Languages ​​in the United States

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the United States , approximately 337 languages ​​are spoken or written by the population, 176 of which are of Native American origin. 52 languages ​​that were previously spoken in the United States have now died out or are no longer used.

Languages ​​with a high proportion of speakers

Although the United States does not have a set official language, English is in fact its national language . It is used by 82% of the population as their mother tongue and by almost all residents as the lingua franca. English is officially used as the official language of 31 states and unofficially by the rest of the world, and is the primary language in all states.

Spanish is taught as the first foreign language, especially in areas with high Latin American populations, such as states bordering Mexico, as well as Florida and the cities of Chicago and New York . Younger generations who do not come from any family with a Spanish-speaking background are learning the language in increasing numbers due to the growing number of the world's Spanish-speaking population. About 16.3%, over 50 million Americans who speak Spanish as a first language or second language, make the US the country with the second largest number of native Spanish speakers in the world, after Mexico and ahead of Colombia , Spain and Argentina . Bilingualism (bilingualism) is very widespread in the Southwest .

The Chinese , especially the Cantonese , is the third largest language community of the United States and especially in California represented. While Spanish and French are particularly concentrated in certain regions, Chinese is relatively evenly distributed, with slightly more speakers on the west coast than elsewhere.

French follows in fourth place, with many speakers in Maine and Louisiana .

German , which is the second most widely spoken language in North Dakota and South Dakota , ranks fifth.
In addition, there is the German dialect Pennsylvania Deitsch , based on the 19th century Palatinate , which is still spoken mainly in Pennsylvania by Hutterites , Amish and other conservative emigrant groups, a total of several 100,000 speakers.

Furthermore, immigrants of Italian , Polish and Greek origin have formed other notable language communities since the early 20th century . Since the 1970s, many people immigrated from the Soviet Union and often brought Russian with them.

Tagalog , Vietnamese and Hawaiian also have a significant number of speakers over the million mark.

Yiddish is spoken by approximately 137,000 people, mostly in New York State .

Official languages

There is no official language in the United States as a whole and in the District of Columbia .

States

English is the official language of 31 states:

There are other official languages ​​in the following countries:

The other states have not defined a general official language.

In many countries, depending on regional circumstances and legal requirements, certain documents are also written in languages ​​other than English. Primeval American languages ​​are official languages in many Indian reservations.

Outdoor areas

The following official languages ​​apply in the outlying areas :

Pre-colonial languages

Primeval American languages

The indigenous American languages were widely spoken in the New World prior to European colonization and are still spoken today on Indian reservations. Most of these languages ​​are critically endangered languages , although programs exist to preserve them. Urgency is usually measured by the number of speakers - the smaller it is, the more vulnerable the language is. But there are also very small language communities in the southwest of the states ( Arizona and New Mexico ) that still exist.

The United States or North America as a whole is one of the most linguistically diverse areas in the world.

The 2000 census found the Navajo (language) to be the most widely used, as well as:

Navajo

178,000 speakers. Navajo is an Athapaskan language of the Na-Dené family . It was spread along with the closely related Apache language a few centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in the southwest of the States.

Dakota

18,000 speakers (22,000 speakers with those living in Canada ). Dakota is one of the Sioux languages .

Yupik

16,000 speakers in Alaska. Yupik is one of the Eskimo-Aleut languages.

Cherokee

16,000 speakers. Cherokee is one of the Iroquois languages ​​and despite its high number of tribal members, which is the highest in the States, has a rather modest number of speakers, as many tribal followers do not speak Cherokee. Conservation programs in Oklahoma and North Carolina are running successfully.

Apache

12,500 speakers. Apache is an Athapaskan language of the Na Dené family and is closely related to the Navajo language.

Pima

12,000 speakers. Pima belongs to the Uto-Aztec languages, as well as Aztec , Hopi , Comanche and Huichol .

Choctaw

11,000 speakers. Choctaw is one of the Muskogee languages , as are Seminole and Alabama.

Keres

11,000 speakers. Keres is an isolated language whose members make up the largest pueblo nation. Acoma , a Keres pueblo nation, is the oldest surviving community in the United States.

Zuñi

10,000 speakers. Zuñi is an isolated language primarily spoken in Zuni, the largest pueblo in the United States.

Anishinabe

7,000 speakers (55,000 speakers with those living in Canada). Anishinabe is one of the Algerian languages, like Cree in Canada.

Other languages

North American languages ​​in northern Mexico, Canada, and the United States .

Spread of the North American languages

Many other languages ​​are spoken within the borders of the United States. The following list represents the 28 language families of the Indigenous Languages ​​of America in the continental part of the United States. Since the relationships and orders in these language areas are still relatively unexplored, this list will probably have to be subjected to some changes (see: Indigenous American languages ) .

Although these languages have been spoken in America for around 17,000–12,000 years, knowledge about them is very limited. Undoubtedly, there are a number of languages ​​that have been used and have been forgotten.

Ur-American sign languages

A Handelspidgin (in English known as Plains Indian Sign Language , "sign language of the Plains Indians ") was used as sign language used. The (spoken) languages ​​of the indigenous people were quite different, so that a universal means of communication was required for understanding. According to current knowledge, it is assumed that this sign language originated in Texas and spread through the Plains to British Columbia . Even today there are still indigenous people who use them, especially among the Absarokee , Cheyenne and Arapaho . In contrast to other sign languages ​​developed by people who are capable of hearing, the level Indian sign language has greatly simplified grammatical structures.

Austronesian languages

Hawaiian

Hawaiian is an official state language of Hawaii , enshrined in the Hawai'i Constitution and has approximately 1,000 native speakers. It was once counted among the critically endangered languages, but for some time now a revival as part of the “Hawaiian Renaissance” can be observed.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Sharon R. Ennis, Merarys Ríos-Vargas and Nora G. Albert: The Hispanic Population: 2010, 2010 Census Briefs. (2011) C2010BR-04 ( PDF download ), p. 3
  2. ^ MLA, Results of the 2005 American Community Survey . Accessed August 5, 2009.
  3. ↑ Cf. George S. Kanahele: The Hawaiian Renaissance , Wikipedia English: Hawaiian Renaissance
  4. ↑ Between 2006 and 2008, more than 24,000 US citizens stated in a census that they use Hawaiian in everyday life: Detailed Languages ​​Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for the United States: 2006-2008. ( MS Excel ; 880 kB) Census Authority of the United States of America, April 2010, accessed June 2, 2013 .

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