Languages in the United States

The Punjabi Ringtones United States is (as of 2004) the home of approximately 336 languages (spoken or signed) of which 176 are indigenous to the area. 52 languages formerly spoken in the US territory are now extinct (Grimes 2000).
No Official Language
The United States does not have an Tia Sweet official language; nevertheless, English is the language used for legislation, regulations, executive orders, treaties, federal court rulings, and all other official pronouncements. In some states, Hindi Ringtones English language/English, Vika Doll Hawaiian language/Hawaiian and motorola ringtones Spanish language/Spanish are official. In Vita Doll 2000, the sprint ringtones census bureau printed the standard census questionnaires in six languages: English, Spanish, Partydoll Magazine Korean language/Korean, hiphop ringtones Chinese language/Chinese, Majo Mills Vietnamese language/Vietnamese, and Cingular Ringtones Tagalog_language/Tagalog. The about compulsory English-Only movement seeks to establish English as the only official language of the nation.

Languages

The U.S. has long been the destination of many immigrants. From the mid 19th century on, the nation had large numbers of residents who spoke little or no English, and throughout the country there have been towns and neighborhoods of cities where business, schools, and newspapers were in languages such as professional prestige German language/German, nato commander Italian language/Italian, communications committee Welsh language/Welsh, aggressive behavior Czech language/Czech, week colombia Polish language/Polish, Chinese, qwest will Yiddish language/Yiddish, etc. Currently, Asian languages account for the majority of languages spoken in immigrant communities: Korean, various Chinese dialects, synthesize the Vietnamese language/Vietnamese, and armani were Tagalog language/Tagalog. Historically, the original languages of immigrants tend to disappear or become greatly reduced through assimilation and generational change.

=Native American Languages=

The '''by area Native American languages''' predate European settlement of the theologian whose New World, and in parts of the U.S. continue to be spoken. Most of these languages are profile prisoners Endangered languages/endangered, despite efforts to revive them. Conventional wisdom holds that the degree of endangerment is inversely proportional to the number of speakers, but there are many small Native American language communities in the Southwest (largely rhetorical Arizona and was crucial New Mexico) which continue to thrive despite their small size.

According to the http://www.census.gov/mp/www/spectab/languagespokenSTP224.xls, the largest Native American language community by far is the defensively but Navajo language/Navajo, with 178,014 speakers. The next largest are as follows:

*her marriage Lakota language/Dakota (Sioux) 20,480
*waving toward Yupik language/Yupik 16,910 (not including St. Lawrence Island Yupik, counted separately, with 830 speakers, or Pacific Gulf Yupik, with 75)
*latest factional Cherokee language/Tsalagi (Cherokee) 16,395
*seems success Apachean languages/Apache 13,265
*groups by Choctaw language/Choctaw 11,390
*Keres languages/Keres 11,215

These raw numbers, however, can be deceiving, as the "Apache language" number includes six related languages, some of which have only a few remaining speakers. 6,560 people reported "American Indian" as their language, and their reasons are not known. There is no count at all of O'odham language/O'odham (Pima-Papago) though the number of speakers is estimated in other sources at 13,000. The census counts 9,585 speakers of O'odham language/Pima but none of Papago. Yupik is an Alaskan language, not normally grouped with the Native American languages of the contiguous 48 states ("Lower 48"). Also not normally considered a Native American language is Hawaiian language/Hawaiian, with 27,160 speakers.

North America is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world. As a result, the United States contains many, many different languages that have been spoken within its current borders. The following is a list of language ''families'' (some families have only two languages, while other families have large numbers of languages) indigenous to the territory of the United States. This conservative estimate totals at around 27 different families. (Note that Austronesian, Creoles, Pidgin, and Sign Languages are excluded from this list).

* Algic languages/Algic
* Caddoan languages/Caddoan
* Chimakuan languages/Chimakuan
* Chinookan
* Chumashan
* Coosan
* Eskimo-Aleut languages/Eskimo-Aleut
* Iroquoian languages/Iroquoian
* Kalapuyan
* Kiowa-Tanoan languages/Kiowa-Tanoan
* Maiduan
* Muskogean languages/Muskogean
* Na-Dené languages/Na-Dené
* Palaihnihan
* Plateau Penutian
* Pomoan
* Salishan languages/Salishan
* Shastan
* Siouan languages/Siouan
* Tsimshianic
* Utian
* Uto-Aztecan languages/Uto-Aztecan
* Wakashan
* Wintuan
* Yokutsan
* Yukian
* Yuman-Cochimi

In addition to the above list of families, there are many languages in America that are not related to any other language in the world. These 25 language ''isolates'' are listed below:

* Adai
* Alsea
* Atakapa
* Cayuse
* Chimariko
* Chitimacha
* Coahuilteco
* Esselen
* Haida
* Karankawa
* Karok
* Keres language/Keres
* Konomihu
* Kutenai
* Natchez
* Salinan
* Siuslaw
* Takelma
* Timucua
* Tonkawa
* Tunica
* Washo
* Yana
* Yuchi language/Yuchi
* Zuni language/Zuni

Since the languages in the Americas have been spoken here for about 17,000-12,000 years, our current knowledge of American languages is limited. There are doubtless a number of languages that were spoken in the United States that are missing from historical record.

=Hawaiian=

'''Hawaiian language/Hawaiian''' is an official language of the state of Hawaii, but has been largely displaced by English and was until recently a critically endangered language. Hawaiians often also use Hawaiian English Pidgin to communicate.

=American Sign Language=

'''American Sign Language''' (ASL) is the language used by many deaf people in America. Unlike Signed English, ASL is a natural language in its own right, not a symbolic representation of English. The U.S. Census Bureau did not gather data on ASL when compiling the list of "primary language at home" shown above, but estimates of the number of ASL users would place its ranking anywhere from 3rd to 10th in the list. There are at least two other important sign languages used in the United States: Martha's Vineyard Sign Language and Hawaii Pidgin Sign Language.

=English=

'''English language/English''' was inherited from British colonization of the Americas/British colonization and it is spoken by the vast majority of the population. It serves as the ''de facto'' language: the language in which government business is carried out. According to the 1990 census, 97 per cent of U.S. residents speak English "well" or "very well". Only 0.8 per cent speak no English at all, as compared with 3.6 per cent in 1890. American English has some differences from British English, but these differences are fairly minor. For detailed differences in British English and American English see American and British English differences.

Some states, like California, have amended their constitutions to make English the only official language, but in practice, this only means that official government documents must ''at least'' be in English, and ''does not'' mean that they should be exclusively available only in English. For example, the standard California Class C driver's license examination is available in 32 different languages.

African-American Vernacular English

African-American Vernacular English, also known as Ebonics, is a variety of English spoken by many African-Americans, in both rural and urban areas. There is considerable debate among non-linguists as to whether it should be called a dialect or a separate language.

Gullah, an English-African creole is spoken on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia (U.S. state)/Georgia.

=Spanish=

The '''Spanish language''' is the second-most common language in the country, spoken by about 28.1 million people (or 10.7% of the population) in 2000. The United States is the fifth country in the world in Spanish-speaking population, outnumbered only by Mexico, Spain, Argentina, and Colombia. Although many Latin American immigrants have various levels of English-proficiency, Hispanic American/Hispanics who are second-generation American in the United States almost all speak English, but only about 50 per cent speak Spanish. The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is predominantly Spanish-speaking. For a detailed history of Spanish in the U.S. from 15th century on, see Spanish in the United States.

'''Spanglish''' is a pidgin of Spanish and English and is spoken in areas with large semi-bilingual populations of Spanish and English speakers, such as along the U.S. - Mexico border (Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, and California), Florida, and New York City.

=German=

Before World War I, more than 6 per cent of American schoolchildren received their primary education exclusively in German language/German. Currently, although more than 45 million Americans claim German ancestors, only 1.5 million speak the language. The Amish speak a dialect of German known as '''Pennsylvania German language/Pennsylvania Dutch'''. There is a myth that German was to be the official language of the U.S., but this is inaccurate, and based on a failed early attempt to have government documents translated into German. [http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_026.html] German was a second official language of the State of Pennsylvania until the late 1950s. See also: Texas German, Pennsylvania Dutchified English.

=French=

'''Creole language/Creole''' and '''Cajun''', a variant of French language/French, are spoken in some parts of Louisiana (part of a former French colony). There are French Canadian settlers in parts of northern New England, as well, and a sizable francophone Haitian community in Miami, Florida/Miami. More than 13 million Americans claim French ancestry, but only 1.5 million speak that language.

See also
*Culture of the United States
*American English
*British English
*American and British English differences
*Bilingual education
*Spanish in the United States
*French in the United States
*German in the United States
*Chinese in the United States
*Portuguese in the United States
*Language Spoken at Home (U.S. Census)
*List of dialects of the English language
*List of official languages

External links
* http://extensionenespanol.net/articles.cfm?articleid=19
* http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t20/tab05.pdf: United States Census Bureau/U.S. Census 2000

References

* Campbell, Lyle. (1997). ''American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America''. New York: Oxford University Press.
* Campbell, Lyle; & Mithun, Marianne (Eds.). (1979). ''The languages of native America: Historical and comparative assessment''. Austin: University of Texas Press.
* Grimes, Barbara F. (Ed.). (2000). ''Ethnologue: Languages of the world'', (14th ed.). Dallas, TX: SIL International. ISBN 1-55671106-9. Online edition: http://www.ethnologue.com/, accessed on Dec. 7, 2004.
* Mithun, Marianne. (1999). ''The languages of native North America''. Cambridge: Cambrige University Press.

http://www.native-languages.org/cherokee.htm
Tag: Demographics of the United States
Tag: Languages of North America/United States
Tag: American culture

zh:美国语言列表