World Language Map

Languages spoken in Mauritania

12 living languages are mapped in Mauritania. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Hassaniyya (87% of the population). They belong to 5 language families, the largest being Afro-Asiatic (5 languages).

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The filter only changes what is drawn. Tap the map to list every language at a spot, whichever family is shown. You can also pick any family from its own page.

Key

Language families (largest ten)

  • Atlantic-Congo
  • Austronesian
  • Sino-Tibetan
  • Indo-European
  • Afro-Asiatic
  • Nuclear Trans New Guinea
  • Otomanguean
  • Austroasiatic
  • Tai-Kadai
  • Pama-Nyungan

Everything else

  • All other families Smaller families, isolates and unclassified languages.
  • Point A language with no area map. The dot sits at its Glottolog position, in its family colour.

How to read the map. Each colour is a language family: a group of languages that share a common ancestor. The ten largest families have their own colour and every other family is grey. Areas are see-through, so where two languages share a place the colours mix. Tap anywhere to list every language whose area covers that spot. Areas are generalisations drawn from published atlases, many of them decades old, and cities are multilingual, so an area never says that everyone there speaks the language. A dot marks a language that has no area map. The family name is always given in words, because colour alone is hard to tell apart for some people.

Languages of Mauritania at a glance

  • 12living languages
  • 5language families
  • 4.3 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 4with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in Mauritania. Areas are generalisations from published atlases and overlap, and a language that is mapped here is not necessarily spoken everywhere inside its area.

Languages spoken in Mauritania

Languages with a Unicode CLDR share come first, biggest first by estimated speakers; the rest follow A to Z. Estimated speakers are the share applied to CLDR’s own population figure for the country.

LanguageFamilyShare of populationEstimated speakersStatus
HassaniyyaAfro-Asiatic87%3,765,395Not endangered
Standard ArabicAfro-Asiatic85%3,678,834Not endangered
FrenchIndo-European13%562,645Not endangered
WolofAtlantic-Congo0.2%9,954Not endangered
Algerian ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
Algerian Saharan ArabicAfro-AsiaticNot endangered
Koyra Chiini SonghaySonghayNot endangered
Maasina FulfuldeAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
PulaarAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
SoninkeMandeNot endangered
Western ManinkakanMandeNot endangered
ZenagaAfro-AsiaticMoribund

Read more: where is Hassaniyya spoken?

Language families in Mauritania

About these numbers

The list of languages in Mauritania comes from the overlap of Glottography and Glottolog language areas and positions with the country outline, together with the languages Glottolog assigns to the country. The shares come from Unicode CLDR release 48 and are estimates. See every source and licence.

Questions about languages in Mauritania

How many languages are spoken in Mauritania?

12 living languages are mapped in Mauritania, from 5 families. The number depends on how a catalogue decides where one language ends and another begins, so other sources give other totals.

What is the most spoken language in Mauritania?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Hassaniyya is spoken by 87% of the population, about 3,765,395 people, followed by Standard Arabic (85%). Shares are approximate, can add up to more than 100% because many people speak several languages, and only cover languages CLDR has a figure for.

Which language families are found in Mauritania?

Afro-Asiatic (5 languages), Atlantic-Congo (3 languages), Mande (2 languages), Indo-European (1 language) and Songhay (1 language).

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