Editing Ethnologue (section)

==History==
''Ethnologue'' was founded in 1951 by Richard S. Pittman and was initially focused on minority languages, to share information on Bible translation needs.<ref name="ELL"/><ref name="history">{{Cite web |title=History of the Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/about/history-ethnologue |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> The first edition included information on 46 languages.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/> Hand-drawn maps were introduced in the fourth edition (1953).<ref name="history"/> The seventh edition (1969) listed 4,493 languages.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/> In 1971, ''Ethnologue'' expanded its coverage to all known languages of the world.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/>

''Ethnologue'' database was created in 1971 at the [[University of Oklahoma]] under a grant from the [[National Science Foundation]].<ref name="history"/> In 1974 the database was moved to [[Cornell University]].<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/> Since 2000, the database has been maintained by SIL International in their Dallas headquarters.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/> In 1997 (13th edition), the website became the primary means of access.<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/>

In 1984, ''Ethnologue'' released a three-letter coding system, called an 'SIL code', to identify each language that it described. This set of codes significantly exceeded the scope of other existing standards, e.g. [[ISO 639-1]] and [[ISO 639-2]].{{sfn|Everaert|Musgrave|Dimitriadis|2009|p=204}}<ref name="history"/><ref name="ELL"/>

The 14th edition, published in 2000, included 7,148 language codes. In 2002, ''Ethnologue'' was asked to work with the [[International Organization for Standardization]] (ISO) to integrate its codes into a draft international standard. ''Ethnologue'' codes have then been adopted by ISO as the international standard, [[ISO 639-3]].<ref name="Hammarström2005" /><ref name="Campbell&Grondona"/> The 15th edition of ''Ethnologue'' was the first edition to use this standard. This standard is now administered separately from Ethnologue. SIL International is the [[registration authority]] for languages names and codes,<ref name="Campbell&Grondona"/> according to rules established by ISO.<ref name="iso sil">{{cite web | title = Maintenance agencies and registration authorities | url = http://www.iso.org/iso/home/standards_development/list_of_iso_technical_committees/maintenance_agencies.htm | publisher = ISO }}</ref> Since then ''Ethnologue'' relies on the standard to determine what is listed as a language.<ref name="ELL">{{cite book | contribution = Ethnologue | first1 = Gary F. | last1 = Simons | first2 = Raymond G. | last2 = Gordon | volume = 4 | pages = 250–253 | title = Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics | editor-first = Keith | editor-last = Brown|editor-link=Keith Brown (linguist) | edition = 2nd | publisher = [[Elsevier]] | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-08-044299-0|url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B0080448542049002|doi=10.1016/B0-08-044854-2/04900-2}}</ref> In only one case, ''Ethnologue'' and the ISO standards treat languages slightly differently. ISO 639-3 considers [[Akan language|Akan]] to be a [[ISO 639 macrolanguage|macrolanguage]] consisting of two distinct languages, [[Twi]] and [[Fante dialect|Fante]], whereas ''Ethnologue'' considers Twi and Fante to be dialects of a single language (Akan), since they are mutually intelligible. This anomaly resulted because the ISO 639-2 standard has separate codes for Twi and Fante, which have separate literary traditions, and all 639-2 codes for individual languages are automatically part of 639-3, even though 639-3 would not normally assign them separate codes.

In 2014, with the 17th edition, ''Ethnologue'' introduced a numerical code for language status using a framework called [[Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale (EGIDS)|EGIDS (Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale)]], an elaboration of [[Joshua Fishman|Fishman's]] GIDS ([[Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale]]). It ranks a language from 0 for an [[World language|international language]] to 10 for an [[extinct language]], i.e. a language with which no-one retains a sense of ethnic identity.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.ethnologue.com/about/language-status |title=Language status |publisher=Ethnologue |year = 2014 |access-date=2015-01-24 }}</ref>

In 2015, SIL's funds decreased and in December 2015, ''Ethnologue'' launched a metered [[paywall]] to cover its cost, as it is financially self-sustaining.<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/> Users in [[World Bank high-income economy|high-income countries]] who wanted to refer to more than seven pages of data per month had to buy a [[paid subscription]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-01 |title=Ethnologue launches subscription service |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/m-paul-lewis/ethnologue-launches-subscription-service |access-date=2023-02-14 |website=Ethnologue |language=en|first=Paul|last=Lewis}}</ref><ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/> The 18th edition released that year included a new section on [[language policy]] country by country.<ref name="2015work">{{Cite web |date=2015-02-01 |title=What we are working on here at Ethnologue Central |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/m-paul-lewis/what-we-are-working-here-ethnologue-central |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en|first=Paul|last=Lewis}}</ref><ref name="welcome18"/>

In 2016, ''Ethnologue'' added date about [[language planning]] agencies to the 19th edition.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2016-02-01 |title=Looking back and looking ahead |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/m-paul-lewis/looking-back-and-looking-ahead |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en|first=Paul|last=Lewis}}</ref>

As of 2017, ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s 20th edition described 237 [[language families]] including 86 [[language isolates]] and six typological categories, namely [[sign language]]s, [[Creole language|creole]]s, [[pidgin]]s, [[mixed language]]s, [[constructed language]]s, and as yet [[unclassified languages]].<ref name="EthnologueList">{{cite web |url = http://www.ethnologue.com/browse/families |title=Browse by Language Family |publisher=Ethnologue |access-date=2015-03-05 }}</ref>

The early focus of the Ethnologue was on native use (L1) but was gradually expanded to cover L2 use as well.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Olson |first1=Kenneth S. |url=https://academic.oup.com/book/25957/chapter/193751372 |title=The Ethnologue and L2 Mapping |last2=Lewis |first2=M. Paul |date=2018-02-15 |publisher=Oxford University Press |volume=1 |language=en |doi=10.1093/oso/9780190657543.003.0003}}</ref>

In 2019, ''Ethnologue'' disabled trial views and introduced a [[Paywall#"Hard" paywalls|hard paywall]] to cover its nearly $1 million in annual operating costs (website maintenance, security, researchers, and SIL's 5,000 field linguists).<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/><ref name="2019 changes">{{Cite web |date=2019-10-26 |title=Changes at Ethnologue.com |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/changes-ethnologuecom |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Ethnologue |language=en|first=Rob|last=Hess}}</ref> Subscriptions start at $480 per person per year,<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/> while full access costs $2,400 per person per year.<ref name="pricing">{{Cite web |date=2019-07-22 |title=Pricing |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/pricing |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> Users in [[low and middle-income countries]] as defined by the [[World Bank]] are eligible for free access and there are discounts for libraries and independent researchers.<ref name="pricing"/> Subscribers are mostly institutions: 40% of the world's top 50 universities subscribe to ''Ethnologue'',<ref name="Chelliah2021"/> and it is also sold to business intelligence firms and Fortune 500 companies.<ref name="ScienceOrg2020">{{Cite web |title=World's largest linguistics database is getting too expensive for some researchers |url=https://www.science.org/content/article/world-s-largest-linguistics-database-getting-too-expensive-some-researchers |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=www.science.org |language=en}}</ref> The introduction of the paywall was harshly criticized by the community of linguists who rely on ''Ethnologue'' to do their work and cannot afford the subscription<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/> The same year, ''Ethnologue'' launched its contributor program to fill gaps and improve accuracy,<ref name="Updates and Corrections">{{Cite web |title=Updates and Corrections |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/updates-corrections |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref><ref name="2019 changes"/> allowing contributors to submit corrections and additions and to get a complimentary access to the website.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Contributor Program |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/contributor-program/ |access-date=2023-09-25 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s editors gradually review crowdsourced contributions before publication.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-02-12 |title=Ethnologue Contributor Community Norms |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/community-norms |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Chelliah2021"/> As 2019 was the [[International Year of Indigenous Languages]], this edition focused on [[language loss]]: it added the date when last fluent speaker of the language died, standardized the age range of language users, and improved the [[EGIDS]] estimates.<ref name="welcome22">{{Cite web |first=Gary|last=Simons|date=2019-02-21 |title=Welcome to the 22nd edition |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/gary-simons/welcome-22nd-edition |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>

In 2020, the 23rd edition listed 7,117 living languages, an increase of 6 living languages from the 22nd edition. In this edition, ''Ethnologue'' expanded its coverage of [[immigrant language]]s: previous editions only had full entries for languages considered to be "established" within a country. From this edition, ''Ethnologue'' includes data about first and second languages of [[refugee]]s, temporary [[foreign workers]] and immigrants.<ref name="welcome23">{{Cite web |date=2020-02-21 |title=Welcome to the 23rd edition |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/gary-simons/welcome-23rd-edition |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref><ref name="Chelliah2021"/>

In 2021, the 24th edition had 7,139 modern languages, an increase of 22 living languages from the 23rd edition. Editors especially improved data about [[language shift]] in this edition.<ref name="welcome24">{{Cite web |date=2021-02-22 |title=Welcome to the 24th edition |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/gary-simons/welcome-24th-edition |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>

In 2022, the 25th edition listed a total of 7,151 living languages, an increase of 12 living languages from the 24th edition. This edition specifically improved the [[Medium of instruction|use of languages in education]].<ref name="welcome25"/>

In 2023, the 26th edition listed a total of 7,168 living languages, an increase of 17 living languages from the 25th edition.

In 2024, the 27th edition listed a total of 7,164 living languages, a decrease of 4 living languages from the 26th edition.<ref name="welcome27"/>