The top nine widely spread languages are Mandarin (Chinese), Arabic, Spanish, English, Portuguese, Bengali, Hindi/Urdu, Russian and Japanese but there is no certainty to the exact number of languages that exist in this world. Linguists give a figure from 3,000 to 10,000. The reason there is such a diverse range is that language is under constant change and many languages died and evolved over that period of time. Language is under constant change because it is transmitted to generations by learning. Every generation learn language from a different peer and see people interacting differently.
Over the time, many languages died for example a language named Trumai. This language grew in Lower Culuene River of Brazil. In 1962, an epidemic influenza hit that place and by the end of that influenza the number of Trumai speakers drastically fell and became less than ten people and the language eventually died down. This example explains how some languages with very few speakers die after its speakers die. It is surprising to see how fast some languages can die for instance in Amazonia, the tribal language was superseded by the western language so that the tribal people can communicate better with the outside world. The new generation accepted and learned the new language fast and the tribal languages died as the earlier generation tribal people died. According to the record of the nineteenth century there were 1000 native Amazonian Indian languages and now, only 200 of those languages are ‘alive.’ Even today, all the languages in this world are not discovered. In the isolated places like Amazonia, Central Africa, New Guinea there are various tribal languages that are not discovered because linguistic studies is not yet completed in all parts of the world. It is a common assumption that people living in the same location speak their known language or dialect but there can be no guarantee of that unless it is investigated because even the languages that sound and seem similar can be different.
Language and dialect:
A language can have many versions like English has American, UK, Australian, New Zealand version and they have distinct dialects. These different versions of English have differences in spelling and pronunciation but there is no dispute that it is one language, English. There are no differences in the written form of English. But other factors like politics, ethics, religion and culture can differentiate languages in spite of their many similarities. For instance, Urdu and Hindi are very similar but still they are considered as different languages. For some cases, the opposite occurs. Languages that are completely different are considered the same language because of politics, history, and culture. For example the hundred of dialects of Chinese can be categorized into eight groups but they share the same written version. So there are different versions of Chinese, but they are still considered the same language.
Language and dialect:
A language can have many versions like English has American, UK, Australian, New Zealand version and they have distinct dialects. These different versions of English have differences in spelling and pronunciation but there is no dispute that it is one language, English. There are no differences in the written form of English. But other factors like politics, ethics, religion and culture can differentiate languages in spite of their many similarities. For instance, Urdu and Hindi are very similar but still they are considered as different languages. For some cases, the opposite occurs. Languages that are completely different are considered the same language because of politics, history, and culture. For example the hundred of dialects of Chinese can be categorized into eight groups but they share the same written version. So there are different versions of Chinese, but they are still considered the same language.
After considering all these above reasons, it is not possible to give an exact count to the number of languages in the world. According to Ethnologue there are over 37,000 languages of which approximately 6,500 are living languages. The International Encyclopedia of Linguistics states that there are approximately 6600 languages that include the 300 extinct languages. So, some of the linguists have agreed that there are 6000 to 7000 living languages but there are many confusions and contradictions to how many total number of languages, both ‘dead’ and ‘alive’ existed in this world.
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