, Isan is traditionally looked down upon as “hillbilly talk” by the majority Thai speakers in the area.
18 singhakom 2019Latgalian: Latgalian ✧ LTG ✧ Baltic, 150,000 speakers. Related to Latvian, Samogitian, and Lithuanian (q.v.).
18 labeibys mieness 2019 ▭Laz (Lazuri): Laz (Lazuri) ✧ LZZ ✧ A Kartvelian language spoken in five major dialects by approx. 22,000 on the southeast shore of the Black Sea. Many Greek and Turkic loans; all Laz nouns end with a vowel.
18 მარიშინა [marišina] 2019 ▭Lenape (Delaware): Lenape (Delaware) ✧ DEL ✧ Algonquian, native to the lower Delaware and Hudson Rivers and northern New Jersey in the US. Many Dutch loans from early contact. As of this writing only two speakers remain.
18 Sakaweuhewi Gischuch “Deer start to gray” 2019Leonese: Leonese ✧ ??? ✧ Endangered Romance language undergoing a revival in NW Spain. Oldest writings date from ca. 959-974 CE.
18 agostu 2019 ▭Lepcha: Lepcha ✧ LEP ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, non-tonal, unique script. West Bengal, Nepal, Bhutan.
[purvim lavo] ▭Lezgian: Lezgian ✧ LEZ ✧ Northeast Caucasian, uses 54 consonant sounds, numerals 20 to 99 are expressed vigesimally (by 20s). Official in Dagestan, 665,000 speakers.
18 пахун [paḫun] 2019 ▭Lezgian [Premodern]: Lezgian [Premodern] ✧ LEZ ✧ Conjectured Lezgian terminology of yore
18 нава [nava] -or- пахун [paχun] 2019Lhao Vo (Langsu or Maru): Lhao Vo (Langsu or Maru) ✧ MHX ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Lolo-Burmese, 100,000 speakers. Heard in Luxi City, Lianghe and Longchuan Counties in China, and eastern Kachin State in Myanmar.
18 lɔ̱55 ʃɛʔ55 khjɛʔ55 2019Ligurian [Genoese]: Ligurian [Genoese] ✧ LIJ ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Northern Italy. Endangered. Not to be confused with ancient Ligurian, an extinct Celtic language.
18 agustu 2019 ▭Ligurian [Monégasque]: Ligurian [Monégasque] ✧ LIJ ✧ Ligurian dialect spoken by 5600 in Monaco including Princess Stephanie. Employs the non-Italian ü, œ, and ç.
18 austru 2019 ▭Limburgish: Limburgish ✧ LIM ✧ Germanic language, Limburg & Rhineland areas. Quite unusually, it’s tonal.
18 Augustus 2019 ▭Lingala: Lingala ✧ LIN ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, tonal. Spoken by 15 million in both Congos.
18 sánzá ya mwambe 2019 ▭Lingarak (Neverver): Lingarak (Neverver) ✧ LGK ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Malekula subgroup, spoken by 500 central Malekula Island natives in Vanuatu. It’s under serious threat from Bislama (q.v.), English, and French.
18 navulbrongnaj 2019Lisu [Northern/Standard]: Lisu [Northern/Standard] ✧ LIS ✧ Sino-Tibetan, related to Lahu (q.v.). There are 940,000 speakers of all dialects of Lisu inclusive in China, India, Myanmar, and Thailand. The Northern dialect is held as the Standard.
18 hinrhan 2019Lisu [Southern]: Lisu [Southern] ✧ LIS ✧ Another Lisu dialect. 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.
18 [he21 ha21] 2019Lithuanian: Lithuanian ✧ LIT ✧ Baltic, 3 million speakers. Unusually, its alphabet places Y after Į.
18 rugpjūčio “Rye harvest” 2019Livonian: Livonian ✧ LIV ✧ Uralic, akin to Finnish and Estonian (q.v.). Its last native speaker was Grizelda Kristina (1910-1913) but many are acquiring it as a second language through programs at universities in Estonia, Latvia, and Finland.
18 víl’akú “Grain month” 2019 ▭Lombard [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.
18 agost 2019Lombard [Eastern Bergamasque]: Lombard [Eastern Bergamasque] ✧ LMO ✧ A subdivision of Eastern Lombard spoken by 700,000
18 agóst 2019Lombard [Mantuan]: Lombard [Mantuan] ✧ LMO ✧ Lombard dialect spoken in the city and commune of Mantua in Lombardy
18 agost 2019Lombard [Western] (Insubric): Lombard [Western] (Insubric) ✧ LMO ✧ The Lombard spoken in Southern Switzerland and Northern Italy around Milan
18 aust 2019 ▭Lorrain [Vosgien La Bresse]: Lorrain [Vosgien La Bresse] ✧ ??? ✧ Romance, Langue d’oïl, Lorraine subgroup. Lorraine’s Vosgien dialects were spoken in France in Vosges, St. Quirin, eastern Badonviller, and two Alsace Departments. Rarely spoken today, though much of its influence and vocabulary lives on.
18 ost’ 2019 ▭Lorrain [Vosgien La Haye]: Lorrain [Vosgien La Haye] ✧ ??? ✧ Another Vosgien subdialect.
18 aou 2019Lorrain [Vosgien Ville sur Illon]: Lorrain [Vosgien Ville sur Illon] ✧ ??? ✧ And yet another
18 ou 2019Louisiana Creole: Louisiana Creole ✧ LOU ✧ French-derived, African + other elements. Unlike French, verbs don’t conjugate. Not to be confused with Louisiana French, ᴀᴋᴀ Cajun, a dialect of Metropolitan (Standard) French.
18 août 2019 ▭Lower Tanana: Lower Tanana ✧ TAA ✧ Endangered Athabaskan language with a dozen or so speakers. Minto, Alaska.
18 [August unknown] 2019Loxrlavu [Yao'an] (Lolopo): Loxrlavu [Yao'an] (Lolopo) ✧ YCL ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Tibeto-Burman, Ngwi-Burmese, Ngwi. Spoken by 60,000 Loxrlapor people in southwestern China (Chuxiong Prefecture and Xiangyun County in Midian Township).
18 heixlxiu 2019Lozi: 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.
18 Muyana 2019Luba-Kasai (Ciluba or Western Luba): Luba-Kasai (Ciluba or Western Luba) ✧ LUA ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, spoken in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Closely related to, but not to be confused with, Luba-Katanga (q.v.).
18 ngondo wa muanda mukulu -or- tshimungu wa mashika 2019Luba-Katanga: Luba-Katanga ✧ LUB ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, spoken in the Katanga Province of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Closely related to, but not to be confused with, Luba-Kasai (q.v.).
18 Lùshìkà 2019Ludic: Ludic ✧ LUD ✧ Uralic, Finnic, critically endangered. 3000 speakers near the northeastern shore of Lake Onega, Republic of Karelia, Russia. Described as a transitional language between Veps and the Livvi/Olonets dialect of Karelian (both q.v.).
18 elokuu 2019 ▭Luganda (Ganda): Luganda (Ganda) ✧ LUG ✧ Niger-Congo, Northeast Bantu, 4 million speakers mostly in the Baganda area of Uganda. Tonal (high, low, falling), both consonants and vowels can be long, shown by doubling the letter, or short.
18 Muwakanya -or- omwezi ogw'omunaana 2019 ▭Lugbara: 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.
18 Iripaku 2019Luo (Dholuo): Luo (Dholuo) ✧ LUO ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Kenya and Tanzania. Barak Obama Sr. was Luo.
18 Dwe mar aboro 2019Lurish [Southern]: Lurish [Southern] ✧ LUZ ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, descended from Middle Persian, 5 million speakers. This dialect is spoken in Iran’s Kohgiluyeh, Boyer-Ahmad, Fars, Bushehr, and Khouzestan provinces.
18 šaarivar 2019Luxembourgish [Traditional]: Luxembourgish [Traditional] ✧ LTZ ✧ Indo-European, Germanic, French influences. Its CH is pronounced like English SH (Š). “Moselle Franconian” is an umbrella term for Luxembourgish and its related West Germanic dialects.
18 Karschnatz 2019 ▭Maa [Maasai]: Maa [Maasai] ✧ MAS ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, spoken in Kenya & Tanzania by 1.3 million. Highly tonal and features implosives, an example of which is the way English speakers imitate those cartoonish “glug-glug” sounds.
18 olóíbórrárè 2019Maa [Samburu]: Maa [Samburu] ✧ SAQ ✧ Maa dialect of the Northern Kenya highlands, 240,000 speakers
18 Lapa le isiet 2019Macassarese [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.
XVIII bulang Pacciekai MMXVIIIIMacedonian [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 language spoken during the first millennium BCE.
18 житар [žetvar] “Harvesting” 2019 ▭Mada [Rija]: Mada [Rija] ✧ MDA ✧ Niger-Congo, Plateau, Ninzic, spoken by over 100,000 (all dialects) in Nigeria’s Plateau and Kaduna States. Tonal. Not to be confused with Maɗa, an Afro-Asiatic language of Cameroon.
18 hwә yә̄ tāndà 2019Maguindanao [Pre-Spanish Conquest]: Maguindanao [Pre-Spanish Conquest] ✧ MDH ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 1.1 million descendents of the Sultanate of Maguindanao on SW Mindanao in the Philippines
18 daganenan 2019Makasai [Makalero]: Makasai [Makalero] ✧ MJB ✧ From the Trans-New Guinea family, Makasai itself is spoken by 100,000 in the Baucau and Viquequ districts of East Timor; of those, 6000 speak the Makalero dialect. This is their rarely used Gregorian month terminology.
18 lue-uru “When plants wither and go gray” 2019Makhuwa-Meetto: Makhuwa-Meetto ✧ MGH ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, spoken by 6.6 million Makua in Malawi, Mozambique, and Tanzania. Few vowels but rich consonant inventory that includes includes both English th sounds (IPA θ and ð), a ph (IPA pʰ), as well as č (cherry) and š (shine).
18 Mweri wo nane 2019Malagasy: Malagasy ✧ MLG ✧ Spoken in Madagascar but non-African (Malayo-Polynesian, from Borneo). For all dialects inclusive there are 25 million speakers.
18 Aogositra 2019 ▭Malagasy [Antankaraña]: Malagasy [Antankaraña] ✧ XMV ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Antankaraña in Northern Madagascar
18 Zaotra 2019Malagasy [Sakalava]: Malagasy [Sakalava] ✧ SKG ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Sakalava in Northern Madagascar
18 Fanjava Vita 2019Malagasy [Tandroy-Mahafaly]: Malagasy [Tandroy-Mahafaly] ✧ TDX ✧ Dialect spoken by ethnic Mahafaly in SW Madagascar
18 Aogositse 2019Malecite-Passamaquoddy: Malecite-Passamaquoddy ✧ PQM ✧ Algonquian family, spoken in New Brunswick & Maine, endangered
18 amoniyat-kisuhs 2019Maltese: Maltese ✧ MLT ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, descended from an extinct variety of Arabic that developed on Sicily. Spoken on Malta by 370,000. It’s been heavily influenced by Sicilian (q.v.) and Italian and uses many English loans.
18 Awissu 2019 ▭Manchu: 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
[žakun biya] ▭Mandinka: Mandinka ✧ MNK ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande branch, Manding group. Bitonal.
18 okosi karoo 2019Mandinka [Traditional]: Mandinka [Traditional] ✧ MNK ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande branch, Manding group. Bitonal.
18 sankari konongo 2019Mang: Mang ✧ ZNG ✧ Austroasiatic family, 3200 speakers in Lai Châu Province, Vietnam and neighboring areas in China. The outside world only discovered this language in 1974.
18 meː1 haːm1 2019Mangarevan: Mangarevan ✧ MRV ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by 600 in French Polynesia’s Mangareva and Gambier Islands. Though many speakers are bilingual with French, Mangarevan itself borrows little from unrelated languages.
18 [August unknown] 2019Mangbai: Mangbai ✧ ZNG ✧ Niger-Congo, Mbum, Tupuri–Mambai, 14,000 speakers in Cameroon (Bénoué) and Chad (Lac-Léré). First studied academically in 1971, official alphabet published in 2004. Mangbai is tonal but that’s not shown in writing.
18 fee ɓo՚ laa -or- fee ɗa՚ lra -or- fee ɗa՚ ra 2019Mankanya: Mankanya ✧ KNF ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bak branch, spoken natively by 75,000 in Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Senegal.
18 Pli ptëbënţën pi pti 2019Mansi: Mansi ✧ MNS ✧ Uralic, related to Hungarian, 3000 speakers in central Siberia. Word order is fixed.
18 вортус этпос [wortus etpos] 2019Manx: 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.
18 Luanistyn 2019 ▭Māori [New Zealand]: Māori [New Zealand] ✧ MRI ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, closely related to Tahitian. Personal pronouns come in singular, dual, and plural. Vowel length is contrastive, the long version signaled with a macron.
18 Here turi kōkā 2019 ▭Māori [Cook Islands] (Rarotongan): Māori [Cook Islands] (Rarotongan) ✧ MRI ✧ This is the Māori dialect official in the Cook Islands with approx. 14,000 speakers there and another 8000 in New Zealand.
18 ՙAukute 2019 ▭Māori [Moriori]: Māori [Moriori] ✧ MRI ✧ A Māori dialect of the Chatham Islands, east of New Zealand’s South Island. In 1835 two waves of Māori invaded the Moriori and within a few decades virtually annihilated them. Their language died with its last speaker Hirawanu Tapu in 1898.
18 Muruwhenua -or- Muruwhenu 2019 ▭Mapudungun (Mapuche): Mapudungun (Mapuche) ✧ ARN ✧ Language isolate native to Chile and Argentina, 260,000 speakers. Writing system under dispute.
18 huin-cújen 2019 ▭Mari [Meadow or Eastern] (Cheremis): Mari [Meadow or Eastern] (Cheremis) ✧ MHR ✧ Uralic 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.
18 сорла [sorla] 2019 ▭Marshallese: Marshallese ✧ MAH ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, two main dialects, spoken by 44,000 on the Marshall Islands.
18 Ǫkwōj 2019Mashi (Kwandu): Mashi (Kwandu) ✧ MHO ✧ A Niger-Congo, Bantu language spoken by 22,000 in parts of Angola, DR Congo, and Zambia.
18 Kamera 2019Matlatzinca: 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 Mexico recognizes it as official.
18 nenkunjonbë 2019 ▭Mavea: Mavea ✧ MLV ✧ A moribund Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic language spoken by 34 (as of 2008) on Vanuatu’s Mafea Island. Rapidly being displaced by Bislama (q.v.) with little or no effort being made to preserve it.
18 udura lavoa “Udura tree is blooming” 2019Maxakalí: Maxakalí ✧ MBL ✧ Language with its own family spoken by a few hundred in Minas Gerais, Brazil
18 ãgox 2019Mbuko: Mbuko ✧ MHW ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Chadic. 13,000 speakers in Northern Camaroon. Not to be confused with Mbukushu (q.v.), from the Niger-Congo family.
18 kiya désuëo 2019Mbukushu: Mbukushu ✧ MHW ✧ Niger-Congo family, a Bantu language that unlike most uses clicks, spoken by 50,000 along Namibia’s Okavango River and in Batswana, Angola, and Zambia. Not to be confused with Mbuko (q.v.), from the Afro-Asiatic family.
18 thiteketa 2019Mbula: Mbula ✧ MNA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, spoken by 4500 in Morobe, Papua New Guinea. Many bilingual in Tok Pisin (q.v.) and/or English. Five first-person pronouns: singular (I); dual inclusive (you and I), dual exclusive (we two but not you); plural incl. (we including you), plural excl. (we but not you).
18 Aigere -or- Man mbuleena mamaaza 2019Mbèlimè: Mbèlimè ✧ MBL ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, Oti-Volta, 40,000 speakers in the communes of Cobly and Boukoumbé in the department of Atacora in northwest Benin and areas of Togo adjacent.
18 dinɔɔ̀deendè 2019Meitei (Manipuri): Meitei (Manipuri) ✧ MNI ✧ Sino-Tibetan. Spoken in India, Bangladesh, Burma and not to be confused with Bishnupriya Manipuri (which is Indo-European). Unique script.
[hiyangei] Mele (Atara Imere): Mele (Atara Imere) ✧ MXE ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, one of two interintelligible languages (the other is Fila) spoken natively by 3500 on Vanuatu’s Efate Island. Mele uses a sound that’s rare for a Polynesian language, IPA tɕ, which resembles the ch in cherry.
18 Ookes 2019Menominee: Menominee ✧ MEZ ✧ Algonquian family, spoken in Northern Wisconsin, nearly extinct
18 Mēn kēsoq “Blueberry moon” 2019Meriam Mir (Eastern Torres Strait): Meriam Mir (Eastern Torres Strait) ✧ ULK ✧ Papuan language spoken by around 200 on six islands in the Torres Strait between Australia and New Guinea. Almost half its vocabulary comes from the unrelated Kala Lagaw Ya language spoken in the Western Torres Strait.
18 Ogo 2019Meta': Meta' ✧ MGO ✧ This impossible-to-Google Niger-Congo, Bantu language is spoken by 190,000 in Cameroon. There is radio programming in Meta' and it’s used informally in schools there.
18 iməg ichika 2019Meänkieli: Meänkieli ✧ FIT ✧ Endangered Finnish dialect group spoken in Sweden’s Norrbotten province. Unlike Finnish (q.v.), it borrows neo-Roman terms for the months.
18 aykysti 2019 ▭Miami-Illinois (Myaamia): Miami-Illinois (Myaamia) ✧ MIA ✧ Algonquian, originally midwestern US. Extinct but under revival.
18 kišiinkwia kiilhswa 2019 ▭Michif: Michif ✧ CRG ✧ A French-Cree hybrid, < 1000 speakers. North Dakota, Saskatchewan, Manitoba. It borrows its Gregorian calendar terms from French.
18 áhou 2019Micmac: Micmac ✧ MIC ✧ Eastern Algonquian family, approx. 7000 speakers currently. At one time Micmac used a system of Egyptianesque hieroglyphics called Komqwejwi'kasikl.
18 Kisaqewiku’s “Ripening time” 2019 ▭Miju Mishmi (Kaman): Miju Mishmi (Kaman) ✧ MXJ ✧ Either Sino-Tibetan (?) or an isolate (?), spoken by 18,000 Miju Mishmi in India’s Arunachal Pradesh and Zayü County in Tibet. Features both voiced and unvoiced th sounds (IPA ð and θ). It has two tones, shown with acute and grave accent marks; plus level, shown with a macron.
18 mʉ̄īyā̀ 2019Min Dong [Fuzhou]: Min Dong [Fuzhou] ✧ CDO ✧ Sino-Tibetan, unintelligible with Mandarin or Cantonese, untra-complex tonality
18 dâ̤ báik nguŏk 2019Mingrelian: 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.
იჱ მარიაშინა [mariažina] ცით ▭Mirandese: Mirandese ✧ MWL ✧ Romance language, at least 1000 years removed from Portuguese.
18 agosto 2019 ▭Miskito: Miskito ✧ MIQ ✧ From the small Misumalpan family, spoken by approx. 150,000 in Honduras and Nicaragua. English loans are numerous in Miskito; Spanish, less so.
18 sikla kâti 2019 ▭Mixtec [Magdalena Peñasco]: Mixtec [Magdalena Peñasco] ✧ XTM ✧ Oto-Manguean family, Mixtecan branch, Mixtec subgroup. Magdalena Peñasco, “Language of the Rain People,” is spoken by 9100 in the Mexican state of Oaxaca.
18 yoo agosto 2019Mixtec [Tututepec]: Mixtec [Tututepec] ✧ MTU ✧ A Mixtec language spoken natively by 1200 in Santa María Acatepec, Santa Cruz Tututepec, San Pedro Tututepec and other towns in Oaxaca, Mexico. Of over 30 Mixtec languages total, Tututepec is one of the most divergent.
18 yòò Sávì 2019Mizo (Lushai): Mizo (Lushai) ✧ LUS ✧ Sino-Tibetan language spoken in Myanmar, Bangladesh & India. Akin to Biete (q.v.).
18 thitin thla 2019 ▭Moba [Ben]: Moba [Ben] ✧ MFQ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Gur, Oti-Volta, Gurma, spoken by 300,000 in extreme northwest Togo concentrated in the city of Dapaong, then extending further west to Ghana and northward to Burkina Faso.
18 sabɔunŋ 2019Moba [Bimoba or Moar]: Moba [Bimoba or Moar] ✧ BIM ✧ This is the rarer Moba dialect spoken by 32,000 in Ghana and Burkina Faso. Not to be confused with another language called Moar (aka Liki) spoken in Indonesia.
18 chaakpita -or- ŋmaariŋaniin 2019Mòcheno: Mòcheno ✧ MHN ✧ West Germanic, Bavarian, akin to Cimbrian (q.v.), spoken by 1900 in Italy’s Bersntol region. In Trentino it’s official where many street signs are bilingual Italian/Mòcheno.
18 agst 2019Mohawk: Mohawk ✧ MOH ✧ Iroquoian family, 3500 speakers in Ontario, Quebec, and Northern New York State. Curiously, no labial (lip-produced) consonants.
18 Seskéha 2019 ▭Moksha: Moksha ✧ MDF ✧ Uralic language, Mordvinic, spoken along the central Volga. There are three main dialects, of which the central “ä” is the literary standard.
III/Λ avgustkov IIII/Λ ▭Mong Njua [Green Miao]: Mong Njua [Green Miao] ✧ HNJ ✧ Unlike Hmong Daw (q.v.), this dialect lacks the unvoiced M, thus it’s spelled Mong without the initial H. Hmong Daw and Mong Njua are “mutually intelligible to a well-trained ear” according to a US agency assisting post-Vietnam War refugees.
18 lú yi͊.hli 2019Mongolian: Mongolian ✧ MON ✧ Mongolic, a family whose members include Buryat and Oirat (q.v.). Observes vowel harmony and lacks the standard L sound. 5.2 million speakers.
наймдугаар сар [najmdugaar sar] ▭Monguor (Tu): Monguor (Tu) ✧ MJG ✧ Mongolic family, Shirongolic branch, 150,000 speakers in China’s Qinghai and Gansu provinces. Two chief dialects are Mongghul and Mangghuer; speakers of the latter count in Chinese. Unlike its kin, it uses the Roman alphabet.
18 niiman sara 2019Montagnais Innu: Montagnais Innu ✧ MOE ✧ Algonquian language related to Cree (q.v.), spoken by 11,000 in Labrador and Quebec. Contrastive vowel length.
18 upau-pishimu 2019 ▭Moro: Moro ✧ MOR ✧ Niger-Congo, Kordofanian, spoken in Sudan’s Nuba Mountains. Though there were 30,000 speakers in 6 clans reported in 1982, subsequent warfare may have altered this. The area is remote; information, sparse.
18 ubwa gə'Đəɽal 2 2019Mossi (Mòoré): Mossi (Mòoré) ✧ MOS ✧ A Niger-Congo language spoken by 5 million, mostly in Burkina Faso
18 sa-sika 2019Moxo [Trinitario]: Moxo [Trinitario] ✧ TRN ✧ Arawakan family, Southern, native to NE Bolivia. The Endangered Languages Project reports 3100 speakers.
18 awosto 2019Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance): Mozarabic (Andalusi Romance) ✧ MXI ✧ A set of non-standardized, extinct Late Latin-derived languages spoken in the Muslim-controlled areas of the Iberian Peninsula (Al Andalus) between the eighth and sixteenth centuries. Three writing systems.
XVIII אגושת اگوست agúst -or- agúc MMXVIIII ▭Mundang: Mundang ✧ MUA ✧ A Niger-Congo language spoken by 250,000 in Southern Chad
18 madǝmbii 2019Mussau-Emira: Mussau-Emira ✧ EMI ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, St. Matthias, with 5000 speakers based primarily on Papua New Guinea’s islands of Mussau and Emira. All Mussau-Emiraphones are bilingual in Tok Pisin (q.v.) and many can read English.
18 ghaoaluna ateva ulana 2019Muya: 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.
18 dε33wε55dʑe35pε53 2019Mwotlap [Folk/Traditional]: Mwotlap [Folk/Traditional] ✧ MIV ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, spoken natively by 2100 on Vanuatu'a Mota Lava, Ra, and Banks Islands. Uses four numbers for humans: singular, dual, trial, plural. Non-human subjects are inflected as singular.
18 takle in-gon 2019 ▭Myene (Omyene): Myene (Omyene) ✧ MYE ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, 45,000 speakers of the Mpongwe, Nkomi, Galwa, and Bongo Pygmy groups in Gabon.
18 fogwɛnana 2019Nāhuatl: 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.
18 tlachicueiti 2019 ▭Na [Yongning]: Na [Yongning] ✧ NRU ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, spoken in Yongning township, Lijiang municipality in China’s Yunnan Province. Akin to Nakhi (q.v.).
18 honlhimi 2019Nafsan (South Efate): Nafsan (South Efate) ✧ ERK ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, native to Efate Island of NE Vanuatu with 6000 speakers. They count in base 5.
18 atlag kalatol 2019Nakhi (Naxi): Nakhi (Naxi) ✧ NXQ ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, spoken in Yunnan by 350,000, famous for its Dongba “picture” writing. Related to Na (q.v.).
18 hualmei -or- bafyui 2019Nàmá (Khoekhoe): Nàmá (Khoekhoe) ✧ HQM ✧ Khoisan family, 300,000 speakers. Consonants include 20 clicks. Formerly called Hottentot.
18 ǂha!am -or- aoǁkhuumûǁkhâb 2019 ▭Nanai (Gold): Nanai (Gold) ✧ GLD ✧ Tungusic. 4000 speakers, decendents of Manchurian Jurchen
18 дёан биа 2019 ▭Nandi (Cemual): Nandi (Cemual) ✧ NIQ ✧ Tentatively assigned to the Nilo-Saharan family, Kalenjin branch, spoken by 950,000 in Kenya’s Rift Valley Province. Not to be confused with Nande (Kinande), a Niger-Congo language.
18 Epeso 2019Naskapi: Naskapi ✧ NSK ✧ Algonquian family, spoken by 1,230 in Quebec and Labrador. Uses the Cree syllabic writing system.
18 [aakaast-piisim na] 2019Navajo (Diné bizaad): Navajo (Diné bizaad) ✧ NAV ✧ Athabaskan family, southwest US. Tonal, uses ejectives like the Caucasian languages.
18 Biniʼantʼą́ą́tsʼózí 2019 ▭Nawdm: Nawdm ✧ NMZ ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, Northern, 150,000 speakers in Togo plus more in Ghana. Nawdm’s alphabet includes six digraphs: gw, gb, kw, kp, ny, ŋm. To distinguish paired consonants as not part of a digraph, the first takes an umlaut (e.g., g̈w).
18 nààg bún ní -or- yobgwɛdgu 2019Ndebele [Northern] (Zimbabwean Ndebele): Ndebele [Northern] (Zimbabwean Ndebele) ✧ NDE ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantu, Nguni. Native to Zimbabwe and part of Botswana, spoken by descendants of Zulu leader Mzilikazi (1790-1868).
18 uNcwabakazi 2019 ▭Ndebele [Southern] (Transvaal Ndebele): Ndebele [Southern] (Transvaal Ndebele) ✧ NBL ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantu, Nguni. Spoken in South Africa’s provinces of Mpumalanga, Limpopo, Gauteng, and North West.
18 uRhoboyi 2019Ndyuka (Aukan): Ndyuka (Aukan) ✧ DJK ✧ English-based creole spoken by the Maroon people of Suriname
18 aitin mun 2019Neapolitan: 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.
18 aust 2019 ▭Neapolitan [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.
18 aguste 2019Nenets: Nenets ✧ YRK ✧ Uralic family, Samoyedic. It’s moribund and spoken by hardly anybody in extreme NW Russia.
18 yav’khali’ yriy 2019 ▭Nez Perce: Nez Perce ✧ NEZ ✧ Plateau Penutian family, Idaho, < 200 speakers, revival underway
18 Waw’amaayq’áal 2019Nganasan: Nganasan ✧ NIO ✧ Uralic family, Samoyedic. Extreme north central Russia, approx. 1000 speakers.
18 kicezê 2019 ▭Ngiemboon: Ngiemboon ✧ NNH ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid, Grassfields. Spoken in Province de l'Ouest and Bamboutos in Cameroon by 250,000.
18 saŋ mbʉ̀ŋ 2019Ngomba: Ngomba ✧ JGO ✧ A Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid, Grassfields language like Ngiemboon above. Spoken in Province de l'Ouest and Bamboutos in Cameroon by 63,000.
18 pɛsaŋ pɛ́nɛ́fɔm 2019Ngwo (Engwo): Ngwo (Engwo) ✧ NGN ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantoid, 22,000 speakers in the North West Region of Cameroon — Momo Division, Njikwa Subdivision. Ngwo is tonal and agglutinative.
18 Agúshì 2019Nheengatu: Nheengatu ✧ YRL ✧ Tupi-Guaraní family, spoken by 19,000 in Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela. The name means “good tongue.”
18 îasyposapyra 2019 ▭Nisga’a: Nisga’a ✧ NCG ✧ Tsimshianic family, seriously endangered, British Columbia (Canada)
18 Wii Hoon 2019 ▭Niuean: Niuean ✧ NIU ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken in Niue. Unlike Hawaiian it uses no glottal stop.
18 Aokuso 2019Nivkh (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.
18 lygi vota long 2019 ▭Nkore (Runyankore): Nkore (Runyankore) ✧ CGG ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Spoken by 2.3 million in southwestern Uganda.
18 Nyakanga -or- Kicuransi 2019Nogai (Alabugat Tatar): Nogai (Alabugat Tatar) ✧ NOG ✧ Turkic, spoken in southwestern Russia’s Tuva region by Golden Horde descendents
18 сары тамbыз [sary tambyz] 2019 ▭Noni (Noone): Noni (Noone) ✧ NHU ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantoid, Eastern Beboid, 50,000 speakers in Cameroon. Noni is said to have been heard as a cryptolect (secret language) in an Indiana Jones movie.
18 kpwee Ŋbwele 2019Norman: Norman ✧ NRF ✧ Romance, Langue d’oïl with a substantial Norse element, spoken by approx. 100,000 in Normandy. The Channel Island languages Guernésiais, Jèrriais, and Sercquiais (q.v.) descended from medieval Norman.
18 âot 2019Northern Paiute (Numu) [Bridgeport]: Northern Paiute (Numu) [Bridgeport] ✧ PAO ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, Numic, 700 native speakers reported (2007) in Idaho, California, Nevada, and Oregon. Shown is the Bridgeport dialect, spoken by the Pogi Dukadu (“rye grass seed eaters” of Bridgeport, California.
18 Way Muha 2019Nuer: Nuer ✧ NUS ✧ Nilo-Saharan. South Sudan, Ethiopia. Breathy vs. non-breathy vowels. Related to Reel (q.v.).
18 Thoo̱r 2019Nukuoro: Nukuoro ✧ NKR ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, approx. 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.
18 valu-malama -or- maaidigi 2019 ▭Nusu (Nu) [Northern] (Wawa-Kongtong dialect): Nusu (Nu) [Northern] (Wawa-Kongtong dialect) ✧ NUF ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Lolo-Burmese, preliterate, 2,000 speakers in China’s Fugong, Wawa, Kongtong, and Youduoluo Counties. Not to be confused with Nuosu/Yi (q.v.).
18 ɕe̱53 ɬa55 2019Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Hesquiaht, Muwač’atḥ]: Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Hesquiaht, Muwač’atḥ] ✧ NUK ✧ Of the Southern Wakashan family, Nuuchahnulth as a whole is spoken natively by 130 on Vancouver Island’s west coast. There were at least 15 dialects; this one survives through the efforts of The Hesquiaht Language Program.
18 ʕiʕičasumł 2019 ▭Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Ahousaht, ʕaaḥusʔatḥ]: Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Ahousaht, ʕaaḥusʔatḥ] ✧ NUK ✧ Another dialect of Nuuchahnulth
18 ʔiiḥ 2019Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Tseshaht, C’išaaʔatḥ]: Nuuchahnulth (Nootka) [Tseshaht, C’išaaʔatḥ] ✧ NUK ✧ Another dialect of Nuuchahnulth
18 sacupimł 2019Nyole (Lunyole) [Ugandan]: Nyole (Lunyole) [Ugandan] ✧ NUJ ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, 340,000 speakers in the Tororo District of Uganda. It shares approx. 60% of its vocabulary with Kenyan Nyole.
18 Neerima 2019Nzime (Badweʼe): Nzime (Badweʼe) ✧ PAC ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu Zone A, spoken by 40,000 Dweʼe and Nzime people in Cameroon. Two dialects, Koonzime and Bajue.
18 twe-kobo 2019Occitan [Aranese]: Occitan [Aranese] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d'òc. Spoken in NE Spain’s Aran Valley, official in Catalonia alongside Catalan (q.v.) and Spanish.
18 agost 2019 ▭Occitan [Gascon]: Occitan [Gascon] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d'òc. Spoken in Gascony in Southern France. Widely considered among linguists to be a separate language as it’s far less influenced by Spanish and Catalan.
18 aost 2019 ▭Occitan [Provençal]: Occitan [Provençal] ✧ OCI ✧ Indo-European, Romance, closely related to Catalan (q.v.). A Langue d'òc spoken in Southern France.
18 avoust 2019 ▭Occitan [Vivaro-Alpine]: Occitan [Vivaro-Alpine] ✧ OCI ✧ Seriously endangered Occitan dialect spoken by 200,000 in SE France and NW Italy. The term “Vivaro-Alpine” was coined in the 1970s.
18 avost 2019Oirat [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.
18 ноха сар [noĥa sar] 2019 ▭Ojibwe (Chippewa) [Eastern]: Ojibwe (Chippewa) [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.
18 Manoominike Giizis “Ricing Moon” 2019 ▭Ojibwe (Chippewa) [Western]: Ojibwe (Chippewa) [Western] ✧ OJW ✧ The other major dialect of Ojibwe
18 Miini Giizis “Blueberry Moon” 2019Oneida: Oneida ✧ ONE ✧ Iroquoian family, approx. 250 native speakers in Ontario, New York State, and Green Bay, Wisconsin. Consonant inventory is relatively spare: K, L, N, S, T, H, W, Y and a glottal stop.
18 Onʌ́stase̲’ “New corn” 2019 ▭Onondaga: Onondaga ✧ ONO ✧ Iroquoian family, approx. 50 speakers in Ontario and New York State. Like Oneida (q.v.) and other Iroquoian languages its consonant inventory is small, but its five vowels can be long or short as well as nasal or non-nasal.
18 chereskô ha 2019Oroch: 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.
18 беэ икки иггаса [bjey ikki iggasa] 2019Oromo: Oromo ✧ ORM ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic. Non-Roman scripts were once banned. Oromo’s modern Roman standard, called Qubee, was formalized in 1991.
18 hagayya 2019Ös (Chulym): Ös (Chulym) ✧ CLW ✧ Western Turkic, moribund, spoken by a few dozen in southwestern Siberia north of the Altay Mountains. Soviet-era school children were punished when caught speaking Ös.
18 urgai ai 2019 ▭Osage: Osage ✧ OSA ✧ This Oklahoma-based Siouan language went natively extinct in 2005 with the death of its last speaker, Lucille Roubedeaux. Like European languages such as Polish, Lithuanian, and Dalecarlian (q.v.), Osage features nasalized vowels.
18 mį́įǫpa hkíetoopa 2019Ossetian [Digor]: Ossetian [Digor] ✧ OSS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, spoken mainly by Muslim Ossetians, about 100,000, in the Caucasus.
18 mayræmy kyadzæny mæyæ 2019Ossetian [Iron]: Ossetian [Iron] ✧ OSS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, spoken mainly by Christian Ossetians in the Caucasus. Pronounced EE-ron, this is the more popular of the two dialects.
18 майрæмы мæй [mayræmi mæy] 2019 ▭Ozolotepec: Ozolotepec ✧ ZAO ✧ Oto-Manguean family, Zapotecan group, spoken by 6500 in Oaxaca, Mexico. Zapotecan languages like Ozolotepec are tonal.
18 goxt 2019O’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.
18 Ṣopol ’Esabig maşad “Short Planting Season Month” 2019Pacoh: Pacoh ✧ PAC ✧ Austroasiatic, Eastern Mon-Khmer, Katuic, 32,000 speakers in Laos and Vietnam. Six vowels which can be short or long, and use either normal or creaky voicing. Heavy Vietnamese influence.
18 kixay ticol 2019Paicî: Paicî ✧ PRI ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, Northern New Caledonian, 7300 speakers on New Caledonia’s east coast and inland valleys. Paicî’s consonant inventory is spare but it has many nasal vowels. It’s also tri-tonal.
18 ca api 2019Palauan: Palauan ✧ PAU ✧ Austronesian family, approx. 15,000 speakers. Palau, Guam, Mariana Islands.
18 Ongeai el buil 2019 ▭Palawano [Brook's Point]: Palawano [Brook's Point] ✧ PLW ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Greater Central Philippine. Of three dialects, this one is spoken by 25,000 on Palawan Island, Philippines. Amazingly, its 26-letter alphabet is identical to the English one.
18 agustu 2019Palor (Sili-Sili): Palor (Sili-Sili) ✧ FAP ✧ Niger-Congo family, Cangin, 9,700 speakers in the Thies area of Senegal.
18 ut 2019Pame (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.
18 ngum’au ngumajau nguljung 2019Pashto [Northern/Eastern]: Pashto [Northern/Eastern] ✧ PUS ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, spoken by the Pashtuns of NE Pakistan
18 šawkadar 2019 ▭Pashto [Southern/Western]: Pashto [Southern/Western] ✧ PUS ✧ Pashto dialect spoken in western Afghanistan and Iran
18 barat 2019Pawnee [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.
18 Augusts 2019Pawnee [South Band]: Pawnee [South Band] ✧ PAW ✧ With Skiri above, the other dialect of Pawnee
18 Paaraáreehac (uncertain) 2019Pecheneg: Pecheneg ✧ XPC ✧ A mysterious, poorly attested Turkic language with no known descendents, extinct by 1300
18 şehtem 2019Pemon (Arekuna): Pemon (Arekuna) ✧ AOC ✧ From the Cariban family, spoken by 30,000 in SE Venezuela, Brazil’s Roraima State, and Guyana. It was preliterate until the 20th century.
18 Mauraimö kapüyi “Month of weeding” 2019Penan-Nibong: Penan-Nibong ✧ PEZ ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, North Sarawakan, spoken by 13,000 in Sarawak, Borneo. Two main dialects.
18 laseh ayah 2019Pennsylvania “Dutch” (Deitsch): Pennsylvania “Dutch” (Deitsch) ✧ PDC ✧ A Palatinate German spoken by the Amish, many of whom not named Miller or Yoder
18 Aaguscht 2019Penrhyn (Tongarevan): Penrhyn (Tongarevan) ✧ PNH ✧ Seriously endangered Polynesian language spoken by around 200, Northern Cook Islands
18 aukuse 2019Picard (Ch’ti or “Patois”): Picard (Ch’ti or “Patois”) ✧ PCD ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’oïl. Extreme Northern France.
18 août 2019 ▭Picard [Medieval]: Picard [Medieval] ✧ PCD ✧ As seen on the Astrolabe of Berselius (14th century)
XVIII auoust MMXVIIIIPiedmontese: 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.
18 òst 2019 ▭Pingelapese: Pingelapese ✧ PIF ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by < 1000. Micronesia, Pingelap atoll. Like Batak above, each day in the month has its own name, shown here in angle quotes. Another quirk: 1 in 10 Pingelapese are so colorblind they see only in black and white.
18 《lelidi》 idid 2019Pipil (Nawat): Pipil (Nawat) ✧ PPL ✧ Uto-Aztecan language under revival, El Salvador. There are now over 3000 speakers.
18 metzi chikwey 2019Piro [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.
18 gakosto ksuru 2019Pitcairn-Norfolk: Pitcairn-Norfolk ✧ PIH ✧ An endangered Tahitian/English creole spoken on Pitcairn & Norfolk Islands
18 orgas 2019Pnar (Jaintia or Synteng): Pnar (Jaintia or Synteng) ✧ PBV ✧ Austroasiatic language, 320,000 speakers, Meghalaya, NE India + adjacent areas in Bangladesh. Shares much in common with Khasi (q.v.) though the two are not mutually inteligible.
18 naj sɔphra 2019 ▭Pohnpeian: Pohnpeian ✧ PON ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, spoken by approx. 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.
18 ahkos -or- oakos 2019Poitevin-Saintongeais: Poitevin-Saintongeais ✧ ??? ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’oïl. Earliest known writings from 1400s.
18 àut 2019Pökut: Pökut ✧ KLN ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Kalenjin. 264,000 speakers in Kenya, Uganda.
18 Mukeyo 2019Polabian: 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.
18 haimôn -or- haymon 2019Pomeranian [Kashubian]: Pomeranian [Kashubian] ✧ CSB ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic. Some 100,000 speakers living mostly in Germany & Poland.
18 zélnik 2019 ▭Pomeranian [Slovincian]: Pomeranian [Slovincian] ✧ CSB ✧ The other major dialect of Pomeranian, though unfortunately extinct since World War I
18 ao̱ɣʉst 2019Pontic: 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.
18 Αύγουστον [Avgouston] 2019Potawatomi: 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.
18 nibne-gizes 2019Proto-Germanic: Proto-Germanic ✧ ??? ✧ Reconstructed ancestor of all Germanic languages, last spoken ca. 250 BCE
XVIII aznomenoþ MMXVIIII ▭Proto-Slavic: Proto-Slavic ✧ ??? ✧ Reconstructed ancestor of all Slavic languages, 5th to 8th centuries CE
XVIII srpn MMXVIIII ▭Pukapukan: Pukapukan ✧ PKP ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language from Danger Island (Cook Islands group). Over 4000 speakers.
18 Aukute 2019Pumi [Qingua or Southern]: Pumi [Qingua or Southern] ✧ PMJ ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic. Spoken by highland ethnic Pumi in Yunnan.
18 qa55sɑ̃u13ʒi13 2019Pumi [Taoba or Northern]: Pumi [Taoba or Northern] ✧ PMI ✧ The other chief dialect of Pumi. The two are not mutually intelligible.
18 ʂuɛ35li55mei35 2019Purépecha (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.
18 agosto 2019Puroik (Sulung): Puroik (Sulung) ✧ SUV ✧ So far unclassified. Spoken by 20,000 in seven (or so) dialects by the Puroik people of India’s Arunachal Pradesh. Genderless, seven noun cases.
18 par33 vuaŋ33 aŋ33 bo33 2019Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi): Q’eqchi’ (Kekchi) ✧ KEK ✧ Mayan family, half a million speakers in Guatemala and Belize. Q’eqchi’ uses ejectives and accents virtually all its words on the last syllable.
18 akoost -or- xwaqxaq po 2019 ▭Qiang [Horpa/Ergong]: Qiang [Horpa/Ergong] ✧ ERO ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Qiangic, non-tonal, 50,000 Sichuan-area speakers. Linguists consider it a “living fossil.”
18 ɦɛ dʑɛ pa 2019Qiang [Máwō]: Qiang [Máwō] ✧ CNG ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, non-tonal, 130,000 speakers in China’s Sichuan
18 khaʴʂ 2019 ▭Qiang [Taoping]: Qiang [Taoping] ✧ QXS ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Qiangic, but tonal (unlike Ergong and Máwō above), 80,000 speakers
18 tʂhe55ʂı33 2019Quechan (Yuma): Quechan (Yuma) ✧ YUM ✧ Yuman family, around 300 native speakers in Southeast California and Western Arizona. Verbs carry most of the meaning in a sentence. Not to be confused with the entirely unrelated Quechua languages (q.v.).
18 xaly'á siipxúk 2019Quechua [Standard]: Quechua [Standard] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechuan family, spoken by Inca Empire descendents. Natively it lacks the vowels E and O.
18 ñiqin chakra yapuy killapi 2019 ▭Quechua [Huallaga]: Quechua [Huallaga] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechua dialect spoken in the Huánuco Province in Peru
18 agustu 2019Quechua [Northern/Ecuadorian]: Quechua [Northern/Ecuadorian] ✧ QUE ✧ Quechua dialect, called Kitchwa, spoken in Ecuador, Colombia, and Peru
18 chakmay -or- qarwaki 2019 ▭Quechua [Southern/Bolivian Cochabamba]: Quechua [Southern/Bolivian Cochabamba] ✧ QUH ✧ Of Southern Bolivian Quechua as a whole there are 1.6 million speakers in Bolivia, Argentina, and Chile. In Bolivia it’s the most heavily spoken indigenous language. This is the Cochabamba dialect of it.
18 chajrayapuy killa -or- wayra killa 2019Quechua [Southern/Cusco]: Quechua [Southern/Cusco] ✧ QUZ ✧ Modern terminology for the Quechua dialect spoken in the Peru’s Cusco region
18 qhapaq situa 2019 ▭Quechua [Southern/Cusco Imperial]: Quechua [Southern/Cusco Imperial] ✧ QUZ ✧ This is the traditional terminology of the Inca Empire, citing its monthly celebrations
18 qhapaq situwa “Sacrifice of general purification” 2019Quileute (Quillayute): Quileute (Quillayute) ✧ QUI ✧ The last language to survive from the Chimakuan family. Undergoing revival at the Quileute Tribal School in La Push, Washington. One quirk: it prefixes words according to the physical traits of the person being spoken to — cross-eyed, hunchbacked, short, lame, etc.
18 tsaḳ̕it̕sa 2019 ▭Rade: Rade ✧ RAD ✧ Austronesian, Malayo-Polynesian, Chamic, Highlands, akin to Cham (q.v.), spoken by 180,000 E-de people in southern Vietnam.
18 mlan sa păn 2019Raivavaen: Raivavaen ✧ ??? ✧ A presumably extinct Malayo-Polynesian language native to the island of Raivavae in French Polynesia. The source: a dictionary completed in 1938 by ethnologist Frank Stimson but never published.
18 muri aha 2019Rangi (Langi): Rangi (Langi) ✧ LAG ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu, with between 270,000 and 410,000 speakers in central Tanzania. Nouns divide into 19 classes.
18 Kʉvɨɨrɨ 2019Rapa 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.
18 vai tu’u nui 2019 ▭Rawang (Krangku): Rawang (Krangku) ✧ RAW ✧ Sino-Tibetan family, Tibeto-Burman, Nungish, 63,000 speakers in India and Northern Myanmar. Roman alphabet writing system developed by American missionary Robert Morse starting in 1950.
18 shvt shvlá 2019Reel (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.
18 Abɔ̈thnuoon 2019Rennell-Bellona (Rennellese): Rennell-Bellona (Rennellese) ✧ MNV ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, 4000 speakers, Solomon Islands' Rennell and Bellona provinces. For most people who live there it’s their first language. No ng (ŋ) sound; doubled vowels sound out as separate syllables.
18 Ghoghasi 2019rGyalrong [Northwestern] (Sidaba): rGyalrong [Northwestern] (Sidaba) ✧ JYA ✧ rGyalrong is a group of Sino-Tibetan languages; Sidaba, one of its three major dialects. Verbs are marked with directional orientation cues. Sichuan.
18 zla wa brɟjɐt pe 2019Rohingya: Rohingya ✧ RHG ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian, Bengali-Assamese. Six noun cases. Heavily persecuted, the Rohingya are toughing it out in Burma and in refugee camps in Bangladesh.
18 hati 2019 ▭Romani [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.
18 augosto 2019Romani [Balkan Ursari]: Romani [Balkan Ursari] ✧ RMN ✧ A Balkan Romani spoken in Moldavia and Romania
18 augustos 2019 ▭Romani [Kale Finnish]: Romani [Kale Finnish] ✧ RMF ✧ Indo-Aryan language, by way of Scotland, spoken by the Finnish Romani
18 džiivesko čoon 2019Romani [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.
18 querosto 2019Romani [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).
18 giveskero -or- givesko munþos 2019Romani [Vlax]: Romani [Vlax] ✧ RMY ✧ The most widely spoken Romani today, originally the language of the Romani enslaved in the territory of Romania. Some 14 subdialects including Kalderash and Lovari.
18 oxtotonai 2019Romanian [Meglenitic] (Megleno-Romanian): Romanian [Meglenitic] (Megleno-Romanian) ✧ RUQ ✧ Eastern Romance, native to Greece, Macedonia, Romania, and Turkey. Some consider Meglenitic a separate language, others a dialect of either Romanian or Aromanian (q.v.). Only 5000 speakers, endangered.
18 mesu di bă găroditsa 2019Romanian [Old Church/Traditional]: Romanian [Old Church/Traditional] ✧ RON ✧ Indo-European, Romance. Pre-20th century.
18 gustar “Taste” 2019Romansh [Grischun]: Romansh [Grischun] ✧ ROH ✧ Indo-European, Rhaeto-Romance. Romansh comes in seven chief dialects. Not included among those is Grischun, a controversial “pan-regional” Romansh standard introduced in 1982.
18 avust 2019 ▭Romansh [Putèr]: Romansh [Putèr] ✧ ROH ✧ Romansch dialect spoken in the Engadine Valley, Switzerland.
18 avoust 2019Rombo (Kirombo): Rombo (Kirombo) ✧ ROF ✧ Niger-Congo, Northeast Bantu, Chaga, spoken in Tanzania’s Kilimanaro Region. Four dialects: Keni, Mashati, Mkuu, and Usseri.
18 Mweri wa nane 2019Rongga: Rongga ✧ ROR ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Central-Eastern, spoken in East Nuse Tenggara Province in central Flores, Indonesia. Not to be confused with Ronga, a Bantu language. Unlike English, Rongga’s first person plural offers both inclusive and exclusive forms.
18 augustus 2019Rongmei Naga: Rongmei Naga ✧ NBU ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Kuki-Chin Naga(?), Zeme. About 94,000 Rongmei live in Assam (35 Cachar District villages), Manipur and Nagaland in Northeast India. Six tones.
18 pukphabw 2019Rotokas: Rotokas ✧ ROO ✧ Spoken by approx. 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. There are no nasal sounds like M, N, or NG.
18 vo peva vatarapa kekira 2019Russian [Ninilchik]: Russian [Ninilchik] ✧ ??? ✧ Endangered but still spoken by descendents of 19th century Russian American Company workers in Ninilchik, Alaska. Sufficiently diverged from Russian that linguists consider it a separate language.
18 Agúst 2019 ▭Russian [Premodern]: Russian [Premodern] ✧ RUS ✧ This was Russian before it adopted neo-Latin (more accurately, Byzantine Greek) month conventions. For several centuries starting in the 1100s, both systems coexisted.
18 разосол [razosol] “Pickle brine” 2019Rusyn (Ruthene or Ruthenian): Rusyn (Ruthene or Ruthenian) ✧ RUE ✧ East Slavic, approx. 60,000 current speakers. Unlike Russian it loses the letter Э but then adds Ґ, Є, І, and Ї and (at least at one time) Ѣ. Lemko is a Rusyn dialect. Andy Warhol and Sandra Dee were of Rusyn extraction.
18 серпень [serpen’] “Sickle” 2019 ▭Rwanda-Rundi [Kinyarwanda]: Rwanda-Rundi [Kinyarwanda] ✧ KIN ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Tonal, official in Rwanda. Of the 20 million speakers for Rwanda-Rundi in total, 9.8 million speak this Kinyarwanda dialect.
18 Ukwa munani -or- Kanama 2019Rwanda-Rundi [Kirundi]: Rwanda-Rundi [Kirundi] ✧ RUN ✧ The other chief dialect of Rwanda-Rundi, spoken in Burundi by 8.8 million
18 ukwēzi kwa munani -or- Myandagaro 2019Sa‘a (South Malaita or Apae‘aa): Sa‘a (South Malaita or Apae‘aa) ✧ APB ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, SE Solomonic, spoken by 12,000 in South Malaita, Solomon Islands.
18 ngäli maelo “Time of ripe canarium nuts” -or- hure‘i lade 2019Sabaean (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.
XVIII [ðū ‘lxrāf] MMXVIIII ▭Saho: Saho ✧ SSY ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Cushitic, Lowland East, 220,000 native speakers in Eritrea and in Tigray in Ethopia. Closely related to Afar (q.v.).
18 naxaasi 2019Salish, Coastal [Island Halkomelem]: Salish, Coastal [Island Halkomelem] ✧ HUR ✧ A language from the Salishan family spoken by approx. 200 on the east coast of Vancouver Island
18 tum̓qwé’unxw “Mosquitos” 2019Salish, Coastal [Klallam]: Salish, Coastal [Klallam] ✧ CLM ✧ Salishan family, heard in the Pacific Northwest on the Northern shore of the Olympic Peninsula. Natively extinct with the death of Hazel Sampson in 2014, though the high school in Port Angeles, WA, now offers it.
18 čən̕hənən -or- čən̕t̕áqaʔ 2019Salish, Coastal [North Straits]: Salish, Coastal [North Straits] ✧ STR ✧ Salishan family, Vancouver area. Six dialects, nearly extinct.
18 čən̕t̕áqaʔ 2019Salish, Coastal [North Straits Saanich]: Salish, Coastal [North Straits Saanich] ✧ STR ✧ A dialect of North Straits Salish, 5 native speakers reported. Saanich uses no rounded vowels (o, oo, ow, etc.) except in foreign loans.
18 čən̕hə́nən̕ 2019 ▭Salish, 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.
18 pədt̕aqaʔ 2019 ▭Salish, Coastal [Sechelt] (Shashishalhem): Salish, Coastal [Sechelt] (Shashishalhem) ✧ SEC ✧ This Salishan family language is native to the Sechelt Peninsula area of British Columbia. Fewer than a dozen native speakers remain, all elderly, but it’s being actively taught in local schools.
18 temt՚ aḵa shalshal 2019Salish, Coastal [Squamish]: Salish, Coastal [Squamish] ✧ SQU ✧ Salishan, native to Squamish, North Vancouver, and West Vancouver in British Columbia. Half a dozen native speakers remain; the language is taught at Capilano University.
18 tem t՚áḵa7 2019Salish, Interior [Colville-Okanagan] (Syilx): Salish, Interior [Colville-Okanagan] (Syilx) ✧ OKA ✧ Southern British Columbia and Northern Washington State. Syilx is spoken natively by approx. 600 of whom only a quarter are “deeply fluent” and mostly over 50; it’s considered moribund.
18 łəx̌ʷłəx̌ʷtan 2019Salish, Interior [Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead]: Salish, Interior [Kalispel–Spokane–Flathead] ✧ FLA/SPO ✧ Also called Montana Salish, spoken by approx. 100 elders in the central Montana’s Flathead Nation and in the Kalispel and Spokane Reservations in Washington. Critically endangered.
18 st̕šá spq̓niʔ 2019 ▭Salish, Interior [Lillooet]: Salish, Interior [Lillooet] ✧ LIL ✧ Endangered Salishan language (perhaps 200 elderly speakers) native to Canada’s British Columbia and Fraser and Lillooet Rivers.
18 ƛ̓ak ʔi ̬s.c̓úqʷaz̓ ̬a “Fish are running” 2019Salish, Interior [Shuswap]: Salish, Interior [Shuswap] ✧ SHS ✧ The Northernmost Interior Salishan language, spoken natively by around 200 in central and southern British Columbia. Stress is predictable: the vowels U and I are always stressed, the schwa never is.
18 Pesqelqlélten “Many salmon month” 2019Sami [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.
18 porgemáánu 2019 ▭Sami [Kildin]: Sami [Kildin] ✧ SJD ✧ A Sami spoken by approx. 600 in the Lovozero area of the Kola Peninsula
18 поаррькманну [pоаrr’kmannu] 2019Sami [Lule]: Sami [Lule] ✧ SMJ ✧ Spoken by between 1000 and 2000 around the Lule River in Sweden and in Norway’s Nordland County.
18 bårggemánno 2019 ▭Sami [Northern]: Sami [Northern] ✧ SME ✧ The most widely spoken Sami, approx. 20,000 speakers
18 borgemánu “New hair [of reindeer calves] month” 2019 ▭Sami [Skolt]: Sami [Skolt] ✧ SMS ✧ Seriously endangered, 400 speakers mostly around Sevettijärvi, Finland. Oldest writings date from 1884.
18 på’rğğmannu 2019 ▭Sami [Southern]: Sami [Southern] ✧ SMA ✧ Seriously endangered, 500 speakers in Norway’s Snåsa and Hattfjelldal districts
18 mïetsken 2019 ▭Samlandish (Old Baltic Prussian): Samlandish (Old Baltic Prussian) ✧ PRG ✧ Indo-European, Balto-Slavic (as opposed to Germanic, the other, entirely unrelated “Prussian”). Extinct by 1800, largely owing to plague epidemics and famines during the period 1709-1711.
18 Daggis 2019 ▭Samoan: Samoan ✧ PRG ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Oceanic, about 500,000 speakers in the Samoan Islands and expat communities elsewhere. Elements of speech often differ with register, viz., informal, formal, and ceremonial.
18 Vaenoa 2019Samogitian: Samogitian ✧ SGS ✧ Indo-European, Baltic, spoken in western Lithuania. A Lithuanian dialect to some, a separate language to others. Related to Curonian and Latgalian (both q.v.).
18 rugpjūtis “Rye harvest” 2019Sango: 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.
18 ngbungbu 2019Sangu {Tanzania}: Sangu {Tanzania} ✧ SBP ✧ Niger-Congo family, Northeast Bantu, Bena-Kinga, 75,000 speakers in Tanzania’s Mbeya Region. Not to be confused with Sango (above) or the Sangu language of Gabon.
18 Mupuguto 2019Sanskrit: 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.
१८ अष्टममास [aṣṭamamāsa] २०१९ ▭Santali: Santali ✧ SAT ✧ Austroasiatic-Munda language spoken in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, and Nepal. Uses Ol Chiki alphabet devised in the early 20th century.
Saramaccan: Saramaccan ✧ SRM ✧ Portuguese/English/Dutch creole + African traits. Suriname.
18 tanvú wátá líba “Crazy water month” 2019Sardinian [Campidanese]: Sardinian [Campidanese] ✧ SRD or SRO ✧ 500,000 speakers in Sardinia in the Cagliari metro area and elsewhere in Oristano, South Sardinia, and Nuoro. Proposed as a co-standard along with Logudorese (q.v.).
18 austu 2019Sardinian [Gallurese]: Sardinian [Gallurese] ✧ SDN ✧ 100,000 speakers, Sardinia’s Gallura region and elsewhere in the northeast. It has more noticeable Spanish and Catalan influences. Many consider Gallurese a dialect of Corsican (q.v.).
18 austu 2019 ▭Sardinian [Logudorese]: Sardinian [Logudorese] ✧ SRD or SRC ✧ 500,000 speakers. Central-southern Sardinian Province of Sassari, northern parts of the Provinces of Nuoro and Oristano. Proposed as a co-standard along with Campidanese (q.v.).
18 austu 2019Sardinian [Logudorese Nuorese]: Sardinian [Logudorese Nuorese] ✧ SRD or SRC ✧ A subdialect with features found nowhere else on Sardinia including some th (IPA symbol θ) sounds and the simplification of ny (ɲ) and ly (ʎ) sounds into n and l (e.g., Sardinna instead of Sardegna).
18 agustu 2019Sardinian [Sassarese]: Sardinian [Sassarese] ✧ SDC ✧ 100,000 speakers tending toward the north of the island. Heavy Corsican (q.v.) influences.
18 aosthu 2019Satawalese: Satawalese ✧ STW ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, Trukic, spoken by 500 on Satawal, Yap, and other islands + atolls of the Federated States of Micronesia. Features loans from other Micronesian languages such as Woleaian (q.v.) and Ulithian as well as English, Japanese, Spanish.
18 Eoniueon 2019Saxwe (Tsáphɛ): Saxwe (Tsáphɛ) ✧ SXW ✧ Niger-Congo family, Gbe group, spoken by 170,000 in Benin
18 Otɔsun 2019Secoya (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.
18 kakou 2019Sedang: Sedang ✧ SED ✧ Austroasiatic language native to Laos & Vietnam, 100,000 speakers. Famously huge vowel inventory: its basic vowels can be plain (o), nasal (õ), or creaky (o̰); some, simultaneously nasal and creaky (õ̰).
18 khế tơhéam 2019Seediq [Truku/Taroko]: Seediq [Truku/Taroko] ✧ TRV ✧ Formosan, Atayalic. Indigenous language from Northern Taiwan with 20,000 speakers.
18 maspat idas 2019Sekani [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.”
18 Talook Ooza 2019Sekani [McLeod Lake]: Sekani [McLeod Lake] ✧ SEK ✧ Another Sekani variant
18 Sas tsutle inza 2019Selkup: Selkup ✧ SEL ✧ Uralic, Samoyedic. Yamalo-Nenets region in Siberia, 1500 speakers. Distinguishes between long and short vowels.
18 кỳоче би иррет [kùoče bi irret] “Half-summer month” 2019Serbian [Orthodox]: Serbian [Orthodox] ✧ SRP ✧ Serbian Orthodox Church tradition
18 госпођински [gospodzinsky] 2019Serbian [Premodern/Folk]: Serbian [Premodern/Folk] ✧ SRP ✧ Serbian folk tradition, pre-19th century
18 гумник [gumnik] 2019Sercquiais (Sarkese): Sercquiais (Sarkese) ✧ NRF ✧ Indo-European, Romance. A Norman dialect spoken by approx. 20 on the Channel Island of Sark.
18 u 2019Seri: Seri ✧ SEI ✧ Indigenous language isolate spoken by < 1000 in Mexico. Uses nine definite articles that depend on the relative movement of the object.
18 hant yaail iháat iizax 2019Seychellois Creole (Seselwa): Seychellois Creole (Seselwa) ✧ CRS ✧ French-based creole of the Seychelles, around 70,000 speakers
18 out 2019Shan: 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.
[lunsipet] ▭Shawiya Berber: Shawiya Berber ✧ SHY ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, spoken in and around the Awras Mountains of eastern Algeria. Preliterate until recently.
18 γešt 2019Shawnee: Shawnee ✧ SJW ✧ An Algonquian language with fewer than 200 speakers in Oklahoma. Two genders, animate and inanimate.
18 Po'kamawi kiishthwa “Plum Moon” 2019 ▭Sheko: Sheko ✧ SHE ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Omotic, Dizoid, spoken natively between the towns of Tepi and Mizan Teferi in western Ethiopia by 39,000. Distinctive is its reliance on consonants pronounced retroflex — i.e., with the tongue curled backwards.
18 kūbm̄ ʔyatsʼn 2019 ▭Sherpa: Sherpa ✧ XSR ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Bodic, Tibetic. Spoken by 150,000 in Nepal, Tibet, and Kashmir. Tonal.
18 dāwā gyepā 2019 ▭Shilluk [Cøllø]: Shilluk [Cøllø] ✧ SHK ✧ Possibly Nilo-Saharan, Northern Luo, spoken by 175,000 Shilluk people in Sudan and South Sudan. Three tones (low, mid, high) and four contours for them (rising, falling, high falling, “late” falling), all shown with various accent marks.
18 Lal 2019Shinasha (Borna or Boro): Shinasha (Borna or Boro) ✧ BWO ✧ Afro-Asiatic, either North or South Omotic (depending on whose paper you take to heart) dialect cluster with 37,500 speakers in Ethiopia.
18 mihidufi 2019Shixing: 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.
18 ɕyi55ɬɯ55 2019Shona: Shona ✧ SNA ✧ Bantu language spoken by over 8 million, official in Zimbabwe
18 Nyamavhuvhu 2019 ▭Shor [Kondoma]: Shor [Kondoma] ✧ CJS ✧ Turkic. Both Shor dialects together have 2800 speakers in Siberia’s Kemerovo Province. Mongolian and Russian loans, preliterate until 1885.
18 orgak au 2019Shor [Mrassu]: Shor [Mrassu] ✧ CJS ✧ The other major dialect of Shor
18 орғақ айы [orɣaq ayï] 2019Shoshone [Eastern]: Shoshone [Eastern] ✧ SHH ✧ Uto-Aztecan family. In all dialects inclusive, natively spoken by 1000 in Idaho, Nevada, Utah, and Wyoming. Features some whispered vowels. Lewis and Clark’s translator, Sacagawea, was Shoshone.
18 Yevaraza Mea "Autumn summer month" 2019Shuar: Shuar ✧ JIV ✧ Jivaroan family, 35,000 jungle-dwelling speakers in Ecuador’s Morona-Santiago and Pastaza Provinces. Not to be confused with Shiwiar, though they’re of the same family. The Shuar were among the tribes who originally produced shrunken heads (“tsantsa” in Shuar).
18 ayumpúm 2019 ▭Sicilian: 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.
18 aùstu 2019 ▭Sikaiana: 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.
18 Okosi 2019Silesian: Silesian ✧ SZL ✧ West Slavic, spoken by a half million 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.
18 śyrpjyń 2019 ▭Siona (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.
18 kakou 2019Slavey [North]: Slavey [North] ✧ SCS ✧ Na-Dené, Athabaskan. Slavey as a whole has around 1800 speakers among the Slavey and Sahtu people in the Northwest Territories. This is the North dialect, 800 speakers.
18 Díorídih Sah 2019Slavey [South]: Slavey [South] ✧ XSL ✧ This is the South Slavey dialect, 1000 speakers.
18 Ek’a zá 2019 ▭Slavonic [Old Church]: Slavonic [Old Church] ✧ CHU ✧ Indo-European, Slavic, dating from the 9th century. The original model for the Cyrillic alphabet, it called itself словѣ́ньскъ ѩꙁꙑ́къ [slověnĭskŭ językŭ].
XVIII [avgust] MMXVIIIISlavonic [New Church]: Slavonic [New Church] ✧ CHU ✧ The current liturgical language used in conservative Slavic European Orthodox churches as well as the American Carpatho-Russian Orthodox Diocese. Descended from Old Church Slavonic (above).
18 а҆́ѵгꙋстъ [avgust] 2019Slovenian [Standard Premodern]: Slovenian [Standard Premodern] ✧ SLV ✧ Indo-European, South Slavic, standardized from the Carniolan and other dialects during the 18th century. Unlike other Slavics, Slovenian offers three numbers — singular, dual, and plural. Not to be confused with Slovak, which is WEST Slavic and close to Czech (q.v.).
18 veliki srpan “Large sickle” 2019 ▭Slovenian [Prekmurian Premodern]: Slovenian [Prekmurian Premodern] ✧ SLV ✧ Prekmurian is a Slovenian dialect spoken in NE Slovenia and western Hungary. It’s sufficiently divergent both culturally and linguistically that many consider it a separate language.
18 méšnjek 2019Slovenian [Resian]: Slovenian [Resian] ✧ ??? ✧ From the Resia Valley in Italy’s Udine Province. Heavy Italic influences, considered a separate language by most speakers. Unlike Standard Slovenian its alphabet includes W.
18 avošt 2019Somali: Somali ✧ SOM ✧ Afro-Asiatic family, Cushitic. Employs vowel harmony and three tones, spoken in the horn of Africa and in diaspora communities by 15 million.
18 bisha sideedaad -or- kutuba -or- samalaho 2019Soninke: Soninke ✧ SNK ✧ Niger-Congo family, Western Mande, spoken in Mali (official), Senegal (official), Côte d'Ivoire, The Gambia (official), Mauritania (official), Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, and Ghana. It uses the Arabic and Roman alphabets.
18 utunxaso 2019Sorbian (Lusatian or Wend) [Lower]: Sorbian (Lusatian or Wend) [Lower] ✧ WEN ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic, spoken by 10,000 in lower Saxony (Brandenburg). Six noun cases.
18 jacmjeński 2019 ▭Sorbian (Lusatian or Wend) [Upper]: Sorbian (Lusatian or Wend) [Upper] ✧ WEN ✧ Indo-European, West Slavic, spoken by 40,000 in upper Saxony. Seven noun cases — one more than Lower Sorbian.
18 žnjenc 2019 ▭Sotho (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.
18 Phato 2019Sotho [Northern] (Pedi): Sotho [Northern] (Pedi) ✧ SOT ✧ Another dialect of Sotho, South Africa.
18 Phato 2019Southern Luo [Lango]: Southern Luo [Lango] ✧ LAJ ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Uganda. All numerals under 20 begin with A.
18 Kʉvɨɨrɨ 2019Southern Min (Minnan): Southern Min (Minnan) ✧ NAN ✧ Sino-Tibetan, spoken by 47 million in China’s Fujian province
18 八月 poeh-go̍eh 2019 ▭Standard Moroccan Berber (Tamazight): Standard Moroccan Berber (Tamazight) ✧ ZGH ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber. This language was standardized in 2011 through amendments to the Moroccan Constitution.
18 [ɣuct] 2019 ▭Sudovian (Yotvingian): Sudovian (Yotvingian) ✧ XSV ✧ Indo-European, Baltic, unfortunately extinct by 1600. It was mutually intelligible with Samlandish (q.v.).
18 rugp’ūtis -or- augustis 2019 ▭Sumo [Northern, Mayangna]: Sumo [Northern, Mayangna] ✧ SUM ✧ Like Miskito (q.v.), from the small Misumalpan family. There are approx. 9000 speakers of Sumo languages in the Huaspuc River area in Nicaragua and Honduras; shown here is the Mayangna dialect.
18 sikkiah wainku 2019Sumo [Northern, Tawakha]: Sumo [Northern, Tawakha] ✧ YAN ✧ Misumalpan family, Sumo group. 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.
18 kurih bikis waiku 2019Sumo [Southern, Ulwa]: Sumo [Southern, Ulwa] ✧ ULW ✧ Misumalpan family, Sumo group, Southern. About 400 speakers in eastern Nicaragua.
18 ubalamh waikaku 2019Svan: 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.
იჱ ლიმრიე̄თეჟ̂ [limriēt’ež] ცით ▭Swazi (siSwati): Swazi (siSwati) ✧ SSW ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Swaziland (official), Lesotho, Mozambique, and South Africa.
18 iNgci 2019 ▭Swedish [Traditional/Folk]: Swedish [Traditional/Folk] ✧ SWE ✧ North Germanic, descended from Old Norse. This is the premodern terminology.
18 skördemånad 2019Syriac Aramaic (Suret): Syriac Aramaic (Suret) ✧ 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.
[’ābākh] Tabasaran: Tabasaran ✧ TAB ✧ Northeast Caucasian language notable for its vast noun case inventory — 48, give or take. Natively it lacks the vowel O; the palochka character (Ӏ) makes preceding consonant an ejective.
18 хилин [hilin] 2019 ▭Tacana: Tacana ✧ TNA ✧ Western Tacanan family, 1800 speakers along the Beni & Madre de Dios rivers in Bolivia
18 badhi sukuka beta 2019Tachelhit (Shilha or Sussian): Tachelhit (Shilha or Sussian) ✧ SHI ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Southern Morocco. Writings date from 16th century CE.
18 [γušt] 2019Tagalog [Pre-colonial]: Tagalog [Pre-colonial] ✧ TGL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Central Philippine, spoken by approx. 70 million (28 million fluently). This endemic terminology derives from the first Tagalog dictionary, published by Franciscan priest Pedro de San Buenaventura in 1613.
18 pangalan nang buan ikaualong sa lakad nang taon 2019 ▭Taita (Daw'ida): Taita (Daw'ida) ✧ DAV ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. 400,000 speakers in Kenya’s Taita Hills.
18 Mori ghwa wunyanya 2019Taki 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.
18 Aitimun 2019 ▭Talinga (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)
18 Kwamunaana 2019Tamahaq: Tamahaq ✧ THV ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Northern Tuareg language spoken in Algeria, western Libya, and Northern Niger. Three dialects, 77,000 speakers.
18 yusset 2019Tamambo (Malo): Tamambo (Malo) ✧ MLA ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Southern Oceanic, West Santo, 4000 speakers on Vanuatu’s Malo Island and Espiritu Santo. Plural pronouns specify inclusive or exclusive of the person being spoken to.
18 bongi rara vorivori 2019Tamil: Tamil ✧ TAM ✧ Dravidian family, India. Split off from Malayalam 9th century CE. Pronouns offer several levels of politeness.
18 2019 ▭Tanacross: Tanacross ✧ TCB ✧ Athabaskan language with approx. 30 speakers (middle Tanana River, Alaska)
18 [August unknown] 2019 ▭Tangsa [Hakhun][Premodern]: Tangsa [Hakhun][Premodern] ✧ NST ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Brahmaputran, Konyak. Its Hakhun dialect, shown here, is spoken by 10,000 in India’s Arunachal Pradesh (Changlang and Tirap Districts) and Assam and in the adjacent Sagaing Division of Myanmar.
18 Beram Da [berám dá] 2019Tasawaq (Ingelshi): Tasawaq (Ingelshi) ✧ TWQ ✧ Tentatively assigned to Nilo-Saharan, Songhay, though heavily influenced by Berber languages. 8000 speakers, Niger.
18 ut 2019Tatar [Central or Kazan]: Tatar [Central or Kazan] ✧ TAT ✧ Turkic, spoken in Tatarstan. Has used Arabic, Roman, & Cyrillic alphabets.
18 august 2019 ▭Telugu: Telugu ✧ TEL ✧ Dravidian family, Andhra Pradesh, India. Oldest text, 575 CE.
18 2019Tem [Kotokoli]: Tem [Kotokoli] ✧ KDH ✧ Niger-Congo family, Gur, Gurunsi, 340,000 speakers in Togo, Ghana, and Benin. Tonal, vowel length is contrastive (the long version shown by doubling the letter).
18 ɖiilá 2019Temne: Temne ✧ TEM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu language spoken in Sierra Leone, 4 tones.
18 Páya 2019Teso (Ateso): Teso (Ateso) ✧ TEO ✧ Nilo-Saharan language spoken in Kenya, Uganda by 1.6 million. Not conventionally tonal, but has contrastive syllable stress.
18 Opedel “Harvesting month” 2019Tetum (Tetun): Tetum (Tetun) ✧ TET ✧ Malayo-Polynesian language with Portuguese influences, East Timor.
18 agostu 2019Thadou: Thadou ✧ TCZ ✧ An endangered Sino-Tibetan language spoken by 230,000 in Manipur and Assam in NE India and in Myanmar. There are about a dozen mutually intelligible dialects.
18 lhajing 2019Thai: Thai ✧ THA ✧ Now assigned to the Kra–Dai family, previously considered Sino-Tibetan. Through Buddhism, Thai inherited lots of Indo-European Sanskrit and Pali. Its script is an abugida, i.e., halfway between an alphabet and a syllabary.
๑๘ สิงหาคม [sǐnghǎakhom] “Lion” ๒๐๑๙ ▭Tibetan [Standard or Lhasa]: Tibetan [Standard or Lhasa] ✧ BOD ✧ Sino-Tibetan, bitonal, three speech registers: Phal-skad (informal), Zhe-sa (polite/respectful), Chos-skad (religious, as it appears in scriptures).
༡༨ ta13wa13cεʔ13pa53 ༢༠༡༩ ▭Tibetan [Dégé]: Tibetan [Dégé] ✧ BOD ✧ The Tibetan dialect spoken in China’s Sichuan Province
༡༨ da13wa53dʑe31pa53 ༢༠༡༩Tibetan [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.
༡༨ zla ba brgjad pa ༢༠༡༩Ticuna: 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.
18 toriarü tauemacü 2019Tigrinya: Tigrinya ✧ TIR ✧ Afro-Asiatic, South Semitic. Ethiopia & Eritrea, 9 million speakers. Like English and unlike many of its close relatives, Tigrinya uses phrasal verbs.
18 ነሓሰ [nehase] 2019 ▭Timbisha [Panamint]: Timbisha [Panamint] ✧ PAR ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, native to California’s Owens and Death Valleys and parts of Nevada, 20 speakers. Name refers to rock paint.
18 woosüwim müattsi 2019Tiriyó (Trio): Tiriyó (Trio) ✧ TRI ✧ Cariban family, Taranoan, spoken by 2100 in Brazil’s Pará State and in Suriname’s Sipaliwini District. Its two dialects are referred to as H Tiriyó and K Tiriyó. Heavy Dutch influences.
18 ahkëtëpo 2019Tiwa [Southern]: Tiwa [Southern] ✧ TIX ✧ A language from the Tanoan family spoken by 1600 at Isleta Pueblo and Sandia Pueblo, New Mexico; and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo, Texas. Its sound inventory is relatively large: 26 consonants and six vowels with contrastive nasal versions.
18 Augustu 2019Tlingit: Tlingit ✧ TLI ✧ Na-Dené family, USA Pacific northwest, nearly extinct
18 Sha-ha-yi 2019 ▭Tobian: Tobian ✧ TOX ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Micronesian, Trukic, critically endangered, native to Palau’s states of Hatohobei, Koror, and Sonsorol. 150 native speakers now mostly in Koror, Palau.
18 hawaruwari maham 2019Tocharian B (West or Kuchean): Tocharian B (West or Kuchean) ✧ TXB ✧ Tocharian was a branch of Indo-European, extinct since the ninth century. There are three members known: A (Agnean), B, and C (Kroränian). Tocharians reckoned the months as ordinals; so aside from some idiomatic exceptions that’s what you see here.
XVIII ṣuktante meñe MMXVIIII ▭Tofa (Tofalar or Karagas): Tofa (Tofalar or Karagas) ✧ KIM ✧ A moribund, mildly tonal Turkic language closely related to Tuvan (q.v.) with approx. 90 speakers in the Irkutsk region. Uses a modified Cyrillic alphabet of 42 characters.
18 айнаар ай [aunār ay] 2019 ▭Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin): Tok Pisin (New Guinea Pidgin) ✧ TPI ✧ English-based creole of Papua New Guinea with 120,000 native/fluent speakers and another 4 million with L2 proficiency. Beyond its English substrate it borrows from local Malayo-Polynesian languages and German.
18 numba 8 mun 2019Tokelauan [Traditional]: Tokelauan [Traditional] ✧ TKL ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, approx. 4300 speakers in American Samoa (on Tokelau and Swains Island) and New Zealand. Tokelauan and Tuvaluan are mutually intelligible.
18 Vainoa 2019Tolowa (Siletz Dee-ni): Tolowa (Siletz Dee-ni) ✧ TOL ✧ Na-Dené, Pacific Coast Athabaskan, nominally extinct. Linguist Loren Bommelyn teaches Tolowa in Crescent City, CA. It features ejectives, contrastive vowel length and nasality.
18 Naa-xan-du’ num-nii-man’s 2019Tonga (Nyasa) [Traditional]: Tonga (Nyasa) [Traditional] ✧ TOG ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu, Botatwe (according to some) language spoken by 170,000 in The Republic of Malawi. Tonal. Not to be confused with Malayo-Polynesian Tongan below.
18 Kunkumuna masamu 2019Tongan: Tongan ✧ TON ✧ Malayo-Polynesian. Only one vowel per syllable, no blended consonants. Not to be confused with the Bantu language Tonga above.
18 ’Aokosi 2019 ▭Trique [Copala]: Trique [Copala] ✧ TRC ✧ Oto-Manguean family, Mixtecan branch, spoken in San Juan Copala, Oaxaca, Mexico and by migrants in San Quintín valley, Baja California. There are 26,000 speakers of Trique in general, 15,000 of the Copala dialect.
18 yavii xquí’ “Patron's month” 2019Trique [Chicahuaxtla]: Trique [Chicahuaxtla] ✧ TRC ✧ Dialect of Trique heard in San Andrés Chicahuaxtla, Oaxaca, Mexico. 6000 speakers.
18 óstóo 2019Tsafiki (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.
18 sino liri pe 2019Tsez (Dido): Tsez (Dido) ✧ DDO ✧ Northeast Caucasian, endangered, 15,000 speakers in Southern Dagestan. Heavy influences from Russian, Avar, Arabic, Georgian, and Turkic languages. Rich consonant inventory but lacks an F sound.
18 август [awgust] 2019 ▭Tshangla (Sharchop): Tshangla (Sharchop) ✧ TSJ ✧ Sino-Tibetan, Bodish, spoken by 170,000 in Bhutan’s Trashigang district, Tibet, and Arunachal Pradesh in India. Tshangla derives much of its vocabulary from Classical Tibetan and the two evolved from a common ancestor.
18 dawa dʑepa -or- phaʔda 2019Tsimshian [Coast]: Tsimshian [Coast] ✧ TSI ✧ Indigenous language spoken by around 240 in British Columbia and Alaska. Possibly an isolate.
18 Ha’lila᾿x sistm’oon “Time to harvest humpback salmon” 2019Tsonga: Tsonga ✧ TSO ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu. Uses whistling sounds and a single click.
18 Mhawuri 2019 ▭Tswana (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.
18 Phatwe 2019Tuareg [Tamasheq]: Tuareg [Tamasheq] ✧ TAQ ✧ Afro-Asiatic, Berber. Complex “avoidance” behavior in communication.
18 [ghušet] 2019 ▭Tujia [Southern]: Tujia [Southern] ✧ TJS ✧ Sino-Tibetan, but unclassified within that family due to its extensive borrowing from neighboring languages. Tonal, spoken by 70,000 in China’s NW Hunan Province.
18 pa21 jye21 2019Tumbuka: Tumbuka ✧ TUM ✧ Niger-Congo, Bantu. Speakers in Malawi, Zambia, & Tanzania. One and a half million speakers.
18 Ogasiti 2019Tunica: Tunica ✧ TUN ✧ Language isolate native to central Louisiana, extinct since the 1948 death of Mr. Sesostrie Youchigant (who worked with linguist Mary Haas) but now spoken as an acquired language by 32 people through the efforts of the Tunica-Biloxi tribe. Tonal.
18 Tahch’aruwina 2019 ▭Turkish [Standard]: Turkish [Standard] ✧ TUR ✧ From the Altaic family. Turkish’s earliest inscriptions have been found in Mongolia
18 ağustos 2019 ▭Turkish [Meskhetian]: Turkish [Meskhetian] ✧ TUR ✧ Dialect spoken by the Meskheti disapora throughout Russia
18 харман [harman] 2019Turkish [Ottoman]: Turkish [Ottoman] ✧ TUR ✧ Turkish of the Ottoman Empire before 20th century reforms. Ottoman Turkish borrowed over 80% of its vocabulary from Arabic and Persian; Atatürk’s 1928 reforms restored the native Turkish.
18 әгустүс [ıgustüs] 2019Turkmen 1 [Pre-Niyazov]: Turkmen 1 [Pre-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ Altaic family, Turkic, Oghuz. Nine million speakers, largely intelligible with Azeri and Turkish. But unlike Turkish, Turkmen uses the th sounds, both voiced (IPA ð) spelled with an S, and unvoiced (IPA θ) spelled with a Z. Interestingly, Turkmen has no S sound.
18 awgust 2019 ▭Turkmen 2 [Post-Niyazov]: Turkmen 2 [Post-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ As decreed by dictator Saparmurat Niyazov (1940-2006)
18 Alp Arslan (Seljuk Empire leader, hero) 2019 ▭Turkmen 3 [Post-Post-Niyazov]: Turkmen 3 [Post-Post-Niyazov] ✧ TUK ✧ Back by popular demand!
18 awgust 2019 ▭Tuscarora: 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.
18 rahθeʔkyeháh -or- kę̀∙nęʔr 2019Tutchone [Northern]: Tutchone [Northern] ✧ TTM ✧ Na-Dené family, North Athabascan, about 350 native speakers of Tutchone as a whole. This subgroup: Yukon communities of Mayo, Pelly and Stewart Crossing, Carmacks, and Beaver Creek.
18 Etthá̈n unän yáanétthän “Moose-fattening month” 2019Tutchone [Southern, Aishihik]: Tutchone [Southern, Aishihik] ✧ TCE ✧ Southern Aishihik Tutchone is spoken in the Yukon communities of Aishihik, Burwash Landing, Champagne, Haines Junction, Kloo Lake, Klukshu, Lake Laberge, and Whitehorse.
18 Nanätthän nzhā “Animals fattening month” -or- Nt’ąy ukay kàdäjä̀l nzhā “Leaves turning colors” 2019 ▭Tuvan: Tuvan ✧ TYV ✧ A Turkic language with Mongolian loans spoken in the Russian Republic of Tuva in southern Siberia. Nobel laureate Richard Feynman popularized Tuva and its language among western readers in his posthumously published book Tuva or Bust.
18 сес ай [ses ay] 2019 ▭Tyap (Katab): Tyap (Katab) ✧ KCG ✧ Niger-Congo, West Plateau. 200,000 speakers, Nigeria.
18 Zwat Arinai 2019Tzotzil: Tzotzil ✧ TZO ✧ Mayan family, Cholan-Tzeltalan branch, spoken by 400,000 in Chiapas, Mexico
18 ʔagosto 2019 ▭Uab Meto: Uab Meto ✧ AOZ ✧ Malayo-Polynesian family, unusual gender distinctions, spoken by 800,000 Atoni people in Indonesian West Timor
18 fun-fanu’ 2019Ubykh: Ubykh ✧ UBY ✧ Extinct Northwest Caucasian language notable for its staggering consonant inventory and many other complexities. Its last native speaker was Circassian exile Tevfik Esenç (1904-1992) who worked extensively with linguists to document his language.
18 [August unknown] 2019 ▭Udmurt (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.
18 гудырикошкон [gudyrikoškon] 2019 ▭Ukrainian: Ukrainian ✧ UKR ✧ Indo-European, East Slavic, Polish affinities. Unlike Russian, it employs the characters Ґ, Є, І, and Ї but not Ы or Ъ.
18 серпень [serpen’] “Reaping hook” 2019 ▭Ukrainian [Premodern]: Ukrainian [Premodern] ✧ UKR ✧ Older Ukrainian
18 копень [kopen’] “root” -or- густар [gustar] 2019Unami [Lenape]: Unami [Lenape] ✧ UNM ✧ Nominally extinct Algonquian language of the New Jersey area Lenape people
18 Winaminge “Corn is Ripe Month” 2019Upper Chinook [Clackamas]: Upper Chinook [Clackamas] ✧ WAC ✧ From the Chinookan family of NW Oregon. Upper Chinook went extinct with the death of its last fluent speaker Gladys Thompson in 2012. There were about half a dozen dialects; this one was spoken along the Clackamas and Sandy Rivers.
18 wa’p u lli 2019 ▭Upper Kuskokwim: Upper Kuskokwim ✧ KUU ✧ Athabaskan, only 40 speakers (Alaska). Features a voiceless N sound. Revival efforts currently underway through the efforts of The Dinakʼi Language Preservation and Revitalization Project.
18 nosdlagheno’o’ 2019Upper Tanana [Tetlin]: Upper Tanana [Tetlin] ✧ TAU ✧ Athabaskan, related to Tanacross (q.v.), fewer than 100 speakers. Tetlin, Alaska.
18 Tsets’iit Saa 2019Urhobo: 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.
18 oriaren 2019 ▭Uyghur: Uyghur ✧ UIG ✧ Turkic, loans from Persian, Russian, Chinese. Spoken in China’s Xinjiang region. Not to be confused with Western Yugur (q.v.), another Turkic language.
18 sekkizinchi ay 2019Vai: Vai ✧ VAI ✧ Niger-Congo family, Mande. Tonal, 75,000 speakers, Liberia. Its syllabary writing system was invented by Momolu Duwalu Bukele during the early 19th century.
18 kɔnde 2019 ▭Venda: Venda ✧ VEN ✧ Niger-Congo family, Bantu branch. 800,000 speakers in Southern Africa
18 Ṱhangule 2019Venetian: Venetian ✧ VEC ✧ Spoken in and around Venice and also in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul and the Mexican city of Chipilo. Has un-Italian sounds ç (like Greek θ) and, as also in Polish, ł (like English w).
18 agosto 2019 ▭Veps: Veps ✧ VEP ✧ Finno-Ugric, approx. 6300 speakers mostly near the Gulf of Finland. It has 23 noun cases, the most of any Finnic language.
18 eloku 2019Vietnamese (Annamese): Vietnamese (Annamese) ✧ VIE ✧ Austroasiatic family, at one time written with Chinese-derived script called Chữ nôm. Five tones, shown by diacritics (example: á, à, ã, ả, and ạ), plus neutral.
18 tháng tám 2019 ▭Votic (Votian or Vote): Votic (Votian or Vote) ✧ VOT ✧ Uralic, Finnic, < 20 speakers in two villiages near Narva, Estonia. Like other Finnic languages it uses vowel harmony, where “back” vowels and “front” vowels cannot coexist within the same word.
18 augusti 2019Võro: Võro ✧ VRO ✧ Finno-Ugric, related to Veps (q.v.), seriously endangered
18 põimukuu 2019 ▭Wa [Parauk]: Wa [Parauk] ✧ PRK ✧ Austroasiatic, Mon-Khmer, spoken by 820,000 hilltop-dwelling ethnic Wa in Thailand, Myanmar, southern China. Wa’s scripts have long been in a state of flux; shown here is Parauk Wa’s Yaong Soi dialect, expressed in IPA.
18 kʰiʔ sədaiʔ 2019Waama (Yoabu): Waama (Yoabu) ✧ WWA ✧ Niger-Congo, Gur, Oti-Volta, spoken by 50,000 in Benin. Closely related to Mbèlimè and Moba (q.v.).
18 ciridaafa 2019Wali {Ghana}: Wali {Ghana} ✧ WLX ✧ Niger-Congo family, Gur, Moré–Dagbani, 140,000 speakers centered around the city of Wa and nearby villages in Ghana’s Upper West Region. Not to be confused with Nilo-Saharan Wali spoken in Sudan. Like Finnic and Turkic languages, Wali exhibits vowel harmony.
18 ‘chiuri a’nii daana 2019Wallisian (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.).
18 ’aukusito 2019Walloon: Walloon ✧ WLN ✧ Indo-European, Romance, Langue d’oïl, native to Belgium’s Wallonia region. Its writings date back to 1500s. Despite its traditional label as a French dialect, Walloon and French show little mutual intelligibility.
18 awousse 2019 ▭Waorani (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
18 conetede 2019Warao: 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.
18 waniku mojo matana dijanamo 2019Waray-Waray [Premodern]: Waray-Waray [Premodern] ✧ WAR ✧ Malayo-Polynesian, Central Visayan, 2.6 million speakers. Philippines.
18 hungodhungod 2019 ▭Wayuu (Goajiro): Wayuu (Goajiro) ✧ GUC ✧ Arawakan family, Northern, spoken by 305,000 in NW Venezuela and NE Colombia. Vowels can be short or long (a => aa, etc.), as can the consonants m, n, and t.
18 akoosto 2019Welsh (Cymric): Welsh (Cymric) ✧ CYM ✧ Indo-European, Celtic, Brythonic. Over 700,000 speakers in Wales, England, Argentina, Canada, and the US — many of whom not named Jones. F is voiced unless doubled.
18 Awst 2019 ▭Winnebago (Ho-Chunk): Winnebago (Ho-Chunk) ✧ WIN ✧ Siouan family, native to an area stretching from the Lake Michigan’s southwestern shore 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).
18 Watajox hii wiira 2019 ▭Woleaian: Woleaian ✧ WLE ✧ A Malayo-Polynesian language spoken by 1700 in the Federated States of Micronesia, principally on the Woleai atoll. While the language uses foreign loans, Woleaians are otherwise serious about preserving their culture and enforce strict rules against wearing western clothing.
18 gewaaluweli merame 2019Wolof: Wolof ✧ WOL ✧ Niger-Congo language. Senegal, Gambia, Mauritania. The terms “okay” and “hep cat” may possibly have come from Wolof.
18 bărăxlou 2019 ▭Wutun (Ngandehua): Wutun (Ngandehua) ✧ WUH ✧ A preliterate Chinese/Tibetan/Mongolic creole with 2000 speakers in the villages of Upper Wutun and Lower Wutun, Tongren County in China’s eastern Qinghai province.
18 ba-yai 2019Wymysorys (Wilamowicean/Vilamovian): Wymysorys (Wilamowicean/Vilamovian) ✧ WYM ✧ Germanic language with a few dozen mostly elderly speakers in Wilamowice, Poland. University of Warsaw graduate student Tymoteusz Król works to revive and promote the language.
18 augu̇st 2019 ▭Xhosa: Xhosa ✧ XHO ✧ Niger-Congo, Southern Bantu, bitonal (though not shown in writing) with many unusual consonants including 18 clicks
18 eyeThupha “Month of buds” 2019 ▭Xincan [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.
18 hɨrte ʔawa 2019Yakut (Sakha): Yakut (Sakha) ✧ SAH ✧ Northern Turkic, grammatically genderless, spoken by 450,000 in the Sakha Republic in Northern Siberia
18 атырдьах ыйа [atɯrdaχ ɯya] 2019 ▭Yanesha’ (Amuesha): Yanesha’ (Amuesha) ✧ AME ✧ Arawakan family. Spoken by approx. 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 to signal a K sound.)
18 coraquëm̃ 2019Yangben (Central Yambasa): Yangben (Central Yambasa) ✧ YAV ✧ Niger-Congo family, Southern Bantoid, spoken by 17,000 in Cameroon
18 pisuyú 2019Yaqui (Hiaki): Yaqui (Hiaki) ✧ YAQ ✧ Uto-Aztecan family, 17,500 speakers in Sonora, Mexico; another 430 in Arizona. Seven noun cases. Special feature: a word with an L can be pronounced instead with an R to indicate a speaker’s disapproval.
18 wojnaimet 2019 ▭Yawa: Yawa ✧ YVA ✧ A language from the West Papuan family (perhaps), spoken by 10,000 at Yapen Island’s Cenderawasih Bay, Indonesia.
18 agustusije 2019Yi (Nuosu): Yi (Nuosu) ✧ III ✧ Tibeto-Burman language spoken by ethnic Yi in China and SE Asia
18 [hxitma] 2019 ▭Yi (Nuosu) [Northern Shengza, Xide]: Yi (Nuosu) [Northern Shengza, Xide] ✧ III ✧ A dialect of Yi spoken by the Shuitian people of Sichuan’s Liangshan Prefecture
18 ȵu33 ɬɯ21 “Cattle month” 2019Yiddish (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. Approx. 3 million speakers worldwide.
18 אויגוסט [oygust] 2019 ▭Yoruba: Yoruba ✧ YOR ✧ Niger-Congo family, spoken in Nigeria and Benin. Heavy Arabic influences. Yoruba also sees liturgical use in Santaría and other Afro-American religions in the Americas and the Caribbean.
18 Oṣù Ògún -or- Oṣù Kẹjọ 2019 ▭Yuchi: Yuchi ✧ YUC ✧ Native American language of unknown ancestry, virtually extinct, Oklahoma
18 Tseneaga “Dog days” 2019Yugur, Western {China}: Yugur, Western {China} ✧ YBE ✧ Turkic, Yenissei Turkic branch, 4600 speakers in China’s Sunan Yugur Autonomous County. Not to be confused with Uyghur (q.v.), another Turkic language, nor with Eastern Yugur, which is Mongolic.
18 saqïsïnçï ay 2019Yukaghir [Tundra]: Yukaghir [Tundra] ✧ YKG ✧ A moribund two-language family, spoken by a few dozen in the Russian Far East
18 лэвэймэ сисхадэвчэ [leveime sisχadevče] 2019 ▭Yupik [Pacific Gulf]: Yupik [Pacific Gulf] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, 2 dialects, approx. 500-1000 speakers
18 Alagnat Iraluat 2019Yupik [St Lawrence]: Yupik [St Lawrence] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, Bering Strait area, < 300 speakers
18 Palighvik 2019 ▭Yupi’k [Chevak Cup’ik]: Yupi’k [Chevak Cup’ik] ✧ YPK ✧ Seriously endangered Yupi’k (q.v.) sub-dialect. Hooper Bay, Alaska.
18 Putukuarun 2019Yupi’k [Mid-Alaskan]: Yupi’k [Mid-Alaskan] ✧ YPK ✧ Eskimo-Aleut family, approx. 13,000 speakers
18 Tengun 2019Zapotec, Isthmus (Juchitán Zapotec): Zapotec, Isthmus (Juchitán Zapotec) ✧ ZAI ✧ Oto-Manguean, Central Zapotec, 85,000 speakers in Tehuantepec and Juchitán in Mexico’s State of Oaxaca. Rich inventory of vowels that come in plain, creaky, and checked (cut off at the end with a glottal stop).
18 beu' Mbioo'sho “Masked men carnival month” 2019Zapotec, Western Tlacolula Valley [Teotitlán del Valle]: Zapotec, Western Tlacolula Valley [Teotitlán del Valle] ✧ ZAB ✧ Documented in 2014 by linguist Brook Danielle Lillehaugen. Of WTV Zapotec’s six dialects, this one is the most divergent. Some 100 elderly speakers remain, in the village of Teotitlán del Valle, Oaxaca, southern Mexico.
18 agost 2019 ▭Zarma (Dyerma): Zarma (Dyerma) ✧ DJE ✧ Nilo-Saharan family, Songhay group. Spoken in southwest Niger.
18 ce konno 2019 ▭Zaza(Zazaki or Dimli): Zaza(Zazaki or Dimli) ✧ ZZA ✧ Indo-European, Indo-Iranian; 2 to 4 million speakers, mostly in Turkey. This is the dialect a Zaza group is proposing as a spoken and literary standard.
18 tebaxe 2019 ▭Zaza (Zazaki or Dimli) [Northern]: Zaza (Zazaki or Dimli) [Northern] ✧ KIU ✧ This is the northern or Zazakiyê Zımey dialect of Zaza, spoken in Turkey’s Erzincan, Erzurum, Gumushane, Kayseri, Mus, Sivas, and Tunceli provinces.
18 amnania peyêne 2019Zhuang: Zhuang ✧ ZHA ✧ Kra–Dai family, 6 tones, spoken in China’s Guangxi region
18 nin betq -or- 8 nyied 2019Zou (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.
18 sêugàwl hà 2019Zou (Zomi) [Chin Hills]: Zou (Zomi) [Chin Hills] ✧ ZOM ✧ This is the Zou spoken in those areas other than India.
18 buonsiel hlà 2019 ▭Zulu: Zulu ✧ ZUL ✧ Bantu language widely spoken in Southern Africa. Uses clicks.
18 uNcwaba 2019Zuni: Zuni ✧ ZUN ✧ An isolate spoken by 9500 in New Mexico. Strangely, there may be a 13th-century Japanese connection.
18 onan u’la’ukwamme 2019
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 some cases, especially with indigenous languages, the month-to-month correspondence between their own systems and the modern Gregorian one was less than definitive but at least strongly implied in the listings I’ve used as sources. This is a self-correcting situation anyway, since as time goes by more and more of them switch from lunar to solar and map themselves to it formally for the sake of modern convenience. Of course the month names of many languages bear no such correspondence, so aside from the special cases for Gaulish and my tweaked version of Tocharian you won’t see them displayed here.
3. Our source for the Gaulish system is the Coligny calendar dating from the 2nd century ce, discovered in France in 1897. Tocharian inherited its calendar from the Chinese system whose year began approximately in mid-February by our reckoning.
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 some cases, especially with indigenous languages, the month-to-month correspondence between their own systems and the modern Gregorian one was less than definitive but at least strongly implied in the listings I’ve used as sources. This is a self-correcting situation anyway, since as time goes by more and more of them switch from lunar to solar and map themselves to it formally for the sake of modern convenience. Of course the month names of many languages bear no such correspondence, so aside from the special cases for Gaulish and my tweaked version of Tocharian you won’t see them displayed here.
3. Our source for the Gaulish system is the Coligny calendar dating from the 2nd century ce, discovered in France in 1897. Tocharian inherited its calendar from the Chinese system whose year began approximately in mid-February by our reckoning.
Tachimachizuki ↓
Special thanks:
Douglas Q. Adams (Tocharian B)
I Wayan Arka (Ronggo)
Lorraine Allen and John Ritter (Tutchone varieties)
Ansuharijaz (Frankish and Proto-Germanic reconstructions)
Mira Bergelson, Andrej A. Kibrik, Wayne Leman, and Marina Raskladkina (Ninilchik Russian)
Barbara Webster Black and Friends of Tobi (Tobian)
Roger Blench and Bitrus Kaze of the University of Cambridge (Many African lanbuages)
Krishna Boro of the University of Oregon Deptartment of Linguistics (Hakhun Tangsa)
William Bright and Susan Gehr (Karuk)
Can Dai Quang (Cham)
Bernard Comrie of UC Santa Barbara and Timur Maisak (Bagvalal)
I Love Languages! Youtube author (Many sample videos I’ve linked to)
Eliza Jones, James Kari, Mildred Buck, plus others of the Alaska Native Language Center
Paul Lewis (Akha)
Lin Ying-Chin, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Tibetan, Pumi, Qiangic languages)
Ma Seng Mai of Payap University (Wa)
Patsou’s Des Mots et des Langues
Peace Corps language handbooks
Gertjan Postma (Brazilian Pomeranian)
Le Projet Babel (Vosgien Lorrain)
Antoninu Rubattu (Sardinian dialects)
Apay Tang (Truku dialect of Seediq)
Tomedes — Smart Human Translation (Homshetsi)
Suzanne Weryackwe of Arizona State University (Havasupai-Hualapai)
Qinglian Zhao (Naxi)
… and literally hundreds of other sources
Douglas Q. Adams (Tocharian B)
I Wayan Arka (Ronggo)
Lorraine Allen and John Ritter (Tutchone varieties)
Ansuharijaz (Frankish and Proto-Germanic reconstructions)
Mira Bergelson, Andrej A. Kibrik, Wayne Leman, and Marina Raskladkina (Ninilchik Russian)
Barbara Webster Black and Friends of Tobi (Tobian)
Roger Blench and Bitrus Kaze of the University of Cambridge (Many African lanbuages)
Krishna Boro of the University of Oregon Deptartment of Linguistics (Hakhun Tangsa)
William Bright and Susan Gehr (Karuk)
Can Dai Quang (Cham)
Bernard Comrie of UC Santa Barbara and Timur Maisak (Bagvalal)
I Love Languages! Youtube author (Many sample videos I’ve linked to)
Eliza Jones, James Kari, Mildred Buck, plus others of the Alaska Native Language Center
Paul Lewis (Akha)
Lin Ying-Chin, Institute of Linguistics, Academia Sinica, Taipei (Tibetan, Pumi, Qiangic languages)
Ma Seng Mai of Payap University (Wa)
Patsou’s Des Mots et des Langues
Peace Corps language handbooks
Gertjan Postma (Brazilian Pomeranian)
Le Projet Babel (Vosgien Lorrain)
Antoninu Rubattu (Sardinian dialects)
Apay Tang (Truku dialect of Seediq)
Tomedes — Smart Human Translation (Homshetsi)
Suzanne Weryackwe of Arizona State University (Havasupai-Hualapai)
Qinglian Zhao (Naxi)
… and literally hundreds of other sources
