World Language Map

Where is Walser spoken?

Walser is an Indo-European language, spoken in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. It is marked on the map by a ringed point.

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Where Walser is spoken

Walser is spoken in 4 countries: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. The table gives the share of each country’s people who speak it, from Unicode CLDR, where CLDR has a figure.

CountryShare of populationEstimated speakers
Switzerland0.1%9,747
Liechtenstein3.2%1,289
AustriaNot givenNot given
ItalyNot givenNot given

Estimated speakers are the CLDR percentage applied to CLDR’s own population figure for the country, so they are rough. A country without a figure may still have speakers: it is listed because the language area, or Glottolog’s record, reaches it.

Walser has no area on the map because no open area map covers it. The ringed point is the position Glottolog gives for the language.

How many people speak Walser?

Wikidata gives about 23,000 speakers (Wikidata, with no source given). These figures are approximate: they come from different sources, years and definitions of a speaker.

Status: Threatened. Glottolog lists it as threatened: it is still spoken by all generations, but there are signs that the number of speakers is falling.

Where Walser sits in the language family tree

Glottolog classifies Walser as follows, from the largest family down to the language itself.

  1. Indo-European
  2. Classical Indo-European
  3. Germanic
  4. Northwest Germanic
  5. West Germanic
  6. High German
  7. Upper German
  8. Middle-Modern High German
  9. Modern High German
  10. Alemannic
  11. South Alemannic
  12. Walser

Related languages

Other languages in the South Alemannic group:

More about Walser

Codes: ISO 639-3 wae, Glottolog wals1238. Glottolog macroarea: Eurasia.

Questions about Walser

Where is Walser spoken?

Walser is spoken in Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Austria and Italy. Unicode CLDR puts it at 0.1% of the population of Switzerland, which is about 9,747 people. On the map it is shown as a single point, because no open area map covers it.

How many people speak Walser?

Wikidata gives about 23,000 speakers (Wikidata, with no source given). Speaker numbers are approximate and differ between sources: counting who is a speaker, and whether to include second-language speakers, is not settled.

Which language family is Walser in?

Glottolog places Walser in the Indo-European family, in the branch Classical Indo-European, Germanic, Northwest Germanic, West Germanic, High German, Upper German, Middle-Modern High German, Modern High German, Alemannic and South Alemannic.

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