Ethnologue facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Ethnologue

Type of site	Language database
Available in	English
Founded	1951
Headquarters	Dallas , United States
Owner	SIL International, United States
Founder(s)	Richard S. Pittman
Editors	David M. Eberhard Gary F. Simons Charles D. Fennig
Commercial	Yes
Registration	Required to access most content since 2019
ISSN	1946-9675
OCLC number	43349556

Ethnologue: Languages of the World is a yearly book and website. It shares facts and numbers about all the living languages around the globe. Think of it as the world's biggest list of languages! It first came out in 1951. Today, it is published by SIL International, a Christian non-profit group in the United States.

What is Ethnologue?

Ethnologue is published by SIL International. This group studies many different languages, especially smaller ones. They help develop these languages. They also work with people who speak these languages to translate parts of the Bible. Even though a Christian group publishes it, Ethnologue focuses only on language facts. It does not share religious ideas.

What information does Ethnologue provide?

Ethnologue gives lots of details about each language. This includes other names for the language and how many people speak it. It also tells you where the language is used and how many people can read and write it. You can find out about different dialects and how languages are related.

It also has maps showing where languages are spoken. You can see if the Bible is available in that language. Ethnologue even tries to guess how strong a language is. This means if it's still widely used or if it's in danger of disappearing.

How does Ethnologue get its information?

Ethnologue gets its facts from many sources. Thousands of field linguists from SIL International gather information. They do surveys and observe how people use languages. Bible translators also share what they learn.

People from all over the world can also help. This is called crowdsourcing. SIL's linguists use an online system to check and update the information. A team of editors then reviews everything. They make sure the information is correct and balanced. Many of these linguists have advanced degrees in language studies.

How does Ethnologue decide what is a language?

It can be tricky to decide if something is a separate language or just a dialect. Ethnologue looks at two main things. First, can speakers of different versions understand each other? This is called mutual intelligibility. Second, do people who speak it feel it's a unique language?

The number of languages listed in Ethnologue has grown over time. In 1984, there were 5,445 languages. By 2009, there were 6,909. This is partly because governments sometimes recognize new languages. Also, SIL creates new Bible translation teams, which helps identify more languages.

Ethnologue also helped create an international standard for language codes. This is called ISO 639-3. Since 2007, Ethnologue uses this standard to decide what counts as a language.

Language names and variations

Besides a main name, Ethnologue lists other names for a language. This includes names used by speakers, governments, or neighbors. It also lists old names, even if they are not used anymore. This helps people do historical research. These lists might not include every single name.

History of Ethnologue

Ethnologue was started in 1951 by Richard S. Pittman. It first focused on smaller languages. The goal was to share information about where Bible translations were needed. The very first edition had facts on only 46 languages.

Growth and development

Maps were added to the book in 1953. By 1969, the seventh edition listed 4,493 languages. In 1971, Ethnologue began to cover all known languages worldwide.

The Ethnologue database was created in 1971. It moved to Cornell University in 1974. Since 2000, SIL International has kept the database in their Dallas office. The website became the main way to access Ethnologue in 1997.

Language codes and standards

In 1984, Ethnologue created its own three-letter codes for languages. These "SIL codes" were much more detailed than other existing standards.

In 2002, Ethnologue worked with the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). They helped turn the SIL codes into an international standard. This standard is now known as ISO 639-3. The 15th edition of Ethnologue was the first to use this new standard. SIL International now manages these language names and codes.

There is one small difference between Ethnologue and the ISO standard. ISO 639-3 sees Akan as a "macrolanguage" with two separate languages: Twi and Fante. But Ethnologue sees Twi and Fante as dialects of one language (Akan). This is because speakers of Twi and Fante can understand each other.

Understanding language status

In 2014, Ethnologue added a new way to rank language status. This is called EGIDS. It gives a number from 0 to 10 for each language. A 0 means it's an international language (like English). A 10 means it's an extinct language (no one speaks it anymore).

Access and recent changes

In 2015, Ethnologue started charging money for full access. This was to help cover its costs. Users in wealthier countries had to pay if they wanted to see more than seven pages a month. This is called a paywall.

In 2019, Ethnologue made the paywall stricter. Subscriptions can be expensive. However, users in lower-income countries can get free access. Libraries and researchers can also get discounts. Many universities and businesses subscribe to Ethnologue. Some linguists were unhappy about the high cost.

Also in 2019, Ethnologue started a program for contributors. People can submit corrections and new information. This helps fill gaps and make the data more accurate. Contributors get free access to the website.

Since 2019 was the International Year of Indigenous Languages, that edition focused on language loss. It added information about when the last speaker of a language died. It also improved how it estimated language strength using the EGIDS scale.

In recent years, Ethnologue has expanded its coverage. In 2020, it started including data on immigrant languages. This means it now has information about languages spoken by refugees and foreign workers. The 2021 edition improved data about language shift. The 2022 edition focused on how languages are used in education.

Editions of Ethnologue

Since its 17th edition, Ethnologue has been published every year. New editions come out on February 21. This day is known as International Mother Language Day.