Languages Ethnologue ? 7,472 languages & dialects, 7,102 ?living? (used on a daily basis on the means of communication) There is a lot of diversity 10 languages natively spoken by at least 100 million people (English, Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, Punjabi, Mandarin, Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Japanese) 100 languages spoken by 5 million or more people 13 spoken fluently (including as a secondary language) by at least 100 million (10 from above PLUS French, Urdu, German) Literary tradition ? written form of a language Vigorous language ? language without a literary tradition Harder to learn and study Official language ? adopted by law by a gov?t for communication Official means of communication for business, laws, signs, etc. Language is a cultural value