Ethnologue: Languages of the World

http://www.ethnologue.com/

Ethnologue.com is a place where you can conveniently find many resources to help you with your research of the world's languages. Ethnologue.com is owned by SIL International, a service organization that works with people who speak the world’s lesser-known languages.

Ethnologue language data: The language data you will find on this site came from the Ethnologue database. Once every four years we take a "snapshot" of the contents of the database and publish it along with language maps for many of the countries of the world. The most recently published edition of the Ethnologue database is Ethnologue: Languages of the World, 16th Edition. The language data from the sixteenth edition is presented in this searchable web version.
The Ethnologue database has been an active research project for more than fifty years. It is probably the most comprehensive listing of information about the currently known languages of the world. Thousands of linguists and other researchers all over the world rely on and have contributed to the Ethnologue database.

Language maps: We also compile information about the locations of the world's living languages and have created a set of maps which include most of the countries of the world. Each time a new edition of the Ethnologue is published, we include these maps in the printed volumes. The maps can be viewed from the continent and country pages (see individual countries) on this site.

Extensive bibliography: In addition to the Bibliography of Ethnologue Data Sources there are keyed to the language information on this site bibliographic citations for thousands of published works with additional information about the languages of the world. The SIL Bibliography is an invaluable research aid for scholars and others with interest in the world's languages. You can browse using the author, country, serial, or subject indexes, or create your own freeform search parameters. For details about the SIL Bibliography, see the Overview.

Computer resources: We have developed a number of software tools to be used by scholars, researchers, and students in linguistics, anthropology, sociolinguistics, literacy, and related disciplines. Some of these computer resources are available for free download.