The Linguasphere Register

of the world’s languages and speech communities

Key to the World’s languages - La clé des langues du monde

10 sectors & 100 zones of reference for the location of & classification of languages.

10 secteurs & 100 zones de référence pour la location & la classification des langues.

Isolated languages & independent language groups,
coded within 5 GEOSECTORS comprising 25 geozones & 25 independent phylozones.

Langues isolées & groupes linguistiques indépendants,
codifiés sous 5 GÉOSECTEURS comprenant 25 géozones & 25 phylozones indépendantes.

P.-S.

Languages belonging to one of five major language families,
coded within 5 PHYLOSECTORS subdivided into 5 x 10 phylozones.

Langues appartenant à une des cinq familles linguistiques majeures,
codifiées sous 5 PHYLOSECTEURS sousdivisées en 5 x 10 phylozones.

See also

  • The Background of the Linguasphere Register

    The Register has been compiled and published under the auspices of the Observatoire Linguistique (Linguasphere Observatory), established in the late 20th century as an informal research organisation devoted to the transnational study and promotion of multilingualism. The Observatoire originated from proposals drawn up at the Université de Laval in Quebec in 1983, and had its first research base in the village of Cressenville, in Normandy (France). From there, exhibitions on linguistic topics were created for presentation at the Pompidou Centre in Paris, before travelling to places as far (...)

  • Reflections arising from the Linguasphere Register

    The reflections summarised in the following chapters are those which have arisen during the course of compiling the foundation edition of the Linguasphere Register. They are not presented as a rigid or structured theory of linguistic communication, but as the basis for developing new perceptions of the linguistic and communicational environment on which the future of humankind as a global community now depends. The corpus of the Linguasphere Register, published in Volume Two, was concluded at an increasingly accelerated rate, in order to be finalised before the end of 1999. This speed (...)

  • Global Frameworks for the Study of Speech

    The present framework edition of the Linguasphere Register is ordered, coded and indexed according to a consistent classification, within which every language and dialect (with its speech community) is assigned initially to one of a numerically coded framework of 100 referential zones, together comprising 10 referential sectors. This system of reference is presented in Chapter Two below and in the brief Guide to the Register at the end of this volume. Within this stable framework, languages are further classified into a more flexible, alphabetically coded structure of sets, chains and (...)

  • A Source of Reference and Reflection for the 21st Century

    The Linguasphere Register of the World’s Languages and Speech communities is the first classified inventory of the linguasphere, the communicational environment which humankind has progressively extended around the globe since the invention of speech. This publication coincides with the opening of a millennium year, a year which serves to mark the third great threshold in the development of the linguasphere. These two volumes propose a fresh approach to the observation of humankind at the dawn of this new era. The present Volume One contains introductory materials, including an index to (...)


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