Endangered dialects

Ainu

A language isolate of the indigenous Ainu people of Hokkaido and historically Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands. Critically endangered with only a handful of native speakers; subject of an active revitalisation effort.

Cappadocian Greek

The Greek of inner Anatolia, isolated for centuries before the 1923 population exchange brought its speakers to Greece. Heavily Turkic-influenced; once thought extinct but rediscovered in central Greece in the 2000s.

Chickasaw

also: Chikashshanompa

A Muskogean language of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Closely related to Choctaw; critically endangered with active revitalisation through the Chickasaw Nation Language Department.

Crimean Tatar

also: Qırımtatarca

A mixed Turkic language of the Crimean peninsula, descended from contact between Kipchak and Oghuz varieties. Critically endangered after the 1944 Soviet deportation; subject of an active revitalisation effort.

Jeju

also: Jejueo

The variety of Jeju Island, often classified as a separate Koreanic language. Carries archaic features lost on the mainland and is critically endangered.

Ket

The last living Yeniseian language, spoken along the middle Yenisei in central Siberia. Around 200 elderly speakers; recently linked to the Na-Dené family of North America in the controversial Dene-Yeniseian hypothesis.

Koryo-mar

also: Koryo-mal, Koryo-saram Korean

The Korean variety of the Koryo-saram, descended from communities deported from the Soviet Far East in 1937 to Central Asia. A Hamgyŏng-derived dialect heavily influenced by Russian, now critically endangered.

Lower Sorbian

also: Dolnoserbski, Niedersorbisch, Wendish

A West Slavic language spoken by the Sorb minority of Lower Lusatia in Brandenburg, centred on Cottbus (Chóśebuz). Critically endangered, with revitalisation efforts in bilingual schools and the Witaj programme.

Lushootseed

also: Puget Salish

A Salishan language of the Coast Salish peoples around Puget Sound in western Washington. Critically endangered; subject of an active revitalisation through the Tulalip and Muckleshoot tribes.

Manchu

A Tungusic language and the historical court language of the Qing dynasty (1644-1912). Now critically endangered, with only a handful of native speakers in Heilongjiang.

Nivkh

also: Gilyak

A language isolate of Sakhalin and the lower Amur basin in Russia. Critically endangered; one of the few Paleo-Siberian languages with no demonstrated relatives.

Tsakonian

also: Tsakonika

The only living descendant of ancient Doric Greek, spoken in a few villages of the Peloponnese around Leonidio. Critically endangered; structurally distinct from all other Greek varieties, which descend from Attic-Ionic.

Yaghnobi

also: Yagnobi

An eastern Iranian language of the Yaghnob valley in Tajikistan. The only living descendant of Sogdian, the lingua franca of the medieval Silk Road; critically endangered.

Zargari

also: Zargari Romani, Zargari Romanes, Zargar Romani

A highly endangered Romani variety spoken in and around the village of Zargar in Qazvin province of north-western Iran, west of Tehran. The community is traditionally said to have been settled in the Safavid period and is one of the easternmost Romani-speaking populations on record; the dialect retains a Romani lexical core but shows heavy contact influence from Persian and Azerbaijani Turkish in phonology, vocabulary, and grammar. Speaker numbers are small and intergenerational transmission has weakened sharply.

Jerusalem Domari

also: Domari of Jerusalem, Nawari

The most thoroughly documented Domari variety, spoken by the Dom community of the Old City of Jerusalem. Severely endangered, with only a few hundred fluent speakers; the reference variety in Matras (2012), A Grammar of Domari.

Manx

also: Gaelg

A Goidelic Celtic language of the Isle of Man. Functionally extinct in 1974 with the death of its last native speaker; revived through education and now spoken as a second language by hundreds.

Cajun French

also: Louisiana French, Français cadien

The French of the Cajun communities of southern Louisiana, descended from 18th-century Acadian settlers expelled from the Maritimes. Endangered, with active revitalisation through CODOFIL and the Louisiana French immersion programme.

Hawrami

An older and distinctive Kurdish variety spoken in pockets along the Iran-Iraq border, rich in classical poetic tradition.

Kalmyk

also: Kalmyk Oirat, Khalimag

The only Mongolic language of Europe, spoken in the Republic of Kalmykia by the descendants of 17th-century Oirat migrants from Dzungaria. Endangered but officially recognised.

Mariupolitan Greek

also: Rumeika, Azov Greek

The Greek of the Mariupol region in Ukraine, descended from communities resettled from Crimea by Catherine the Great in 1778. Endangered; structurally close to Pontic Greek.

Occitan

also: Lenga dʼòc, Provençal

A Romance language of southern France, the Aran valley in Catalonia, and a few alpine valleys of Italy. The language of the medieval troubadours; now endangered in everyday use.

Scottish Gaelic

also: Gàidhlig

A Goidelic Celtic language closely related to Irish, spoken across the Outer Hebrides and parts of the Highlands of Scotland. Around 60,000 speakers, with sustained revitalisation through Gaelic-medium education.

Wakhi

also: Wakhi Pamir

A Pamir Iranian language spoken across the Wakhan Corridor where Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, and China meet. One of the most archaic Iranian languages, retaining features of Old Iranian lost everywhere else.