About

Sources and attribution

Where the classification on this site comes from, and what else is worth reading.

The Register

The classification, the linguascale codes, the entry names and the descriptive notes reproduced on this site come from the Linguasphere Register of the World’s Languages and Speech Communities, compiled by the Observatoire linguistique and first published in its 2000 edition, together with the LS-2010 updates to several sectors. The work is theirs; the presentation here is ours.

Country placements

The countries listed on an entry come from the geographic data published alongside the Register. They record where a speech community is documented — not where a language holds official status, and not present-day population.

Other references worth having open

• Glottolog — genealogical classification with bibliography for each entry.
• Ethnologue — living languages with speaker estimates and status.
• Linguistic Society of America — background on how classification work is done.

Corrections

If we have misread the source, tell us: contact.