| |
|
|
Language family |
# of languages |
% of all languages |
|
Representative languages
& primary location |
|
1. Niger-Congo |
1495 |
21.36% |
|
Dogon, Sango, Swahili, Wolof, Yoruba, Zulu. Primarily the
indigenous languages of Subsaharan Africa. |
|
2. Austronesian |
1246 |
18.03% |
|
Hawaiian, Javanese, Malay, Tagalog. Spoken on islands of
Southeast Asia and the Pacific with a few speakers on Asian
continent. |
|
3. Trans-New Guinea |
561 |
8.12% |
|
Enga, Melpa, Dani, Ekari. Spoken in New Guinea and nearby
islands. |
|
4. Indo-European |
430 |
6.22% |
|
Bengali, English, German, Hindi, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
Languages spoken on all inhabited continents. |
|
5. Sino-Tibetan |
399 |
5.77% |
|
Bai, Burmese, Chinese, Tibetan. Languages spoken primarily in
East Asia. |
|
6. Afro-Asiatic |
353 |
5.11% |
|
Arabic, Hausa, Oromo, Somali. Primarily spoken in northern Africa
and the Middle East. |
|
7. Australian |
224 |
3.24% |
|
Kala Lagaw, Western Desert Language. Mainly aboriginal languages
that are near extinct or severly endangered. |
|
8. Nilo-Saharan |
197 |
2.85% |
|
Dinka, Masai, Nubian. African languages spoken mainly in the
upper Chari and Nile River regions. |
|
9. Oto-Manguean |
172 |
2.49% |
|
Mixtec, Zapotec. Native American languages spoken primarily in
Mexico. |
|
10. Austro-Asiatic |
169 |
2.45% |
|
Khmer, Mon, Vietnamese. Spoken in India and Southeast Asia. |
|
|
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Total percentage of world's languages: |
75.91% |
|
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