natlang

Synonym for natural language: a human-usable language that is not a conlang. May be living or dead. There are about 7000 living natlangs, many of which are nearly dead (no new native speakers).

It's interesting that the number I hear keeps growing. I first heard 3000-5000, then 4000-6000, now you say it's 7000.

The SIL (which runs http://www.ethnologue.org) are notorious for calling lects languages which others would call dialects. 7000 is a sensible upper limit; the question of what counts as a language is ultimately political rather than linguistic.


Created by admin. Last Modification: Friday 30 of November, 2001 12:31:04 GMT by admin.