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What is the smallest spoken language in the world?

Question #95426. Asked by salami_swami.
Last updated Jul 17 2021.

sudf
Answer has 5 votes
sudf
16 year member
29 replies

Answer has 5 votes.
Most Native American languages dying out.
link http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_languages_are_least_spoken

Bikya - Though possibly extinct no

Also Latin - some people are fluent

link https://www.quora.com/How-many-people-in-the-world-can-speak-Latin-fluently

Response last updated by CmdrK on Jul 17 2021.
May 07 2008, 2:11 PM
avatar
Baloo55th star
Answer has 3 votes
Baloo55th star
21 year member
4545 replies avatar

Answer has 3 votes.
It's actually debatable as to when a language is dead. Some argue that when no speakers are left, it is dead. Others argue that when only one person is left who can speak it, then it is dead because who is he/she going to speak it to? Usually, the least spoken languages are the least studied ones. Why? Because they are in obscure or inaccessible places, or because they are overshadowed by very dominant official languages and thus hard to ennumerate. There are probably still-undiscovered or unrecorded languages in South America and Papua New Guinea. This is a very difficult question to answer.....

May 07 2008, 4:06 PM
author
Answer has 4 votes
author
22 year member
2834 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
I agree, you can't answer this.

That being said, this Wiki list is interesting.
It lists Ter Sami as the smallest spoken language today, with 10 speakers.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_number_of_native_speakers#Fewer_than_1.2C000

Another Wiki list claims that the Bung language of Cameroon has only 3 speakers.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_endangered_languages

Curonian language had 7 speakers in 2002, according to this German Wiki page.

link http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nehrungskurisch

May 07 2008, 4:54 PM
neelie_447
Answer has 4 votes
neelie_447
17 year member
338 replies

Answer has 4 votes.
Some other contenders include Ratagnon (2-5 speakers), Pemono (one speaker, may be extinct by now), Mapoyo (2 speakers) and Siletz Dee-ni (one speaker). However, there are many languages with equal or comparable amounts of speakers. I suggest you look at the last link for more information.

link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ratagnon
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P%C3%A9mono_language
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mapoyo_language
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Siletz_Dee-ni
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_endangered_languages

May 07 2008, 6:00 PM
avatar
McGruff star
Answer has 8 votes
Currently Best Answer
McGruff star
Moderator
24 year member
3694 replies avatar

Answer has 8 votes.

Currently voted the best answer.
I'm interpreting "smallest spoken language" differently.

The 1971 Guinness Book of World Records reports that the language with the smallest vocabulary is Taki taki, a South American language that uses only 340 words.
link http://books.google.com/books?id=0AL5jE_Q5wQC&pg=PA277&lpg=PA277&dq=language+%22smallest+vocabulary%22+taki+taki&source=web&ots=QA2IWdC5ZP&sig=4RcttVR5dahe6-CY7NvYDHKq_Og&hl=en

The language with the smallest vocabulary in the world is a Creole called Taki-Taki (about 750 words) spoken in Suriname, South America. It is a curious mixture of West African, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Carib Indian elements with the English words predominanting.
link https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sranan_Tongo

Response last updated by satguru on Aug 30 2016.
May 07 2008, 9:52 PM
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