Wikipedia

Languages of the United Kingdom

English is the most widely spoken and de facto official language of the United Kingdom.[13] A number of regional and migrant languages are also spoken. Regional English variant languages are Scots and Ulster Scots; indigenous Celtic languages are Irish, Scottish Gaelic and Welsh. There are many non-native languages spoken by immigrants, including Polish, Hindi, and Urdu. British Sign Language is sometimes used as well as liturgical and hobby languages such as Latin and a revived form of Cornish.[14][15][16]

Languages of the United Kingdom
Multilingual sign in London
MainEnglish (98%;[1] national and de facto official)[a][2][3][4]
MinorityUK Wide:
Scots (2.23%) (2022),[5] Welsh (0.9%) (2021),[6] Cornish  (<0.01% L2),[7][8][9] Scottish Gaelic, Irish,[a] Ulster Scots (0.05%),[10] Angloromani, Beurla Reagaird, Shelta
ImmigrantPolish, Punjabi, Urdu, Bengali, Sylheti, Gujarati, Arabic, French, Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Tamil[11]
SignedBritish Sign Language, (0.002%)[c][12] Irish Sign Language, Signed English, Northern Ireland Sign Language
Keyboard layout
British QWERTY
a.^ Statistics indicate respondents who can speak at least "well".
b.^ Statistics indicate respondents with at least basic ability.
c.^ Statistics undertaken with assumptions and large disparities between home countries.

Welsh is a de jure official language under the Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011 in Wales.[17][18] Additionally, Welsh is the only de jure official language in any part of the United Kingdom. Welsh is spoken by 538,300 people in Wales according to the 2021 census,[19] though data from the Annual Population Survey shows that 28%, or roughly 862,700 people, of Wales' population aged three and over were able to speak the language in March 2024.[20] Additionally, 32.5% (1,001,500) reported that they could understand spoken Welsh, 24.7% (759,200) could read and 22.2% (684,500) could write in Welsh.[20]

Approximately 124,000 people speak Irish in Northern Ireland, which is an official language in Northern Ireland alongside English.[21]

List of languages and dialects

edit

Living

edit

The table below outlines living indigenous languages of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). The languages of the Crown Dependencies (the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man) are not included here.

Language Type Spoken in Numbers of speakers in the UK
English Germanic (West Germanic) Throughout the United Kingdom
  • UK (2021 data): 91.1% (52.6 million) of usual residents, aged three years and over, had English (English or Welsh in Wales) as a main language (down from 92.3%, or 49.8 million, in 2011)[22]
Scots (Ulster Scots in Northern Ireland) Germanic (West Germanic) Scotland (Scottish Lowlands, Caithness, Northern Isles) and Berwick-upon-Tweed
Northern Ireland (Counties Down, Antrim, Londonderry)
  • UK (2022 data): 2.23%
  • Scotland: 27.74%, or 1,508,540 Scots speakers (Scottish Census Data 2022)[23]
Welsh Celtic (Brythonic) Wales (especially west and north) and parts of England near the Welsh–English border
Welsh communities in major English cities such as London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.
  • UK (2021 data): 0.90%
  • Wales (2021 data): 17.8%;[19] 538,300 people according to the 2021 census; an estimation of 862,700 people, or 28%, of Wales' population aged three and over were able to speak the language in March 2024.[19][1]
British Sign Language BANZSL Throughout the United Kingdom 77,000; (2014 data)[24]
Irish Celtic (Goidelic) Northern Ireland, with communities in Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester, London etc.
Angloromani Mixed Spoken by English Romanichal Traveller communities in England, Scotland and Wales 90,000[25] (1990 data)
Scottish Gaelic Celtic (Goidelic) Scotland (Scottish Highlands and Hebrides with substantial minorities in various Scottish cities)
A small community in London
Cornish Celtic (Brythonic) Cornwall (even smaller minorities of speakers in Plymouth, London, and South Wales)
  • UK (2022 data): 567 people noted that they could speak Cornish in 2021 UK Census, or 0.00083%[28]
  • Cornwall (2021 data): Of a population of 570,300 during the 2021 UK Census,[29] 567 people noted that they could speak Cornish, or 0.099% of the population of Cornwall
Shelta Mixed Spoken by Irish Traveller communities throughout the United Kingdom Est. 30,000 in UK. Fewer than 86,000 worldwide.[30]
Irish Sign Language Francosign Northern Ireland Unknown
Northern Ireland Sign Language BANZSL Northern Ireland Unknown

Anglic

edit
Further information: Anglic languages
 
Street sign in Ballywalter, Northern Ireland, in English and Ulster Scots

Insular Celtic

edit
Further information: Insular Celtic languages

Mixed

edit

Sign languages

edit

Extinct

edit

Regional languages and statistics

edit
Distribution of languages of the United Kingdom (2021)
English
 
 91.1%
Scots
 
 2.23%
Welsh
 
 0.90%
Scottish Gaelic
 
 0.20%
Irish
 
 0.10%
Cornish
 
 0.00083%
 
English language proficiency in England and Wales in 2011. The 'English' category included Welsh for usual residents of Wales.
 
Percentage of English as main language in London 2021

English

edit
Main article: English language

In the 2011 UK census, 98% of people over the age of three were reported as speaking English.

English is a West Germanic language brought around the 5th century CE to the east coast of what is now England by Germanic-speaking immigrants from around present-day northern Germany, who came to be known as the Anglo-Saxons. The fusion of these settlers' dialects became what is now termed Old English: the word English is derived from the name of the Angles. English soon displaced the previously predominant Common Brittonic and British Latin throughout most of England. It spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria. Following the economic, political, military, scientific, cultural, and colonial influence of Great Britain and the United Kingdom from the 18th century, via the British Empire, and of the United States since the mid-20th century, it has been widely dispersed around the world, and become the leading language of international discourse. Many English words are based on roots from Latin, because Latin in some form was the lingua franca of the Christian Church and of European intellectual life. The language was further influenced by the Old Norse language, with Viking invasions and settlements in England from the 8th to the 11th centuries. The Norman conquest of England in 1066 gave rise to heavy borrowings from Old French, and vocabulary and spelling conventions began to give what had now become Middle English the superficial appearance of a close relationship with Romance languages. The Great Vowel Shift that began in the south of England in the 15th century is one of the historical events marking the separation of Middle and Modern English.

Wales

edit
Main articles: Welsh English and Welsh language
Further information: Languages of Wales
 
Bilingual road markings near Cardiff Airport, Vale of Glamorgan

Welsh (Cymraeg) emerged in the 6th century from Brittonic, the common ancestor of Welsh, Breton, Cornish, and the extinct language known as Cumbric. Welsh is thus a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages, and is spoken natively in Wales. There are also Welsh speakers in Y Wladfa (The Colony),[34] a Welsh settlement in Argentina, which began in 1865 and is situated mainly along the coast of Chubut Province in the south of Patagonia. It is believed that there are as many as 5,000 speakers of Patagonian Welsh.[35]

Both the English and Welsh languages have official, but not always equal, status in Wales. English has de facto official status everywhere, whereas Welsh has limited, but still considerable, official, de jure, status in only the public service, the judiciary, and elsewhere as prescribed in legislation. The Welsh language is protected by the Welsh Language Act 1993 and the Government of Wales Act 1998, and since 1998 it has been common, for example, for almost all British Government Departments to provide both printed documentation and official websites in both English and Welsh. On 7 December 2010, the National Assembly for Wales unanimously approved a set of measures to develop the use of the Welsh language within Wales.[36][37] On 9 February 2011, this measure received Royal Assent and was passed, thus making the Welsh language an officially recognised language within Wales.[38]

The Welsh Language Board[39] indicated in 2004 that 553,000 people (19.7% of the population of Wales in households or communal establishments) were able to speak Welsh. Based on an alternative definition, there has been a 0.9 percentage point increase when compared with the 2001 census, and an increase of approximately 35,000 in absolute numbers within Wales. Welsh is therefore a growing language within Wales.[39] Of those 553,000 Welsh speakers, 57% (315,000) were considered by others to be fluent, and 477,000 people consider themselves fluent or "fair" speakers. 62% of speakers (340,000) claimed to speak the language daily, including 88% of fluent speakers.[39]

However, there is some controversy over the actual number who speak Welsh: some statistics include people who have studied Welsh to GCSE standard, many of whom could not be regarded as fluent speakers of the language. Conversely, some first-language speakers may choose not to report themselves as such. These phenomena, also seen with other minority languages outside the UK, make it harder to establish an accurate and unbiased figure for how many people speak it fluently. Furthermore, no question about Welsh language ability was asked in the 2001 census outside Wales, thereby ignoring a considerable population of Welsh speakers – particularly concentrated in neighbouring English counties and in London and other large cities. It is estimated that 110,000 to 150,000 people in England speak Welsh.[40][41]

Nevertheless, the 2011 census recorded an overall reduction in Welsh speakers, from 582,000 in 2001 to 562,000 in 2011, despite an increase in the size of the population—a 2% drop (from 21% to 19%) in the proportion of Welsh speakers.[42]

The 2021 United Kingdom census indicated that on census day, the population of England and Wales as 59.6 million.[43] Of this population, roughly 538,300 people noted that they could speak Welsh,[44] or 0.90% of the population. Within Wales, this percentage grows to 17.8%.[44] In addition, data from the Annual Population Survey shows that 28%, or roughly 862,700 people, of Wales' population aged three and over were able to speak the language in March 2024.[20]

Scotland

edit
Main articles: Scottish English, Scots language, and Scottish Gaelic
Further information: Languages of Scotland

Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig)

edit
 
Bilingual sign (Scottish Gaelic and English) at Partick railway station, Glasgow
Main article: Scottish Gaelic

Scottish Gaelic is a Celtic language native to Scotland. A member of the Goidelic branch of the Celtic languages, Scottish Gaelic, like Modern Irish and Manx, developed out of Middle Irish, and thus descends ultimately from Primitive Irish. Outside Scotland, a dialect of the language known as Canadian Gaelic exists in Canada on Cape Breton Island and isolated areas of the Nova Scotia mainland. This variety has around 2000 speakers, amounting to 1.3% of the population of Cape Breton Island.

The 2011 census of Scotland showed that a total of 57,375 people (1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old) in Scotland could speak Gaelic at that time, with the Outer Hebrides being the main stronghold of the language. The census results indicate a decline of 1,275 Gaelic speakers from 2001. A total of 87,056 people in 2011 reported having some facility with Gaelic compared to 93,282 people in 2001, a decline of 6,226.[45][46] Despite this decline, revival efforts exist and the number of speakers of the language under age 20 has increased.[47]

The Gaelic language was given official recognition for the first time in Scotland in 2005, by the Scottish Parliament's Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005, which aims to promote the Gaelic language to a status "commanding equal respect" with English. However, this wording has no clear meaning in law, and was chosen to prevent the assumption that the Gaelic language is in any way considered to have "equal validity or parity of esteem with English".[48] A major limitation of the act, though, is that it does not constitute any form of recognition for the Gaelic language by the UK government, and UK public bodies operating in Scotland, as reserved bodies, are explicitly exempted from its provisions.[49]

Scots

edit
Main article: Scots language

The Scots language originated from Northumbrian Old English. The Anglo-Saxon Kingdom of Northumbria stretched from south Yorkshire to the Firth of Forth from where the Scottish elite continued the language shift northwards. Since there are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, scholars and other interested parties often disagree about the linguistic, historical and social status of Scots. Although a number of paradigms for distinguishing between languages and dialects do exist, these often render contradictory results. Focused broad Scots is at one end of a bipolar linguistic continuum, with Scottish Standard English at the other. Consequently, Scots is often regarded as one of the ancient varieties of English, but with its own distinct dialects. Alternatively Scots is sometimes treated as a distinct Germanic language, in the way Norwegian is closely linked to, yet distinct from, Danish.

The 2011 UK census was the first to ask residents of Scotland about Scots. A campaign called Aye Can was set up to help individuals answer the question.[50][51] The specific wording used was "Which of these can you do? Tick all that apply" with options for 'Understand', 'Speak', 'Read' and 'Write' in three columns: English, Scottish Gaelic and Scots.[52] Of approximately 5.1 million respondents, about 1.2 million (24%) could speak, read and write Scots, 3.2 million (62%) had no skills in Scots and the remainder had some degree of skill, such as understanding Scots (0.27 million, 5.2%) or being able to speak it but not read or write it (0.18 million, 3.5%).[53] There were also small numbers of Scots speakers recorded in England and Wales on the 2011 Census, with the largest numbers being either in bordering areas (e.g. Carlisle) or in areas that had recruited large numbers of Scottish workers in the past (e.g. Corby or the former mining areas of Kent).[54]

The 2022 census for Scotland reported that of a population of 5,436,600 in Scotland,[55] 1,508,540 people could speak Scots,[56] or 27.74% of the population of Scotland. However, with an estimated population of 67.6 million in the UK in 2022,[57] this percentage falls to 2.23% of the population of the UK.

Northern Ireland

edit
Main articles: Languages of Northern Ireland, Irish language, Irish language in Northern Ireland, and Ulster Irish
Further information: Languages of Ireland

Ulster Scots

edit
Main article: Ulster Scots dialects

2% speak Ulster Scots, seen by some as a language distinct from English and by some as a dialect of English, according to the 1999 Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey (around 30,000 speakers). Some definitions of Ulster Scots may also include Standard English spoken with an Ulster Scots accent. The language was brought to Ireland by Scottish planters from the 16th Century.

Irish (Gaeilge)

edit
Main articles: Irish language in Northern Ireland and Ulster Irish
Further information: Irish language
 
Bilingual sign (Irish and English) in Newry

Irish was the predominant language of the Irish people for most of their recorded history, and they brought their Gaelic speech with them to other countries, notably Scotland and the Isle of Man where it gave rise to Scottish Gaelic and Manx.

It has been estimated that the active Irish-language scene probably comprises 5 to 10 per cent of Ireland's population.[58] In the 2011 census, 11% of the population of Northern Ireland claimed "some knowledge of Irish"[59] and 3.7% reported being able to "speak, read, write and understand" Irish.[59] In another survey, from 1999, 1% of respondents said they spoke it as their main language at home.[60]

Further information: Identity and Language (Northern Ireland) Act 2022

Cornwall

edit
Main articles: Languages of Cornwall, Cornish English, and Cornish language
Further information: Languages of England

Cornish, a Brythonic Celtic language related to Welsh, was spoken in Cornwall throughout the Middle Ages. Its use began to decline from the 14th century, especially after the Prayer Book Rebellion in 1549. The language continued to function as a first language in Penwith in the far west of Cornwall until the late 18th century, with the last native speaker thought to have died in 1777.[61]

A revival initiated by Henry Jenner began in 1903. In 2002, the Cornish language was named as a historical regional language under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.[32][62] The UN classes it as a critically endangered language.[63]

Principal minority language areas

edit

British Sign Language

edit
Main article: British Sign Language

British Sign Language, often abbreviated to BSL, is the language of 125,000 Deaf adults, about 0.3%[67] of the total population of the United Kingdom. It is not exclusively the language of Deaf people; many relatives of Deaf people and others can communicate in it fluently. Recognised to be a language by the UK Government on 18 March 2003,[68] BSL has the highest number of monolingual users of any indigenous minority language in the UK.[citation needed]

Further information: British Sign Language Act 2022

UK census

edit

Abilities in the regional languages of the UK (other than Cornish) for those aged three and above were recorded in the UK census 2011 as follows.[69][70][71]

Ability Wales Scotland Northern Ireland
Welsh Scottish Gaelic Scots Irish Ulster-Scots
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
Understands but does not speak, read or write 157,792 5.15% 23,357 0.46% 267,412 5.22% 70,501 4.06% 92,040 5.30%
Speaks, reads and writes 430,717 14.06% 32,191 0.63% 1,225,622 23.95% 71,996 4.15% 17,228 0.99%
Speaks but does not read or write 80,429 2.63% 18,966 0.37% 179,295 3.50% 24,677 1.42% 10,265 0.59%
Speaks and reads but does not write 45,524 1.49% 6,218 0.12% 132,709 2.59% 7,414 0.43% 7,801 0.45%
Reads but does not speak or write 44,327 1.45% 4,646 0.09% 107,025 2.09% 5,659 0.33% 11,911 0.69%
Other combination of skills 40,692 1.33% 1,678 0.03% 17,381 0.34% 4,651 0.27% 959 0.06%
No skills 2,263,975 73.90% 5,031,167 98.30% 3,188,779 62.30% 1,550,813 89.35% 1,595,507 91.92%
Total 3,063,456 100.00% 5,118,223 100.00% 5,118,223 100.00% 1,735,711 100.00% 1,735,711 100.00%
Can speak 562,016 18.35% 57,602 1.13% 1,541,693 30.12% 104,943 6.05% 35,404 2.04%
Has some ability 799,481 26.10% 87,056 1.70% 1,929,444 37.70% 184,898 10.65% 140,204 8.08%
Distribution of those who stated they could speak a regional language in the 2011 census.

Note: Scale used varies for each map.

  •  
    Welsh
  •  
    Scots
  •  
    Scottish Gaelic
  •  
    Irish
  •  
    Ulster-Scots

Status

edit

Certain nations and regions of the UK have frameworks for the promotion of their autochthonous languages.

The UK government has ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in respect of:

  • Cornish (in Cornwall)
  • Irish and Ulster Scots (in Northern Ireland)
  • Manx (in the Isle of Man)
  • Scots and Scottish Gaelic (in Scotland)
  • Welsh (in Wales)

Under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (which is not legally enforceable, but which requires states to adopt appropriate legal provision for the use of regional and minority languages) the UK government has committed itself to the recognition of certain regional languages and the promotion of certain linguistic traditions. The UK has ratified[74] for the higher level of protection (Section III) provided for by the Charter in respect of Welsh, Scottish Gaelic and Irish. Cornish, Scots in Scotland and Northern Ireland (in the latter territory officially known as Ulster Scots or Ullans, but in the speech of users simply as Scottish or Scots) are protected by the lower level only (Section II). The UK government has also recognised British Sign Language as a language in its own right[68] of the United Kingdom.

 
In Northern Ireland, the department responsible for culture displays official administrative identity in English, Irish and Ulster Scots

A number of bodies have been established to oversee the promotion of the regional languages: in Scotland, Bòrd na Gàidhlig oversees Scottish Gaelic. Foras na Gaeilge has an all-Ireland remit as a cross-border language body, and Tha Boord o Ulstèr-Scotch is intended to fulfil a similar function for Ulster Scots, although hitherto it has mainly concerned itself with culture. In Wales, the Welsh Language Commissioner (Comisiynydd y Gymraeg) is an independent body established to promote and facilitate use of the Welsh language, mainly by imposing Welsh language standards on organisations.[75] The Cornish Language Partnership is a body that represents the major Cornish language and cultural groups and local government's language needs. It receives funding from the UK government and the European Union, and is the regulator of the language's Standard Written Form, agreed in 2008.

Controversies

edit

Language versus dialect

edit

There are no universally accepted criteria for distinguishing languages from dialects, although a number of paradigms exist, which give sometimes contradictory results. The distinction is therefore a subjective one, dependent on the user's frame of reference.

Scottish Gaelic and Irish are generally viewed as being languages in their own right rather than dialects of a single tongue, but they are sometimes mutually intelligible to a limited degree – especially between southern dialects of Scottish and northern dialects of Irish (programmes in these two forms of Gaelic are broadcast respectively on BBC Radio nan Gàidheal and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta), but the relationship between Scots and English is less clear, since there is usually partial mutual intelligibility.

Since there is a very high level of mutual intelligibility between contemporary speakers of Scots in Scotland and in Ulster (Ulster Scots), and a common written form was current well into the 20th century, the two varieties have usually been considered as dialects of a single tongue rather than languages in their own right; the written forms have diverged in the 21st century. The government of the United Kingdom "recognises that Scots and Ulster Scots meet the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language".[74] Whether this implies recognition of one regional or minority language or two is a question of interpretation. Ulster Scots is defined in legislation (The North/South Co-operation (Implementation Bodies) Northern Ireland Order 1999) as: the variety of the Scots language which has traditionally been used in parts of Northern Ireland and in Donegal in Ireland.[76]

While in continental Europe closely related languages and dialects may get official recognition and support, in the UK there is a tendency to view closely related vernaculars as a single language. Even British Sign Language is mistakenly thought of as a form of 'English' by some, rather than as a language in its own right, with a distinct grammar and vocabulary. The boundaries are not always clear cut, which makes it hard to estimate numbers of speakers.

Hostility

edit
 
Mural in Belfast with Irish phrase Slán Abhaile ("Safe home") directed ironically at departing British soldiers. In modern Northern Ireland, the Irish language is closely tied with Irish republicanism, despite being used historically by many Protestant and unionist communities.

In Northern Ireland, the use of Irish and Ulster Scots is sometimes viewed as politically loaded, despite both having been used by all communities in the past. According to the Northern Ireland Life and Times Survey 1999, the ratio of Unionist to Nationalist users of Ulster Scots is 2:1. About 1% of Catholics claim to speak it, while 2% of Protestants claim to speak it. The disparity in the ratios as determined by political and faith community, despite the very large overlap between the two, reflects the very low numbers of respondents.[77] Across the two communities 0% speak it as their main language at home.[78] A 2:1 ratio would not differ markedly from that among the general population in those areas of Northern Ireland where Scots is spoken.

Often the use of the Irish language in Northern Ireland has met with the considerable suspicion of Unionists, who have associated it with the largely Catholic Republic of Ireland, and more recently, with the republican movement in Northern Ireland itself. Catholic areas of Belfast have street signs in Irish similar to those in the Republic. Approximately 14% of the population speak Irish,[79] however only 1% speak it as their main language at home.[78] Under the St Andrews Agreement, the British government committed itself to introducing an Irish Language Act, and it was hoped that a consultation period ending on 2 March 2007 could see Irish becoming an official language, having equal validity with English, recognised as an indigenous language, or aspire to become an official language in the future.[80] However, with the restoration of the Northern Ireland Assembly in May 2007, responsibility for this was passed to the Assembly, and the commitment was promptly broken. In October 2007, the then Minister of Culture, Arts and Leisure, Edwin Poots MLA, announced to the assembly that no Irish Language Act would be brought forward. As of April 2016, no Irish Language Act applying to Northern Ireland has been passed, and none is currently planned.

Some resent Scottish Gaelic being promoted in the Lowlands. Gaelic place names are relatively rare in the extreme south-east (that part of Scotland which had previously been under Northumbrian rule)[81] and the extreme north-east (part of Caithness, where Norse was previously spoken).[82]

Two areas with mostly Norse-derived placenames (and some Pictish), the Northern Isles (Shetland and Orkney) were ceded to Scotland in lieu of an unpaid dowry in 1472, and never spoke Gaelic; its traditional vernacular Norn, a derivative of Old Norse mutually intelligible with Icelandic and Faroese, died out in the 18th century after large-scale immigration by Lowland Scots speakers. To this day, many Shetlanders and Orcadians maintain a separate identity, albeit through the Shetland and Orcadian dialects of Lowland Scots, rather than their former tongue. Norn was also spoken at one point in Caithness, apparently dying out much earlier than Shetland and Orkney. However, the Norse speaking population were entirely assimilated by the Gaelic speaking population in the Western Isles; to what degree this happened in Caithness is a matter of controversy, although Gaelic was spoken in parts of the county until the 20th century.

Non-recognition

edit

Scots within Scotland and the regional varieties of English within England receive little or no official recognition. The dialects of northern England share some features with Scots that those of southern England do not. The regional dialects of England were once extremely varied, as is recorded in Joseph Wright's English Dialect Dictionary and the Survey of English Dialects, but they have died out over time so that regional differences are now largely in pronunciation rather than in grammar or vocabulary.

Public funding of minority languages continues to produce mixed reactions, and there is sometimes resistance to their teaching in schools. Partly as a result, proficiency in languages other than "Standard" English can vary widely.

Immigrant languages

edit
 
'Brick Lane' street sign in English and Bengali, Tower Hamlets, London
 
Sign in English and Punjabi at Southall railway station, Southall, London
 
Bilingual street signs in Chinatown, Liverpool, Merseyside

Communities migrating to the UK in recent decades have brought many more languages to the country. Surveys started in 1979 by the Inner London Education Authority discovered over 100 languages being spoken domestically by the families of the inner city's school children. Current school censuses collect information on over 300 language categories.[83] Data on the total number of languages entered onto national census forms in 2021 (England and Wales and Northern Ireland), and 2022 (Scotland) is not yet published but write in data in 2011 covered over 600 languages and categories.[84]

Many Black Britons speak English as their first language. Their ancestors mostly came from the West Indies, particularly Jamaica, and generally also spoke English-based creole languages,[85] hence there are significant numbers of Caribbean creole speakers (see below for Ethnologue figures). A large proportion of the Black British population, especially African-born immigrants speak French as a first or second language.

British Asians speak dozens of different languages, and it is difficult to determine how many people speak each language alongside English. The largest subgroup of British Asians are those of Punjabi origin (representing approximately two thirds of direct migrants from South Asia to the UK), from both India and Pakistan, they number over 2 million in the UK and are the largest Punjabi community outside of Indo subcontinent.[86] The Punjabi language, with its dialects, is currently the third most spoken language in the United Kingdom.

Among British Pakistanis, Pahari-Pothwari (and particularly Mirpuri) is the most spoken language. Since it is a spoken language lacking a standardised form, Standard Punjabi (Majhi) and Urdu is also used by the community in the media and literature.[87] The Punjabi language movement considers it to be a dialect of Punjabi.[88] There have been efforts by numerous initiatives to document and gain recognition for the language, particularly in wake of the 2021 United Kingdom census.[89] Institutions such as the National Health Service (NHS) have started to provide Pothwari translation services throughout the country.[90][91]

Predominantly people of Bangladeshi origin in the UK speak Sylheti, which is mostly a spoken language with no standard form, and is also generally considered as a dialect of Bengali.[92][93] Recent Italian-Bangladeshi migrants to the UK mostly speak standard Bengali (including other dialects).[94] Standard Bengali is used by the community as a whole particularly in media.[95] Sylheti had been enlisted as part of the list of native languages spoken by students in British schools,[96] and some institutions such as the National Health Service (NHS) provide Sylheti translation services.[97]

Most common immigrant languages

edit

According to the 2021 census, English or Welsh was the main language of 91.1% of the residents of England and Wales. Among other languages, the most common were as follows.[citation needed]

  1. Polish 611,845 or 1.1% of the population
  2. Romanian 471,954 or 0.8%
  3. Punjabi 290,745 or 0.5%
  4. Urdu 269,849 or 0.5%
  5. Portuguese 224,719 or 0.4%
  6. Spanish 215,062 or 0.4%
  7. Arabic (with Varieties of Arabic) 203,998 or 0.4%
  8. Bengali (with Sylheti and Chatgaya) 199,495 or 0.3%
  9. Gujarati 188,956 or 0.3%
  10. Italian 160,010 or 0.3%
  11. Tamil 125,363 or 0.2%
  12. French 120,259 or 0.2%
  13. Lithuanian 119,656 or 0.2%
  14. Chinese 118,271 or 0.2%
  15. Turkish 112,978 or 0.2%
  16. Bulgarian 111,431 or 0.2%
  17. Russian 91,255 or 0.2%
  18. Persian 87,713 or 0.2%
  19. Hungarian 87,356 or 0.2%
  20. Greek 76,675 or 0.1%

Second or additional languages

edit

Throughout the UK, many citizens can speak a second or even a third language from secondary school education, primary school education or from private classes. A 2006 survey found that 23% of the UK population self-reported that they could hold a "basic conversation" in French, 9% in German and 8% in Spanish.[98][99] In the same survey, 38% of UK citizens reported that they could speak (well enough to have a conversation) at least one language other than their mother tongue, 18% at least two languages and 6% at least three languages. 62% of UK citizens cannot speak any second language.[98] These figures include those who describe their level of ability in the second language as "basic".[98]

Language teaching is compulsory in all English schools from the ages of 5 or 7. Modern and ancient languages, such as French, German, Spanish, Latin, Greek, Urdu, Mandarin, Russian, Bengali, Hebrew, and Arabic, are studied.[100] Language teaching is compulsory from the ages of 11 or 12 in Scotland and Wales.

Law French and Latin

edit
 
The signs at Wallsend Metro station are in English and Latin as a tribute to Wallsend's role as one of the outposts of the Roman empire.

Law French is still used in the Houses of Parliament for certain official business between the clerks of the House of Commons and the House of Lords, and on other official occasions such as the dissolution of Parliament.

Latin is also used to a limited degree in certain official mottoes, for example Nemo me impune lacessit, legal terminology (habeas corpus), and various ceremonial contexts. Latin abbreviations can also be seen on British coins. The use of Latin has declined greatly in recent years. However, the Catholic Church retains Latin in official and quasi-official contexts. Latin remains the language of the Roman Rite, and the Tridentine Mass is celebrated in Latin. Although the Mass of Paul VI is usually celebrated in English, it can be and often is said in Latin, in part or whole, especially at multilingual gatherings. It is the official language of the Holy See, the primary language of its public journal, the Acta Apostolicae Sedis, and the working language of the Roman Rota.[101]

At one time, Latin and Greek were commonly taught in British schools (and were required for entrance to the ancient universities until 1919, for Greek, and the 1960s, for Latin[102]), and A-Levels and Highers are still available in both subjects.

Extinct languages

edit

Cornish

edit
Main article: Cornish language

Cornish became extinct as a first language in the late 18th century, ceasing to have any fully competent speakers by 1800.[61] Its cultural legacy has continued within Cornwall.[103]

There are small numbers of second-language speakers of revived varieties of Cornish, and these appear in the table of living languages in this article. Many people therefore regard the Cornish language not as "extinct" but as "critically endangered" or by other similar terms.

Norn

edit
Main article: Norn language

A North Germanic once spoken in the Shetland Islands, Orkney Islands and Caithness. It is likely that the language was dying out in the late 18th century, with the reports putting the last Norn speakers in the 19th century.[104] Walter Sutherland from Skaw in Unst, who died about 1850, has been cited as the last native speaker of the Norn language. The remote islands of Foula and Unst are variously claimed as the last refuges of the language in Shetland, where there were people "who could repeat sentences in Norn, probably passages from folk songs or poems, as late as 1893".[105] Fragments of vocabulary survived the death of the main language and remain to this day, mainly in place-names and terms referring to plants, animals, weather, mood, and fishing vocabulary.

Kentish Sign

edit
Main article: Old Kentish Sign Language

Unrelated to both Banzsl British Sign Language, Northern Irish SL and Francosign Irish SL, the sign language spoken in Kent was a unique village sign language that fell into disuse and was superseded by BSL in the 17th century. There are weak rumours that Martha's Vineyard Sign Language, (one of ASL's substrate languages) descended through Kentish signers, though proper evidence has not yet been substantiated.

Pictish

edit
Main article: Pictish language

Pictish was probably a Brittonic language, or dialect, spoken by the Picts, the people of northern and central Scotland in the Early Middle Ages, which became extinct c.900 AD. There is virtually no direct attestation of Pictish, short of a limited number of geographical and personal names found on monuments and the contemporary records in the area controlled by the Kingdom of the Picts. Such evidence, however, points to the language being closely related to the Brittonic language spoken prior to Anglo-Saxon settlement in what is now southern Scotland, England and Wales. A minority view held by a few scholars claims that Pictish was at least partially non-Indo-European or that a non-Indo-European and Brittonic language coexisted.

Cumbric

edit
Main article: Cumbric

Cumbric was a variety of the Common Brittonic language spoken during the Early Middle Ages in the Hen Ogledd or "Old North" in what is now Northern England and southern Lowland Scotland.[106] It was closely related to Old Welsh and the other Brittonic languages. Place name evidence suggests Cumbric speakers may have carried it into other parts of northern England as migrants from its core area further north.[107] It may also have been spoken as far south as Pendle and the Yorkshire Dales. Most linguists think that it became extinct in the 12th century, after the incorporation of the semi-independent Kingdom of Strathclyde into the Kingdom of Scotland.

Scripts

edit
Official[clarification needed] script Scheduled languages
English English, Scots, Ulster Scots, Manx, Cornish
Gaelic Irish, Scottish Gaelic

See also

edit

References

edit
  1. ^ According to the 2011 census, 53,098,301 people in England and Wales, 5,044,683 people in Scotland, and 1,681,210 people in Northern Ireland can speak English "well" or "very well"; totalling 59,824,194. Therefore, out of the 60,815,385 residents of the UK over the age of three, 98% claim they can speak English "well" or "very well".
  2. ^ "United Kingdom". Languages Across Europe. BBC. Archived from the original on 2 November 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  3. ^ "United Kingdom; Key Facts". Commonwealth Secretariat. Archived from the original on 23 January 2012. Retrieved 23 April 2008. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  4. ^ "English language". Directgov. Archived from the original on 15 October 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  5. ^ Scots - Languages - gov.scot. Out of the 67.6 million residents of the UK over the age of three, 1,508,540 (2.23%) can speak Scots, link.
  6. ^ The usual resident population of England and Wales was 59,597,300 on Census Day, 21 March 2021, and 538,300 said they could speak Welsh 2021 Census from the Welsh Language Commisioner's website
  7. ^ "Language in England and Wales: 2011". Retrieved 10 September 2022.
  8. ^ "The rebirth of Britain's 'lost' languages". Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  9. ^ Hurn, Brian J. (2013). Cross-cultural communication : theory and practice. Barry Tomalin. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 65. ISBN 978-0-230-39114-7. OCLC 844188225.
  10. ^ Anorak, Scots. "Ulster Scots in the Northern Ireland Census". Scots Language Centre. Archived from the original on 4 May 2015. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  11. ^ "2011 Census: Quick Statistics". Archived from the original on 25 August 2014. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
  12. ^ "BSL Statistics". Sign Language Week. British Deaf Association. Archived from the original on 15 April 2021. Retrieved 5 February 2021.
  13. ^ "Toponymic guidelines for map and other editors, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland". GOV.UK. Retrieved 28 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Language in England and Wales - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 7 January 2019. Retrieved 23 July 2020.
  15. ^ Mac Síthigh, Daithí (March 2018). "Official status of languages in the United Kingdom and Ireland". Common Law World Review. 47 (1): 77–102. doi:10.1177/1473779518773642.
  16. ^ Dunbar, R (2007). Diversity in addressing diversity: Canadian and British legislative approaches to linguistic minorities and their international legal context. In: Williams C (ed) Language and Governance. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 104.
  17. ^ "Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011". legislation.gov.uk. The National Archives. Archived from the original on 26 April 2016. Retrieved 30 May 2016.
  18. ^ "Welsh Language Measure receives Royal Assent". Welsh Government. 11 February 2011. Archived from the original on 22 September 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  19. ^ a b c "Welsh language in Wales (Census 2021)". GOV.WALES. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  20. ^ a b c "Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: April 2023 to March 2024". Welsh language data from the Annual Population Survey: April 2023 to March 2024. Welsh Government. 27 June 2024. Retrieved 11 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Irish language and Ulster Scots bill clears final hurdle in Parliament". BBC News. 26 October 2022. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  22. ^ "Language, England and Wales - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  23. ^ "Scots". Scottish Government. Retrieved 29 June 2024.
  24. ^ "British Sign Language (BSL)".
  25. ^ "Angloromani". Ethnologue. Archived from the original on 15 May 2020. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  26. ^ "Scotland's Census 2022 - Ethnic group, national identity, language and religion". Scotland's Census. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  27. ^ Statistics Canada, Nova Scotia (Code 12) (table), National Household Survey (NHS) Profile, 2011 NHS, Catalogue No. 99‑004‑XWE (Ottawa: 2013‑06‑26)
  28. ^ "EUROPEAN CHARTER FOR REGIONAL OR MINORITY LANGUAGES". 3 August 2023.
  29. ^ "How life has changed in Cornwall: Census 2021". sveltekit-prerender. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  30. ^ "Shelta". Ethnologue. 19 February 1999. Archived from the original on 29 June 2010. Retrieved 18 August 2013.
  31. ^ a b "List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148". European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2013. The United Kingdom declares, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1 of the Charter that it recognises that Scots and Ulster Scots meet the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language for the purposes of Part II of the Charter.
  32. ^ a b c "List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148". European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 22 June 2022. Retrieved 21 November 2013. The United Kingdom declares, in accordance with Article 2, paragraph 1, of the Charter that it recognises that Cornish meets the Charter's definition of a regional or minority language for the purposes of Part II of the Charter.
  33. ^ Scottish Cant at Ethnologue (12th ed., 1992).
  34. ^ National Library of Wales' bibliography for 'The Welsh settlement in Patagonia' Archived 1 June 2020 at the Wayback Machine
  35. ^ Prior, Neil (30 May 2015). "Patagonia 150 years on: A 'little Wales beyond Wales'". BBC News. Retrieved 30 July 2020.
  36. ^ "Policy and legislation". Welsh Language. Welsh Government. Archived from the original on 31 May 2014. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  37. ^ "'Historic' assembly vote for new Welsh language law". BBC News. 7 December 2010. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  38. ^ "Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011". National Assembly for Wales. Archived from the original on 21 January 2011. Retrieved 13 February 2011.
  39. ^ a b c "2004 Welsh Language Use Survey: the report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 December 2009. Retrieved 23 May 2010.
  40. ^ Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg, A statistical overview of the Welsh language[dead link‍], by Hywel M Jones, page 115, 13.5.1.6, England. Published February 2012. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  41. ^ "World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - United Kingdom : Welsh". Minority Rights Group International. 2008. Archived from the original on 14 June 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2016.
  42. ^ "Number of Welsh speakers falling". BBC. 11 December 2012. Archived from the original on 23 October 2020. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  43. ^ "Population of England and Wales". www.ethnicity-facts-figures.service.gov.uk. 22 December 2022. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  44. ^ a b "2021 Census". www.welshlanguagecommissioner.wales. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  45. ^ 2011 Census of Scotland Archived 4 June 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Table QS211SC. Viewed 30 May 2014.
  46. ^ Scotland's Census Results Online (SCROL) Archived 11 April 2014 at the Wayback Machine, Table UV12. Viewed 30 May 2014.
  47. ^ Scottish Government, "A’ fàs le Gàidhlig" Archived 10 April 2016 at the Wayback Machine, 26 September 2013. Viewed 30 May 2014.
  48. ^ McLeod, Wilson (March 2014). "Gaelic in contemporary Scotland: contradictions, challenges and strategies". Europa Ethnica. 71 (1/2). University of Edinburgh: 7. doi:10.24989/0014-2492-2014-12-3. hdl:20.500.11820/d4353dd1-29f9-4a0c-b9b9-c63552c8fea3. Archived from the original on 29 December 2016. Retrieved 28 December 2016.
  49. ^ "Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 (s.10)". Office of Public Sector Information. 1 June 2005. Archived from the original on 7 September 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2008.
  50. ^ "Scottish Census Day 2011 survey begins". BBC News. 26 March 2011. Archived from the original on 19 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  51. ^ "Scots language – Scottish Census 2011". Aye Can. Archived from the original on 27 July 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  52. ^ "How to fill in your questionnaire: Individual question 16". Scotland's Census. General Register Office for Scotland. Archived from the original on 12 October 2011. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
  53. ^ "Scotland's Census 2011: Standard Outputs". National Records of Scotland. Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 12 December 2014.
  54. ^ "2011 Census: KS206EW Household language, local authorities in England and Wales (Excel sheet 268Kb)".
  55. ^ "Scotland's Census 2022 - Rounded population estimates". Scotland's Census. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  56. ^ "Scots". www.gov.scot. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  57. ^ "Population estimates for the UK, England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland - Office for National Statistics". www.ons.gov.uk. Retrieved 23 September 2024.
  58. ^ Romaine, Suzanne (2008), "Irish in a Global Context", in Caoilfhionn Nic Pháidín and Seán Ó Cearnaigh (ed.), A New View of the Irish Language, Dublin: Cois Life Teoranta, ISBN 978-1-901176-82-7
  59. ^ a b Census 2011
  60. ^ Northern Ireland LIFE & TIMES Survey: What is the main language spoken in your own home? Archived 10 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  61. ^ a b "THE HISTORY OF THE CORNISH LANGUAGE". CelticLife International. Archived from the original on 10 July 2019. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  62. ^ "Cornish gains official recognition". BBC News. 6 November 2002. Archived from the original on 19 September 2018. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  63. ^ "Cornish language no longer extinct, says UN". BBC News. 7 December 2010. Retrieved 25 October 2022.
  64. ^ "Mid-2013 Population Estimates Scotland". gro-scotland.gov.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 7 July 2014.
  65. ^ Mac an Tàilleir, Iain (2004) 1901–2001 Gaelic in the Census[usurped] (PowerPoint) Linguae Celticae. Retrieved 1 June 2008.
  66. ^ "Census 2001 Scotland: Gaelic speakers by council area" Archived 25 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine Comunn na Gàidhlig. Retrieved 28 May 2010.
  67. ^ "The GP Patient Survey in Northern Ireland 2009/10 Summary Report" (PDF). Department of Health, Social Services, and Public Safety. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 December 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  68. ^ a b "Written Ministerial Statements". Bound Volume Hansard – Written Ministerial Statements. House of Commons. 18 March 2003. Archived from the original on 11 November 2013. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  69. ^ "NOMIS – Census 2011". Archived from the original on 25 April 2014. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  70. ^ "Scotland's Census 2011 – Standard Outputs". Archived from the original on 1 February 2019. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  71. ^ "Northern Ireland Neighbourhood Information Service". Archived from the original on 9 January 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  72. ^ "Mesur y Gymraeg (Cymru) 2011" (in Welsh). UK Legislation. Archived from the original on 13 January 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  73. ^ "Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011". UK Legislation. Archived from the original on 5 August 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  74. ^ a b List of declarations made with respect to treaty No. 148 Archived 22 June 2022 at the Wayback Machine, European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Status as of: 17 March 2011
  75. ^ "Comisiynydd y Gymraeg - Aim of the Welsh Language Commissioner". Comisiynyddygymraeg.cymru. Archived from the original on 2 April 2017. Retrieved 25 March 2017.
  76. ^ "Initial Periodical Report by the United Kingdom presented to the Secretary General of the Council of Europe in accordance with Article 15 of the Charter". European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Council of Europe. 1 July 2002. Archived from the original on 14 May 2005. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  77. ^ "1999 Community Relations". Northern Ireland Life & Times. Archived from the original on 8 January 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  78. ^ a b "1999 Community Relations MAINLANG". Northern Ireland Life & Times. Archived from the original on 10 June 2011. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  79. ^ "1990 Community Relations USPKIRSH". Northern Ireland Life & Times. Archived from the original on 20 February 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  80. ^ "Irish language future is raised". BBC News. 13 December 2006. Archived from the original on 15 March 2007. Retrieved 17 March 2011.
  81. ^ Michael Lynch, ed. (2001). The Oxford Companion to Scottish History. Oxford University Press. (p.482)
  82. ^ Viking revaluations : Viking Society Centenary Symposium 14-15 May 1992. Viking Society for Northern Research. 1993. p. 78. CiteSeerX 10.1.1.683.8845. ISBN 9780903521284.
  83. ^ Department for Education. "School census codes". gov.uk. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  84. ^ "Variables and Classifications (2011)". Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 February 2023.
  85. ^ Bagley, Christopher (1979). "A Comparative Perspective on the Education of Black Children in Britain" (PDF). Comparative Education. 15 (1): 63–81. doi:10.1080/0305006790150107.[dead link‍]
  86. ^ Ballard, Roger (1994). Desh Pardesh: The South Asian Presence in Britain. C Hurst & Co Publishers Ltd. ISBN 1850650918. Archived from the original on 27 July 2020. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
  87. ^ Hussain, Serena (2015). "Missing From the 'Minority Mainstream': Pahari-speaking Diaspora in Britain". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 36 (5): 483–497. doi:10.1080/01434632.2014.953539. ISSN 0143-4632. S2CID 55100616.
  88. ^ Shackle, Christopher (1983). "Language, Dialect and Local Identity in Northern Pakistan". In Wolfgang-Peter Zingel; Stephanie Zingel-Avé Lallemant (eds.). Pakistan in Its Fourth Decade: Current Political, Social and Economic Situation and Prospects for the 1980s. Mitteilungen des Deutschen Orient-Instituts. Vol. 23. Hamburg: Deutsches Orient-Institut. p. 183.
  89. ^ Sharma, Vishal (20 April 2021). "What India Can Learn From UK Pahari Speakers' Efforts to Preserve Their Linguistic Heritage". The Wire (India). Archived from the original on 1 May 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  90. ^ "FOI 4970 Translation and Interpreting". University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust. 24 January 2017. Archived from the original on 16 June 2021. Retrieved 15 June 2021.
  91. ^ "18. Volunteers Service: Languages" (PDF), Equality and Diversity Service Users Annual Compliance Report 2016, vol. 2, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust, archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2021, retrieved 15 June 2021
  92. ^ Comanaru, Ruxandra; D'Ardenne, Jo (2018). The Development of Research Programme to Translate and Test the Personal well-being Questions in Sylheti and Urdu. pp.16. Köln: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Retrieved on 30 June 2020.
  93. ^ Chiara Meluzzi, Martin J. Ball, Rajend Mesthrie (2023). The Routledge Handbook of Sociolinguistics Around the World. pp 40. Retrieved on 2024-09-12.
  94. ^ Francesco Goglia (2021). "Italian-Bangladeshis in London: Onward Migration and Its Effects on Their Linguistic Repertoire." MDPI. Retrieved on 2024-09-12.
  95. ^ Achievement of Bangladeshi heritage pupils (PDF). Ofsted. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2009. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
  96. ^ British schools enlist Sylheti in their syllabi Archived 12 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine Dhaka Tribune. 12 July 2017. Retrieved on 10 August 2020.
  97. ^ Simard, Candide; Dopierala, Sarah M; Thaut, E Marie (2020). "Introducing the Sylheti language and its speakers, and the SOAS Sylheti project" (PDF). Language Documentation and Description. 18: 10. Archived (PDF) from the original on 20 September 2020. Retrieved 16 October 2020.
  98. ^ a b c Europeans and their languages (PDF), European Commission, 2006, p. 13, archived (PDF) from the original on 14 April 2016, retrieved 5 July 2008
  99. ^ "Which languages the UK needs most and why" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 20 October 2017.
  100. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 27 November 2020. Retrieved 10 June 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  101. ^ Moore, Malcolm (28 January 2007). "Pope's Latinist pronounces death of a language". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 26 August 2009. Retrieved 16 September 2009.
  102. ^ "Bryn Mawr Classical Review 98.6.16". Bryn Mawr Classical Review. Archived from the original on 14 June 2012. Retrieved 21 November 2013.
  103. ^ "Cornish Language and Place Names in Cornwall". intoCornwall.com. Archived from the original on 11 July 2019. Retrieved 10 July 2019.
  104. ^ Glanville Price, The Languages of Britain (London: Edward Arnold 1984, ISBN 978-0-7131-6452-7), p. 203
  105. ^ Price (1984), p. 204
  106. ^ Koch, John T. (2006). Celtic Culture: a historical encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. pp. 515–516. ISBN 9781851094400. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 19 July 2021.
  107. ^ James, A. G. (2008): 'A Cumbric Diaspora?' in Padel and Parsons (eds.) A Commodity of Good Names: essays in honour of Margaret Gelling, Shaun Tyas: Stamford, pp. 187–203.

Notes

edit
D.^ England: 110,000 (estimated speakers in 2001) with 8,200 first language speakers (2011 census); Scotland and Northern Ireland: 1,000 (estimated speakers in 2001)
edit
  • Sounds Familiar? — Listen to examples of regional accents and dialects across the UK on the British Library's 'Sounds Familiar' website (uses Windows Media Player for content)

Further reading

edit
  • Trudgill, Peter (ed.), Language in the British Isles, Cambridge University Press, 1984, ISBN 0-521-28409-0

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Languages_of_the_United_Kingdom&oldid=1257845554"
  NODES
Chat 1
Done 2
eth 8
News 7
orte 8
see 11
Story 4
Users 4