Buzz
When asked how many languages are spoken around the world today, most people might guess a few hundred, or perhaps even a thousand. However, the Ethnologue records nearly 7,000 languages, though this figure is flexible due to the complex nature of distinguishing between a language and a dialect. Furthermore, a language disappears about once every two weeks. Here are 10 languages that, for various reasons, are not widely known by the general public, yet have had or continue to have significance.
10. Chamicuro
Chamicuro is an exceptionally rare language, with only eight native speakers still alive today! It is an official language in Peru, where the remaining Chamicuro people (numbering between 10 and 20) reside. The only remaining speakers are adults, while their children speak only Spanish. Despite this, a dictionary for the language exists. Unfortunately, the language’s survival into the future seems unlikely.
9. Basque
Spoken by over 600,000 people along the border between France and Spain, Basque is a language that confounds linguists because it is a language isolate—meaning it has no known relatives. Surrounded by Indo-European (IE) languages, it is believed by some to be the last surviving member of an ancient language family that once thrived in the region before the Indo-European languages arrived. Its written form uses the Latin alphabet.
8. Frisian
I challenge you to ask people which language they think is most closely related to English. The responses will likely differ depending on the region, with many Americans likely pointing to Spanish due to its status as the second most spoken language in the U.S. and its apparent similarities to English. Others might mention German, as English is a Germanic language within the Indo-European family. However, the surprising answer is likely to be “Frisian,” because not many people in English-speaking countries are aware of it. Frisian is, in fact, the closest living relative to English (unless you consider Scots, which some do but others see it as just a dialect of English). Frisian and English are both West Germanic languages, just like Yiddish and standard German.
Frisian is spoken primarily by Dutch people living in the Netherlands and Germany. Although Frisian and English are mutually unintelligible, samples of Frisian text reveal striking similarities between the two languages. For example, the phrase “Brea, bûter en griene tsiis is goes Ingelsk en goes Frysk” translates to “Rye bread, butter and green cheese is good English and good Fries” in English, showcasing the linguistic connection.
7. Miao Languages
The Miao people, an ethnic minority group in China, speak a variety of languages referred to as Miao or the Hmongic languages. These languages belong to the Hmongic branch of the Hmong-Mien language family and are entirely unrelated to other Chinese languages like Cantonese and Mandarin. One fascinating aspect of the Miao languages is their writing systems. Traditionally, these languages were represented through various forms of the Chinese writing system, but the Pollard script (shown here) was created specifically for Miao languages and was loosely based on the Latin alphabet. Nowadays, most Miao speakers use the standard Latin alphabet for writing.
6. Faroese
Faroese, a North Germanic language closely related to Icelandic, is spoken by the inhabitants of the Faroe Islands (a part of Denmark). Faroese and Icelandic are the only two languages in the West Scandinavian group of the North Germanic branch of the Germanic family within the Indo-European classification (IE > Germanic > North Germanic > West Scandinavian > Icelandic/Faroese). Interestingly, although the Faroe Islands are under Danish rule, Danish itself belongs to the East Scandinavian branch, which is more closely related to Swedish.
Although spoken Icelandic and Faroese are not mutually intelligible, they share many similarities. However, Faroese is often at a disadvantage, as it is spoken by just about 45,000 people, whereas Icelandic boasts over 230,000 speakers. Both languages are known for their conservatism, and it is often said that speakers of either language can easily understand Old Norse texts.
5. Sarsi
Also called Sarcee, this language fascinates me because it is spoken by the Tsuu T’ina tribe, whose reserve is located next to my city. It's intriguing to see how languages can travel and evolve into new ones. While the Tsuu T’ina people reside in southern Canada, the Sarsi language is actually related to Navajo, spoken by Native Americans in the southern U.S. Both languages belong to the Athabaskan branch of the Na-Dene language family. Navajo is part of the Apachean subgroup within the Athabaskan family (more specifically, the Western Apache-Navajo branch), while Sarsi falls under the Canadian branch. Athabaskan itself splits into various branches, with Canadian and Apachean being two of them.
According to Ethnologue, only 50 people still speak Sarsi, which means the language is on the verge of extinction. Most of its speakers are elderly, and very few children are learning it as their first language. No writing system is noted on either Ethnologue or Wikipedia for this language, which aligns with the fact that Indigenous culture and history are traditionally passed down orally rather than in written form.
4. Tok Pisin
Although small in size, the islands of Papua New Guinea are incredibly linguistically diverse, with over 800 languages spoken, making it the most linguistically varied region in the world. Among these, only three are recognized as official state languages, with Tok Pisin, an English-based creole, being one of them. Phrases like “gras bilong few” (meaning “beard” or literally “grass belonging to the face”) may sound childish to English speakers, but it is widely spoken, even by those who speak other minority languages.
One fascinating aspect of Tok Pisin is its wide array of personal pronouns. Although it is based on English, the creole uses a more intricate set of pronouns. While English only distinguishes between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd persons in singular and plural, Tok Pisin introduces categories such as 1st person exclusive, 1st person inclusive, 2nd person, and 3rd person, which can further be expressed as singular, dual, trial, or plural. For example, 1st person exclusive dual is “mitupela” (meaning “that person and I”), 1st person inclusive trial is “yumitripela” (meaning “both of you and I”), 2nd person singular is “yu” (meaning “you”), and 3rd person plural is “ol” (meaning “those four, five, etc.”).
3. British
I’m not referring to the variety of English spoken in Great Britain, but rather to the Celtic language once spoken by the Brythonic people, who inhabited Great Britain before the Anglo-Saxons arrived. After their arrival, the British language began to fragment into Welsh, Cornish, Breton, and Cumbric. A sample sentence in this language is “Adixoui Deuina Deieda Andagin Uindiorix cuamenai,” which translates as “May I, Windiorix for/at Cuamena defeat the worthless woman, oh divine Deieda.”
2. Shona
The Niger-Congo language family is the largest in terms of the number of languages, with around 1,500 languages. Most of these languages are part of the Volta-Congo branch, half of which belong to the Narrow Bantu subgroup. This dense concentration of languages in a relatively small area has led many linguists to speculate that this region may be the birthplace of human language, as the languages would have had ample time to evolve and diversify in isolated regions.
Many people are familiar with Swahili, the most widely spoken language in the Narrow Bantu branch (and the entire Niger-Congo family). However, most Swahili speakers use it as a second language. Less commonly known is Shona, the Narrow Bantu language with the largest number of native speakers, boasting over 11 million native speakers.
1. Gothic
This might be an exception to the theme of this list, as many people are familiar with the word 'Gothic.' However, most tend to associate it with fashion or architectural style. The Gothic language, however, was part of the East Germanic branch of the Indo-European family. Not only is the Gothic language extinct today, but the entire East Germanic branch is as well, which also included the intriguingly named languages Burgundian and Vandalic. Gothic had its own unique script, a mix of Greek and Latin characters. It is the earliest Germanic language with enough surviving written records for proper study, including a translation of the Bible in the 6th century.
