Languages Having No Majority Worldwide
Linguistic communities that form no majority in any country, but whose language has the status of an official language in at least one country:
- Tamil language: 70 million speakers, official status in Sri Lanka and Singapore, regional status in India
- Amharic language: 25 million speakers, official status in Ethiopia
- Kurdish language: 22 million speakers, official status in Iraq
- Afrikaans language: 13 million first or second language speakers (16 million speakers with basic knowledge), official status in South Africa, recognized regional language in Namibia
- Galician language: 3-4 million speakers, regional official status in Galicia, Spain.
- Welsh language: 791,000 speakers, regional official status in Wales, UK.
- Basque language: 665,800 speakers, regional official status in the Basque Country (autonomous community) and Navarre in Spain. Although It has no official status in the Northern Basque Country in France.
- Irish language: 391,470 native speakers (1.66 million with some knowledge), official status in the Republic of Ireland and an officially recognised minority language in Northern Ireland, UK.
- Māori language: 157,110 speakers, official status in New Zealand
- Romansh language: 60,000 speakers, official status in Switzerland (Graubünden).
Read more about this topic: Minority Language
Famous quotes containing the words languages and/or majority:
“People in places many of us never heard of, whose names we can’t pronounce or even spell, are speaking up for themselves. They speak in languages we once classified as “exotic” but whose mastery is now essential for our diplomats and businessmen. But what they say is very much the same the world over. They want a decent standard of living. They want human dignity and a voice in their own futures. They want their children to grow up strong and healthy and free.”
—Hubert H. Humphrey (1911–1978)
“There is something wonderful in seeing a wrong-headed majority assailed by truth.”
—John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)