World Language Map

Languages spoken in Papua New Guinea

864 living languages are mapped in Papua New Guinea. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is Tok Pisin (71% of the population). They belong to 48 language families, the largest being Nuclear Trans New Guinea (253 languages). 29 are language isolates, with no known relatives.

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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 Papua New Guinea at a glance

  • 864living languages
  • 48language families
  • 10 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 3with a CLDR share

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

The 40 most widely spoken languages in Papua New Guinea

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
Tok PisinIndo-European71%7,132,802Not endangered
EnglishIndo-European50%5,023,100Not endangered
Hiri Motuunclassified2.1%210,970Not endangered
'AuhelawaAustronesianNot endangered
AbadiAustronesianNot endangered
AbagaNuclear Trans New GuineaNearly extinct
AbauSepikShifting
AbomAnimNearly extinct
AbuRamuShifting
Abu' ArapeshNuclear TorricelliShifting
AdzeraAustronesianThreatened
AekaNuclear Trans New GuineaNot endangered
AekyomKamula-ElevalaNot endangered
AgarabiNuclear Trans New GuineaNot endangered
AgiNuclear TorricelliShifting
Agob-Ende-KawamPahoturiNot endangered
AighonAustronesianNot endangered
AiklepAustronesianNot endangered
AimeleBosaviShifting
AinbaiBorderShifting
AiomeRamuShifting
AisiNuclear Trans New GuineaShifting
AkSepikMoribund
AkoletAustronesianNot endangered
AkoyeAnganShifting
AlamblakSepikShifting
AlekanoNuclear Trans New GuineaThreatened
Alu-SinagenNuclear TorricelliShifting
Ama (Papua New Guinea)Left MayThreatened
AmaimonNuclear Trans New GuineaNot endangered
AmalSepikShifting
AmamKunimaipanThreatened
AmanabBorderShifting
AmaraAustronesianShifting
AmbakichKeramShifting
AmbrakNuclear TorricelliThreatened
AmbulasNduThreatened
AmeleNuclear Trans New GuineaThreatened
AmtoAmto-MusanShifting
AnamNuclear Trans New GuineaShifting

Read more: where is Tok Pisin spoken?

Language families in Papua New Guinea

All 864 languages in Papua New Guinea, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in Papua New Guinea 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 Papua New Guinea

How many languages are spoken in Papua New Guinea?

864 living languages are mapped in Papua New Guinea, from 48 families, plus 29 language isolates. 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 Papua New Guinea?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, Tok Pisin is spoken by 71% of the population, about 7,132,802 people, followed by English (50%). 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 Papua New Guinea?

Nuclear Trans New Guinea (253 languages), Austronesian (227 languages), Nuclear Torricelli (55 languages), Sepik (36 languages) and Ramu (24 languages), and 43 more.

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