What is the least spoken language in the world?

Some tribes around the world live in remote areas and speak rare languages. Many of these languages will die in the near future, while some may survive.

        The speakers of these rare languages learned them when they were children. However, many of their children now have no interest in learning or speaking their native language. They prefer to speak the dominant language in their locality or country.  Due to this, languages will disappear unless there is a concerted effort to revive them again.

According to the Atlas of World Languages issued by UNESCO, 64 languages are critically endangered, and some of them have only one or two speakers.

In this article, we will take a look at 11 rare languages.

Let’s know, where are they spoken, and the number of speakers of each language today. 

Language #1: Njerep

Njerep is one of the Mambiloid languages in Nigeria. There are just four people who still speak this language.

The youngest person who still speaks the language was born in the 1940s, so it is a critically endangered language. Also, it is used now to keep a conversation secret.

In the Mambila village of Cameroon, a handful of people can utter a few words and sentences in the Njerep language. They are not competent speakers, but they can remember it. Njerep has been used mostly for greetings, jokes, songs, and sharing secrets. According to anthropologists, the language doesn’t have a chance of revival.

Language #2:Liki

In the Papua region in Indonesia, there are about 11 people, from an ethnic population of 320, who speak Liki as of 2005. They live in the islands off the coast of Sarmi Kecamatan, Jayapura Kabupaten, and Sarmi.

Liki was a very popular language, as the indigenous church officials in the region used it to preach.

Language #3: Ongota

Ongota is a language spoken by 12 elders in only one village in southwestern Ethiopia.

In a 2012 report, UNESCO stated that only 12 individuals speak the language in one village in southwestern Ethiopia, and it may not disappear because a professor from Addis Ababa University in Ethiopia is studying the language.

Ongota is one of the Afro-Asiatic languages. You can hear it when it is spoken by people who live in a village on the west bank of the “Weyt’o River” in the “Omo” zone of Ethiopia.

Language #4: Chamicuro

Chamicuro is a traditional language in Peru. You might be shocked to learn that only 20 people speak Chamicuro!

Chamicuro is known as Chamicura or Chamicolo and is classified as one of the Arawakan languages. It is recognized as an indigenous American language and is critically endangered because the children who live there prefer to speak Spanish rather than Chamicuro. Although there is a written dictionary for Chamicuro, the language is unfortunately nearly extinct.

Language #5: Tanema

The Tanema language is also called Tetau, Tetawo, or Tanimaof. It is an Oceanic, Central-Eastern, and Malayo-Polynesian language. Tanema used to be spoken in villages in Emua, in the province of Temotu, and on the island of Vanikolo, all located in the Solomon Islands.

        Although the ethnic population of the Solomon Islands is about 150 persons, and there is only one surviving speaker, whose name is “Lainol Nalo”. Tanema is considered a living language, but in fact, it is already nearly extinct.

Language #6: Taushiro

Taushiro is also called Pinchi or Pinche. It is by all accounts the least used language in the world. There is only one person in the world who speaks Taushiro as of 2002 in the Loreto region of Peru, which is where s/he lives (if s/he is still alive).

It is important to know that while the ethnic population of Taushiro is just 20 people, about 150 people belong to an ethnic group whose native language was Tanema as of 2007. Because it is an isolated language, it does not seem that it will be revived at all.

Language #7: Sarsi

Sarsi or Sarcee is classified as an Athabaskan language and is spoken by the Tsuu T’ina tribe located in Calgary, Canada. Only 170 people speak the language.

Sarsi language is related to the Navajo language, which is spoken by the tribe in the southern part of the United States. In fact, it is purely an oral language as there is no evidence that it has a writing system are there are no written records of the language. Mostly, the elders speak the Sarcee language but the younger generation has embraced big efforts to learn it.

Language #8: Pawnee

Pawnee language is spoken around Nebraska and north-central Oklahoma. It is a Native American-Indian dialect. Although there are still 10 people who are native speakers of Pawnee, all of them are elderly and their children prefer to speak English as their mother tongue. Also, only the Elders and Chiefs of the Pawnee tribe speak the language fluently.

Language #9: S’aoch

Only 10 fluent speakers out of 110 people are left in a village located on Cambodia’s seashore who speak S’aoch.

The S’aoch stable culture was wiped out by the Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. They snatched their land, locked S’aoch people up in labor camps, and banned them from speaking their own language.

Language #10: Dumi

Dumi is a language spoken in Nepal, around the Rava and Tap rivers, and in the Khotang District. All current data states that there are only seven remaining speakers of the language. Dumi language has written records that are available to people who are interested to learn it, as a dictionary, and several books that show the grammar and syntax of the Dumi language.

Language #11:Chemehuevi

Chemehuevi is spoken in many places such as the U.S; the Midwest, southern regions of Nevada, northern parts of Arizona, and the Colorado River in California. This language belongs to the Uto-Aztecan language family and is a part of the Numic language branch.

There were about three fluent speakers of the Chemehuevi language remaining in 2008. In addition, Chemehuevi has a dictionary that includes 2,500 words. The language is now is being revived through a program of the Siwavaats Junior College in California.

Conclusion

There are many languages around the world that face the threat of extinction. Some of them may be revived, and some will disappear. Languages that have written records and/or attracted the attention of institutions and universities have a higher chance of revival.