All articles starting with L
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Languages of Africa
The languages of Africa number roughly 1,500 to 3,000 across 54 countries, about one third of the world's languages, most spoken by small, primarily oral communities.
Languages of Algeria
Languages of Algeria: Arabic and Tamazight are the official languages under the constitution; French (about 15 million speakers), Algerian Darija, and English shape daily life, schooling, and the 2026 education reforms.
Languages of Argentina
Languages of Argentina: Spanish (de facto, never legally official) dominates, with River Plate Spanish spoken by about 70% of the population; at least 40 indigenous languages in seven families, plus migrant languages like Italian-influenced lunfardo, coexist under bilingual education policies.
Languages of Art
Languages of Art (1968, 2nd ed. 1976) is Nelson Goodman's analytic-aesthetics treatise on symbol systems: denotation, exemplification, expression; rejection of resemblance in depiction; density versus notational systems.
Languages of Asia
Languages of Asia: the roughly 2,300 living languages spoken across the continent, their major families (Sino-Tibetan, Indo-European, Austronesian and others), most spoken languages such as Mandarin, regional distribution, scripts, and language-in-education policies.
Languages of Australia
Languages of Australia: over 250 pre-colonial Indigenous languages in the Pama-Nyungan family plus about 26 northern families, alongside Auslan, contact varieties, and migrant languages, tracked by the ABS ASCL 2025 classification.
Languages of Austria
Languages of Austria: German is the official and state language (Art. 8 B-VG), spoken as a first language by over 95% of inhabitants; Croatian, Slovenian, and Hungarian have regional official status, and six autochthonous minorities' languages are protected under the European Charter since 2001.
Languages of Bangladesh
Languages of Bangladesh: Bangla is the constitutional state language (Article 3), with major regional dialects (Sylheti, Chittagonian, Noakhali, Rajshahi, Mymensingh), 42 documented ethnic minority languages (Kuki-Chin, Santali cluster, Kokborok), and English in education.
Languages of Belgium
Languages of Belgium: Dutch, French, and German are official across four constitutional language areas, with bilingual Brussels-Capital, 12 Flemish facility municipalities, territoriality law, and 1962 language border history.
Languages of Brazil
Languages of Brazil: Portuguese is the mother tongue of about 98% of Brazilians, alongside 295 Indigenous languages (2022 Census, 474,856 speakers), plus immigrant, sign, creole, and Afro-Brazilian languages documented by IPHAN's INDL.
Languages of Canada
Languages of Canada: English and French are the constitutionally official languages (Official Languages Act 1969, Charter 1982, modernized 2023), alongside over 70 Indigenous languages and immigrant languages; the 2021 census shows 23.2% non-official mother tongues and 6.6 million English-French bilinguals.
Languages of China
Languages of China (中国语言): the several hundred languages spoken in China across Sino-Tibetan, Altaic, Austroasiatic, Austronesian, and Indo-European families. Ethnologue counts 323; Chinese scholarship about 130, reflecting disputed language-versus-dialect criteria.
Languages of Egypt
Languages of Egypt: Arabic (official; Modern Standard plus Egyptian Arabic dialects such as Cairene and Sa'idi), Nubian, Siwi Berber of Siwa, Beja, Domari, and liturgical Coptic, the last stage of Ancient Egyptian; minority languages face endangerment.
Languages of Ethiopia
Languages of Ethiopia: about 80-100 languages, mainly Semitic, Cushitic, and Omotic (Afro-Asiatic) plus Nilotic; Amharic is the federal working language, Oromo the largest mother tongue, and the 1994 policy mandates mother-tongue primary education.
Languages of Europe
Languages of Europe: the continent's roughly 255 languages, dominated by Indo-European (Germanic, Romance, Slavic) alongside Uralic, Turkic, and Basque; the EU's 24 official languages, 26 state languages, 60+ regional and minority languages, endangerment, and protection under the European Charter.
Languages of Finland
Languages of Finland: Finnish and Swedish are the two national languages, with Saami, Romani, Karelian, and two sign languages recognized, plus 610,148 foreign-language speakers (10.8%) as of 2024.
Languages of France
The languages of France comprise French, the sole official language by constitutional amendment in 1992, plus regional languages like Occitan, Alsatian, and Breton, immigrant languages, and French Sign Language.
Languages of Germany
Languages of Germany: German dominates (77% speak only German at home, 2024), with Turkish, Russian, and Arabic the leading migrant languages; Danish, Frisian, Sorbian, Sinti/Romani, and Low German are recognized; no constitutional official language and no language census.
Languages of Ghana
Languages of Ghana: about 81 indigenous languages across 16 regions plus official English; families include Gur, Volta-Comoé, Gbe, Ga-Dangme, and Mande; 16 standardised languages overseen by the Bureau of Ghana Languages.
Languages of Hong Kong
The languages of Hong Kong are the spoken and written varieties used there, where Chinese and English are official; 88.2% of residents spoke Cantonese in the 2021 census.
Languages of India
Languages of India: the country's roughly 1,369 languages, 22 Scheduled languages in the Constitution's Eighth Schedule, Hindi and English as Union official languages, eleven Classical Languages, and multilingual education under NEP 2020.
Languages of Indonesia
Languages of Indonesia: Bahasa Indonesia (standardized Malay, national language since 1928/1945) plus 718 mapped regional languages, mostly Austronesian with Papuan languages in the east; Javanese, Sundanese, and Madurese are the largest.
Languages of Iran
Languages of Iran: Persian (Farsi) is the official and most common first language; other languages span Iranic (Kurdish, Baluchi, Gilaki), Turkic (Azerbaijani), Semitic (Arabic, Neo-Aramaic), Armenian, Georgian, and Brahui; Ethnologue lists 80 distinct languages.
Languages of Ireland
Languages of Ireland: Irish (Gaeilge) is the first official language, English the second official and majority language; 1.87 million claim Irish ability (2022 census) but only 71,968 use it daily outside education. Includes Gaeltacht trends, Ulster Scots, Irish Sign Language, EU status since 2007.
Languages of Israel
Languages of Israel: Hebrew (sole official language since the 2018 Nation-State Law), Arabic (special status), English, Russian, and about 50 native languages including Israeli Sign Language; Hebrew is the mother tongue of about half of adults.
Languages of Italy
Languages of Italy: standard Italian (official), Italo-Romance regional languages called dialects, historical minorities (German, Slovene, Sardinian, Friulian, Ladin), and immigrant languages. Istat 2024: 48.4% speak Italian in all contexts; dialect use fell from 32% (1988) to 9.6% (2024).
Languages of Japan
Languages of Japan: Japanese (日本語, about 120 million speakers, standard variety hyōjungo), the Japonic sister languages Hachijō and six Ryukyuan languages, the isolate Ainu, and foreign-language education under CEFR targets and the 2019 Promotion of Japanese Language Education Act.
Languages of Kenya
Languages of Kenya: over 60 languages in three indigenous families, Bantu, Nilotic, and Cushitic, plus official Kiswahili and English; Kiswahili is the national language under the 2010 Constitution.
Languages of Lebanon
Languages of Lebanon: Arabic is the sole official national language under Constitution Article 11; French's use is set by law, English rising in education. Lebanese Arabic is spoken natively, with Armenian, Kurdish, Italian, Spanish, and German present in schooling and signage.
Languages of Luxembourg
Languages of Luxembourg: Luxembourgish (Lëtzebuergesch), French, and German, the three administrative languages under the 1984 language law; Luxembourgish is the national language, French the legislative language, with Portuguese and English widely spoken.