There is a general consensus that between 6,000 and 7,000 languages are currently spoken. However, the 20 most common languages, including English, Spanish and Chinese, are spoken by 50 percent of the world’s population.
Most languages are spoken by fewer than 10,000 people, according to the Cambridge Handbook of Endangered Languages.
There are several stages towards language death: potential endangerment means that while the language faces strong external pressure, there are still communities of speakers who pass it on to their children.
Once a language has reached the endangerment stage, children are usually not learning about it. Seriously endangered means the language is unlikely to survive another generation. This is followed by moribund – at the point of death – and then extinction.
UNESCO’s Atlas of the World’s Languages in Danger categorises 2,473 languages by level of endangerment.
According to Ethnologue’s 2005 count of languages, there are 6,912 languages, of which 32.8 percent were in Asia and 30.3 percent in Africa.
Many projects are underway across the world to prevent or slow the process of language loss by promoting education and literacy. However, recognising that most are unlikely to be revitalised, many linguists are also working on documenting the thousands of languages about which very little is known.
The UN has created the Endangered Languages Project (ELP). Below, Express.co.uk explores six of the rarest languages still spoken today.
Njerep
Having already become extinct in one country, Cameroon, Njerep is spoken in Nigeria by only four individuals as of 2018. The youngest of the four, according to a report from anthropologists, was born in the 1940s, meaning that the chances of the language surviving beyond the last generation are very slim.
A Bantoid language, all of those who speak the language reside in the Somie village along the Nigeria-Cameroon border. According to research in 2000, when there were six speakers, only one remained conversant in the language, with the others classified as semi-speakers. The Mambila language, also known as Mvop, has instead supplanted Njerep in casual use.
Paakantyi
The Australian Aboriginal language of Paakantyi is still spoken in regions along the Darling River in New South Wales, but only by a few people. Reports vary, claiming that anywhere from 22 to two individuals are able to speak the language. According to a 2012 report, only two people could speak the Darling language fluently, while a 2021 census said that 111 individuals spoke Paakantyi at home.
In an attempt to avoid extinction, some schools have begun programs to attempt to reintroduce Paakantyi to a new generation.
Liki
As of 2007, between five and 11 people were able to speak Liki (Moar), who inhabit the several islands in the Papua New Guinea region off the coast of Indonesia. Liki was once very commonly spoken, especially by indigenous church leaders.
In the country alone, roughly the size of Spain or California, 12 percent of the world’s languages are spoken, making it the most linguistically diverse.
Sarsi
Sarsi, related to the Navajo language spoken in the Southern United States, is spoken by the Canadian branch of the Tsuu T’ina tribe in Alberta. Because the culture is predominantly based on oral transmission and tradition, there are no written records, or even a writing system, available.
According to Native Languages, only a few dozen elders still speak Sarsi fluently, but some younger people are working to preserve their native tongue for future generations.
Chemehuevi
A Colorado River Numic language, Chemehuevi is now only spoken by a handful of people in the Midwestern United States. The language has been preserved in the form of field notes and recordings thanks to extensive studies by linguist Margaret L. Press in the 1970s, but the language is still likely to die out.
The Chemehuevi people are an indigenous people of the Great Basin and the southernmost branch of Southern Paiute. In 2015, the Siwavaats Junior College in Havasu Lake, California, was established to teach children the language and a dictionary with 2,500 words was expected to become available in 2016 according to the Havasu News-Herald.
Kawishana
Spoken near the Japura River in Brazil, Kawishana (Kaizana) was once a popular language utilised by many. It belongs to the Arawakan language family, developed among ancient indigenous peoples in South America. However, the numbers began dwindling, eventually dropping to around 200.
As of 2008, there remains only one documented person still able to speak the language – 78-year-old Raimundo Avelino, according to The Christian Science Monitor.
