An encyclopedic reference volume that catalogs all the known living languages in the world today. The Ethnologue has been an active research project for more than fifty years. Thousands of linguists and other researchers all over the world rely on and have contributed to the Ethnologue. It is widely regarded to be the most comprehensive listing of information of its kind. Includes 6,912 language descriptions organized by continent and country; 39,491 primary names, alternate names, and dialect names; 208 color maps showing location and distribution of languages; Unique three-letter identifier for each language from the Draft International Standard ISO 639-3; Statistical summaries with numerical tabulations of living languages and number of speakers by continent, by language size, by language family, and by country.

Abbreviations -- Introduction -- Statistical summaries -- Part I : Languages of the world -- Africa -- Americas -- Asia -- Europe -- Pacific -- Bibliography -- Part II : Language maps -- Africa -- Americas -- Asia -- Europe -- Pacific -- Part III : Language name index -- Language code index.