A World of Diversity

• Main Authors: Nettle, Daniel, Romaine, Suzanne
• Format: Book Part
• Language: unknown
• Published: Oxford University PressNew York, NY 2000
• Subjects: abenaki
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780195136241.003.0002; https://academic.oup.com/book/chapter-pdf/52436449/isbn-9780195136241-book-part-2.pdf

Abstract If asked to name as many languages as possible, the average person could probably easily name a dozen, but would certainly not come up with this list: Abenaki, Bella Coola, Rama, Guguu Yimidhirr, Kahana, Adzera, Boiken, Toba Batak, Fyem, Tzotzil, Cebuano, Mokilese. You have probably never heard of these languages, or thousands more like them. One of us asked some graduate students in linguistics at the University of Oxford to write down the names of as many languages as they could think of. The number ranged from 50 to 75. Even professional linguists perhaps would not be able to name more than a hundred. A recent advertisement for “Teach yourself language courses” appearing in a popular magazine claimed to “offer introductory and advanced courses in most of the world’s languages.” To be precise, they boasted a total of 215 courses in 76 languages! However, this number represents but repercent of the total number of languages. Most ordinary readers are surprised to find that linguists estimate the number of languages in the world to be between 5,000 and 6,700.