Lists of languages
Wikimedia list of lists
This page is a list of lists of languages.
Published lists
SIL International's Ethnologue: Languages of the World lists over 7,100 spoken and signed languages.
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns codes for most languages; see ISO 639
List of ISO 639-1 codes – two-letter codes (184 major languages)
List of ISO 639-2 codes – three-letter codes
ISO 639 macrolanguage – ISO 639-2 codes used as ISO 639-3 codes
List of ISO 639-3 codes – three-letter codes, intended to "cover all known natural languages"
List of ISO 639-5 codes – three-letter codes for language families and groups
IETF language tag – depends on ISO 639, but provides various expansion mechanisms
Glottolog
Linguasphere Observatory (LS-2010, totaling over 32,800 coded entries and over 70,900 linguistic names)
English Wikipedia list articles
Index of language articles
Comprehensive lists
Lists which are global in scope (all living natural languages would classify for inclusion):
by country:
List of official languages by country and territory
Number of languages by country
by name: List of language names (native names)
by phylogenetic relation: List of language families (phylogenetic)
by primary language family: List of Afro-Asiatic languages, List of Austronesian languages, List of Indo-European languages, List of Mayan languages, List of Mongolic languages, List of Oto-Manguean languages, List of Tungusic languages, List of Turkic languages, List of Uralic languages.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Lists of languages” is wikimedia list of lists. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Lists, languages and Wikimedia, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “wikimedia list of lists” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 13, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q3183574. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 2010.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Lists of languages”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Lists of languages primary sources, Lists of languages archive and Lists research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Lists of languages”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Lists of languages” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.