Welcome to the Language Resources Area

This area of the LINGUIST List contains information on languages and language families, plus links to websites devoted to natural and constructed languages, to writing systems, and to language resources, e.g., dictionaries.

Thanks to the generous cooperation of the Ethnologue, you can search a database of information on over 7000 unique languages, using over 47,000 language names and alternate names. This database keeps track of those languages which have become extinct (573 entries), or are in imminent danger of becoming extinct (440 entries). In addition, you can access a separate LINGUIST List database of information on ancient and extinct languages with ISO 639-3 codes to which LINGUIST has added languages with temporary codes, constructed languages, and language families.

You may also access the combined language search facilities.


In addition to the information on languages described above, we have links to numerous websites with language-related information:

• Dictionaries - 334 links to dictionaries of specific languages, multilingual dictionaries, acronym dictionaries, thesauri, and dictionaries of specialized terms, as well as dictionary projects (e.g. The Euro Wordnet Project).
• Natural Languages - Collection of links to more than 180 sites dealing with individual languages or language families. Also, approximately 20 language meta sites, e.g. the Rosetta Project.
  • MetaSites - Sites that list numerous language resources and function as directories.
  • Languages & Language Families - A listing of general sources of information of languages and links to further resources on language families.
  • Writing Systems - Resources on the various writing systems that different languages implement.
• Constructed Languages - Links to sites devoted to artifical languages. See also a description of the constructed languages in our database.
• Language Novelties - Novelties such as animal sounds and numbers in many different languages. (8 entries)

Keep us up to date! We want to be as comprehensive as possible. If you know of a link that should go in these pages, please add it here .