living languages
Currently used languages
Living languages are languages still spoken as a native tongue by a community of people, as opposed to dead languages like Latin or Ancient Greek that survive only in texts.
A language remains living as long as children acquire it naturally from their parents: Mandarin, Spanish, and Arabic are among the world's most widely spoken living languages.
Linguists estimate there are roughly 7,000 living languages, though many face extinction as younger generations shift to dominant tongues.
- fluencySmooth linguistic command
- native speakersThose who grew up using a language
- heritage speakersHome-acquired language users
- conversationExchange of spoken ideas
- everyday speechInformal spoken communication
spoken word · culture · bilingualism · vernacular · education · identity · neologisms · polyglotism · pidgins · tradition · creoles · dialects · code-switching · loanwords · syntax · lingua franca · grammar · immersion programs
- historical linguisticscognates, Indo-European, Grimm's Law, Proto-Germanic, word origins
- Language familiesIndo-European, Afro-Asiatic, Sino-Tibetan, Austronesian, Dravidian
living languagesdead languages
Languages without native speakers
extinct languages · Sumerian · ancient languages · Latin · Ancient Greek
living languagesconstructed languages
Artificially devised communication systems
artificial languages · conlangs · Esperanto · Klingon · Elvish
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