As the most heavily colonised continent/s, the Americas are the most linguistically homogenous regions in the world today (not counting diverse metropolitan areas). Still, there are many indigenous and creole languages which are official in various states, provinces, regions and reservations, and through a quiz like this, I hope quiz-takers can learn more about the Indigenous language families.
Language borders in the north are much more approximate, as the population density is scarce. Additionally, borders in Northern Canada and Alaska are largely pre-contact, while in the lower 48 states they are closer to modern reserve borders. This becomes clearer when you look at some of the massive land areas on the map, representing just 50 people. Many of the Indigenous people were nomadic, and so this makes the areas on the map even larger.
I removed extinct languages from the map, which you can see via the two gaps in Alaska. By the time the next US census is taken, it is possible that another language will be taken off the quiz. Many of these languages are severely endangered or even moribund (meaning their extinction is inevitable), and as we lose the elder generations who make up the bulk of Indigenous-language speakers, we can expect the numbers to drop rapidly for many of these languages despite revitalisation efforts.
Some fun facts: the Yupik languages are unique, as they are some of the only Indigenous American languages to be spoken on mainland Russia. The Garifuna language is especially interesting, as it is the only Arawakan language spoken outside of South America, and it is spoken by a mixed black-Indigenous Caribbean people. They have a fascinating culture and I recommend reading more into it.
Great quiz, really enjoyed it! Why are no Mexican (or Central American) indigenous languages mentioned? Mexico has so a lot of indigenous speakers (much more than a lot of languages mentioned in this quiz), like Nahuatl, Mixtec, Zapotec etc.
I meant to mention this in the grey comments above, but for whatever reason Mexico does not recognise any languages or make them official at the national or regional level. Even Spanish is not an official language of Mexico. As this quiz is concerned which official designations, unfortunately we are missing out on some very interesting languages indeed.
Thanks for playing and good question by the way :)
What're your thoughts on including Louisiana Creole? I understand it, and Louisiana French enjoy a special status in that state, with legal recognition.
This is a good idea and I want to look into this. From what I can tell, Louisiana Creole has a slightly ambiguous but recognised status in Louisiana, like most other American states and language recognition. However, this would be enough to add it to the quiz.
Yeah from what I understand, Louisiana has no official language but has protected Louisiana French and Louisiana Creole and provides services in them. It's a shame other states don't do it with their unique linguistic communities. Some other fascinating ones like Pennsylvania Dutch, Gullah, Alaskan Russian, and many many native ones could certainly be better protected.
The reason is that when the Dutch took control of the islands, they never imposed the Dutch language, but rather it grew more present as a prestige / administrative language in the 20th Century. As a result, the majority of people on these islands (the ABC islands) speak Papiamento as a first language (a mixture of mostly Portuguese Creole plus Spanish and West African influences).
As the most heavily colonised continent/s, the Americas are the most linguistically homogenous regions in the world today (not counting diverse metropolitan areas). Still, there are many indigenous and creole languages which are official in various states, provinces, regions and reservations, and through a quiz like this, I hope quiz-takers can learn more about the Indigenous language families.
Language borders in the north are much more approximate, as the population density is scarce. Additionally, borders in Northern Canada and Alaska are largely pre-contact, while in the lower 48 states they are closer to modern reserve borders. This becomes clearer when you look at some of the massive land areas on the map, representing just 50 people. Many of the Indigenous people were nomadic, and so this makes the areas on the map even larger.
Some fun facts: the Yupik languages are unique, as they are some of the only Indigenous American languages to be spoken on mainland Russia. The Garifuna language is especially interesting, as it is the only Arawakan language spoken outside of South America, and it is spoken by a mixed black-Indigenous Caribbean people. They have a fascinating culture and I recommend reading more into it.
Thanks for playing and good question by the way :)
What're your thoughts on including Louisiana Creole? I understand it, and Louisiana French enjoy a special status in that state, with legal recognition.
But shouldn't Ojibwe be here as well?