List of endangered languages

A list of endangered languages (with fewer than 1000 speakers or with very fast decline).

In order to judge if a language is actually endangered, the number of speakers is less important than the distribution among age cohorts. There may be 200,000 mother tongue speakers of the Breton language over 50 years of age, but fewer than 2,000 under 25 years of age - thus it is likely Breton will die out in the next half century. On the other hand, while there are 30,000 Ladin language speakers left, almost all children still learn it as their mother tongue - thus Ladin is not endangered in the 21st century.

This page should include a link to the language's page, geographical localization and an approximate number of speakers

Americas

• Michif, spoken by fewer than 1,000 people in western Canada
• indigenous languages of Canada:
  • Abenaki, 10 speakers
  • Dane-zaa, 300 speakers
  • Cayuga, 360 speakers
  • Delaware (Munsee), fewer than 10 speakers
  • Hare, 600 speakers
  • Onandaga, fewer than 100 speakers
  • Oneida, 200 speakers
  • Potawatomi, 100 speakers
  • Tsuut'ina, 10 speakers
  • Seneca, 25 speakers
  • Tlingit, 200 speakers
• indigenous languages of the USA:
  • Hawaiian language, Hawaii

Asia

• Ainu, Northern Japan, 15 speakers
• Aramaic, Lebanon, Kurdistan
• Chukchi, Siberia, circa 10,400 speakers (2001)
• Udmurt, various parts of Russia
• Northern indigenous peoples of Russia
• Beechistani ,Somewhere in Northern India(Beechistaan), 6 speakers
• Sanskrit, Nepal-India, Less than 500 speakers, According to Indian history, Sanskrit is the mother of all Indo-European languages.
• Athpahariya language, Athpahariya
• Bahing language, Bahing
• Barām language, Barām
• Chepang language
• Kumāle language, Kumāle
• Kusunda language, Kusunda
• Surel language, Surel

Australia

• all aboriginal languages

Europe

• European Union
  • Alsatian (France) very fast decline
  • Aragonese (Spain) very fast decline
  • Aromanian (Greece) very fast decline
  • Basque (Spain and France) very fast decline
  • Breton (France) very fast decline
  • Catalan (France) very fast decline
  • Corsican (France) very fast decline
  • Catalan (Italy) very fast decline
  • South Italian Greek (Italy) very fast decline
  • Italkian (Judeo-Italian) (Italy) nearly extinct
  • Molise Slavic (Italy) very fast decline
  • Occitan (France) very fast decline
  • Sami languages, (Scandinavia), some having fewer than 100 speakers
  • Scottish Gaelic (United Kingdom) very fast decline
  • Lower Sorbian, (Germany) very fast decline
  • West Flemish (France) very fast decline
  • Yevanic (Judeo-Greek) (Greece) probably extinct
• Outside of the European Union
  • Belarusian, very low usage in Belarus
  • Istro-Romanian, Istria Croatia, 500 speakers
  • Krimchak (Judeo-Crimean Tatar)
  • Livonian, Estonia, 35 speakers
  • Mordvin (Russia), steady decline
    • Erzya language
    • Moksha language
  • Votian, Russia, 50 speakers

Related pages

• endangered language
• list of extinct languages
• Language families and languages
• Language policy

Other websites

• UNESCO Red Book of Endangered Languages