Editing Ethnologue (section)

== Reception, reliability, and use ==
In 1986, [[William Bright]], then editor of the journal ''[[Language (journal)|Language]]'', wrote of ''Ethnologue'' that it "is indispensable for any reference shelf on the languages of the world".<ref>{{cite journal |title = Ethnologue: Languages of the world Ed. by Barbara F. Grimes, and: Index to the Tenth edition of Ethnologue: Languages of the world Ed. by Barbara F. Grimes (review) |journal = Language |year = 1986 |issn = 1535-0665|pages = 698|volume = 62 |issue = 3|doi = 10.1353/lan.1986.0027 |first = William |last = Bright |s2cid = 143911105 }}</ref> The 2003 ''[[International Encyclopedia of Linguistics]]'' described ''Ethnologue'' as "a comprehensive listing of the world's languages, with genetic classification",<ref>{{Citation |last=Comrie |first=Bernard |title=Languages of the World |date=2003 |url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780195139778.001.0001/acref-9780195139778-e-0584 |encyclopedia=International Encyclopedia of Linguistics |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acref/9780195139778.001.0001 |isbn=978-0-19-513977-8 |access-date=2022-11-22}}</ref> and follows Ethnologue's classification.<ref name="Hammarström2005" /> In 2005, linguists [[Lindsay J. Whaley]] and [[Lenore Grenoble]] considered that ''Ethnologue'' "continues to provide the most comprehensive and reliable count of numbers of speakers of the world's languages", still they recognize that "individual language surveys may have far more accurate counts for a specific language, but ''The Ethnologue'' is unique in bringing together speaker statistics on a global scale".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Grenoble |first1=Lenore A. |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9780511615931/type/book |title=Saving Languages: An Introduction to Language Revitalization |last2=Whaley |first2=Lindsay J. |date=2005-11-03 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0-521-81621-2 |edition=1 |page=164 |doi=10.1017/cbo9780511615931}}</ref> In 2006, [[Computational linguistics|computational linguists]] John C. Paolillo and Anupam Das conducted a systematic evaluation of available information on language populations for the [[UNESCO Institute for Statistics]]. They reported that ''Ethnologue'' and [[Linguasphere Observatory|Linguasphere]] were the only comprehensive sources of information about language populations and that ''Ethnologue'' had more specific information. They concluded that: "the language statistics available today in the form of the ''Ethnologue'' population counts are already good enough to be useful"<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Paolillo |first1=John C. |last2=Das |first2=Anupam |date=2006 |title=Evaluating Language Statistics: The Ethnologue and Beyond |url=https://uis.unesco.org/sites/default/files/documents/evaluating-language-statistics-the-ethnologue-and-beyond-en_0.pdf |publisher=UNESCO Institute for Statistics |language=en|pages=2, 3, 53}}</ref> According to linguist [[William Poser]], ''Ethnologue'' was, as of 2006, the "best single source of information" on language classification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reliable Sources on Classification |url=http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003009.html |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=Language Log|date=2006-04-11|first1=Bill|last1=Poser|author-link=William Poser}}</ref> In 2008 linguists [[Lyle Campbell]] and Verónica Grondona highly commended ''Ethnologue'' in ''Language''. They described it as a highly valuable catalogue of the world's languages that "has become the standard reference" and whose "usefulness is hard to overestimate". They concluded that ''Ethnologue'' was "truly excellent, highly valuable, and the very best book of its sort available."<ref name="Campbell&Grondona">{{Cite journal|title = Ethnologue: Languages of the world (review) |journal = Language |date = January 1, 2008 |issn = 1535-0665 |pages = 636–641 |volume = 84 |issue = 3 |doi = 10.1353/lan.0.0054 |first1 = Lyle |last1 = Campbell |first2 = Verónica|last2 = Grondona |s2cid = 143663395 }}</ref>

In a review of ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s 2009 edition in ''[[Ethnopolitics]]'', [[Richard O. Collin]], professor of politics, noted that "''Ethnologue'' has become a standard resource for scholars in the other social sciences: anthropologists, economists, sociologists and, obviously, sociolinguists". According to Collin, ''Ethnologue'' is "stronger in languages spoken by indigenous peoples in economically less-developed portions of the world" and "when recent in-depth country-studies have been conducted, information can be very good; unfortunately [...] data are sometimes old".<ref name="Collin2010">{{Cite journal |last=Collin |first=Richard Oliver |year=2010 |title=Ethnologue |url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17449057.2010.502305 |journal=Ethnopolitics |language=en |volume=9 |issue=3–4 |pages=425–432 |doi=10.1080/17449057.2010.502305 |s2cid=217507727 |issn=1744-9057}}</ref>

In 2012, linguist [[Asya Pereltsvaig]] described ''Ethnologue'' as "a reasonably good source of thorough and reliable geographical and demographic information about the world's languages".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pereltsvaig |first=Asya |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/756913021 |title=Languages of the World: An Introduction |date=2012 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-107-00278-4 |location=Cambridge |page=11 |oclc=756913021}}</ref> She added in 2021 that its maps "are generally fairly accurate although they often depict the linguistic situation as it once was or as someone might imagine it to be but not as it actually is".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Pereltsvaig |first=Asya |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1154423212 |title=Languages of the World An Introduction |date=2021 |isbn=978-1-108-47932-5 |edition=3rd |location=Cambridge |page=69 |oclc=1154423212|doi=10.1017/9781108783071}}</ref> Linguist George Tucker Childs wrote in 2012 that: "''Ethnologue'' is the most widely referenced source for information on languages of the world", but he added that regarding African languages, "when evaluated against recent field experience [Ethnologue] seems at least out of date".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/973799450 |title=Proceedings of the 7th World Congress of African Linguistics, Buea, 17-21 August 2012|volume=2 |date=2017 |publisher=African Books Collective |editor-first1=Evelyn Fogwe|editor-last1=Chibaka|editor-first2=Gratien|editor-last2=Atindogbé |isbn=978-9956-764-98-3 |location=Oxford|first1= George Tucker|last1=Childs|chapter=One language or two? Bom and Kim, two highly endangered South Atlantic "languages"|page=304|oclc=973799450}}</ref> In 2014, ''Ethnologue'' admitted that some of its data was out-of-date and switched from a four-year publication cycle (in print and online) to yearly online updates.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-10-01 |title=How NOT to use the Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/m-paul-lewis/how-not-use-ethnologue |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref>

In 2017, [[Robert Phillipson]] and [[Tove Skutnabb-Kangas]] described ''Ethnologue'' as "the most comprehensive global source list for (mostly oral) languages".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/964294896 |title=The Oxford Handbook of World Englishes |date=2017 |editor-first1=Markku |editor-last1=Filppula|editor-first2=Juhani|editor-last2=Klemola|editor-first3=Devyani|editor-last3=Sharma |first1=Robert|last1=Phillipson|first2=Tove|last2=Skutnabb-Kangas|isbn=978-0-19-977771-6 |location=New York |oclc=964294896| page=319}}</ref> According to the 2018 ''Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics'', ''Ethnologue'' is a "comprehensive, frequently updated [database] on languages and language families'.<ref>{{Citation |last=Leben |first=William R. |title=Languages of the World |date=2018-02-26 |url=http://linguistics.oxfordre.com/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.001.0001/acrefore-9780199384655-e-349 |encyclopedia=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Linguistics |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199384655.013.349 |isbn=978-0-19-938465-5 |access-date=2022-11-22}}</ref> According to [[quantitative linguist]]s [[Simon Greenhill]], ''Ethnologue'' offers, as of 2018, "sufficiently accurate reflections of speaker population size".<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Greenhill |first1=Simon J. |last2=Hua |first2=Xia |last3=Welsh |first3=Caela F. |last4=Schneemann |first4=Hilde |last5=Bromham |first5=Lindell |date=2018 |title=Population Size and the Rate of Language Evolution: A Test Across Indo-European, Austronesian, and Bantu Languages |journal=Frontiers in Psychology |volume=9 |page=576 |doi=10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00576 |pmid=29755387 |pmc=5934942 |issn=1664-1078|doi-access=free }}</ref> Linguists Lyle Campbell and Kenneth Lee Rehg wrote in 2018 that ''Ethnologue'' was "the best source that list the non-endangered languages of the world".<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Campbell |first1=Lyle |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1003268966 |publisher=Oxford University Press |title=The Oxford Handbook of Endangered Languages |last2=Rehg |first2=Kenneth L. |date=2018 |isbn=978-0-19-061002-9 |location=New York, NY |chapter=Introduction |oclc=1003268966}}</ref> Lyle Campbell and Russell Barlow also noted that the 2017 edition of ''Ethnologue'' "improved [its] classification markedly". They note that ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s genealogy is similar to that of the [[World Atlas of Language Structures]] (WALS) but different from that of the [[Catalogue of Endangered Languages]] (ELCat) and Glottolog.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Barlow |first1=Russell |title=Language Classification and Cataloguing Endangered Languages |date=2018-02-02 |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781317413905/chapters/10.4324/9781315686028-3 |journal=Cataloguing the World's Endangered Languages |pages=23–48 |editor-last=Campbell |editor-first=Lyle |edition=1 |publisher=Routledge |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315686028-3 |isbn=978-1-315-68602-8 |access-date=2022-11-30 |last2=Campbell |first2=Lyle |editor2-last=Belew |editor2-first=Anna}}</ref> Linguist [[Lisa Matthewson]] commented in 2020 that ''Ethnologue'' offers "accurate information about speaker numbers".<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-02-10 |title=UBC Library users now able to access the most authoritative resource on world languages |url=https://about.library.ubc.ca/2020/02/10/ubc-library-users-now-able-to-access-the-most-authoritative-resource-on-world-languages/ |first1=Michelle |last1=Blackwell  |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=About UBC Library |language=en-US}}</ref> In a 2021 review of ''Ethnologue'' and Glottolog, linguist [[Shobhana Chelliah]] noted that "For better or worse, the impact of the site is indeed considerable. [...] Clearly, the site has influence on the field of linguistics and beyond." She added that she, among other linguists, integrated ''Ethnologue'' in her linguistics classes."<ref name="Chelliah2021"/>

The ''[[Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics]]'' uses ''Ethnologue'' as its primary source for the list of languages and language maps.<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/771916896 |title=Encyclopedia of Language and Linguistics |date=2006 |publisher=Elsevier |editor-first1=E. Keith|editor-last1=Brown|editor-first2=Anne|editor-last2=Anderson |isbn=978-0-08-044854-1 |edition=2 |location=Amsterdam |oclc=771916896|chapter=Notes on the List of Languages & Language Maps}}</ref> According to linguist [[Suzanne Romaine]], ''Ethnologue'' is also the leading source for research on [[language diversity]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Romaine |first=Suzanne |editor-first1=Alwin F |editor-first2=Hermine |editor-last1=Fill |editor-last2=Penz |url=https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/doi/10.4324/9781315687391.ch3 |title=Language Endangerment and Language Death |date=2017-08-21 |publisher=Routledge Handbooks Online |isbn=978-1-138-92008-8 |language=en |doi=10.4324/9781315687391|page=40}}</ref> According to ''The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society'', ''Ethnologue'' is "the standard reference source for the listing and enumeration of Endangered Languages, and for all known and "living" languages of the world"."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Moore |first1=Robert |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ugU1DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA227 |publisher=Oxford University Press |title=The Oxford Handbook of Language and Society |date=2017 |isbn=978-0-19-021289-6 |editor-last1=García |editor-first1=Ofelia |location=New York, NY |page=227 |oclc=964291142 |editor-last2=Flores |editor-first2=Nelson |editor-last3=Spotti |editor-first3=Massimiliano}}</ref> Similarly, linguist [[David Bradley (linguist)|David Bradley]] describes ''Ethnologue'' as "the most comprehensive effort to document the level of endangerment in languages around the world."<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Bradley |first1=David |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1130060519 |title=Language endangerment |date=2019 |first2=Maya |last2=Bradley |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1-139-64457-0 |location=Cambridge |oclc=1130060519|page=4}}</ref> The US [[National Science Foundation]] uses ''Ethnologue'' to determine which languages are endangered.<ref name="Chelliah2021"/> According to Hammarström et al., ''Ethnologue'' is, as of 2022, one of the three global databases documenting language endangerment with the ''[[Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger]]'' and the Catalogue of Endangered Languages (ELCat).<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zariquiey |first1=Roberto |last2=Arakaki |first2=Mónica |last3=Vera |first3=Javier |last4=Torres-Orihuela |first4=Guido |last5=Cuba-Raime |first5=Claret |last6=Barrientos |first6=Carlos |last7=García |first7=Aracelli |last8=Ingunza |first8=Adriano |last9=Hammarström |first9=Harald |date=2022 |title=Linking endangerment databases and descriptive linguistics: An assessment of the use of terms relating to language endangerment in grammars |journal=Language Documentation and Conservation |issn=1934-5275|page=292|hdl=10125/74681 |hdl-access=free |via=ScholarSpace |url=https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/items/017c8ee3-72c9-4c95-91d2-c82efdfd87ba |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240725210211/https://scholarspace.manoa.hawaii.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/4d0c5e45-0f7b-48f6-aa89-44bbe8952ef2/content |archive-date= 2024-07-25}}</ref> The University of Hawaii [[Kaipuleohone]] language archive uses ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s metadata as well.<ref name="Chelliah2021"/> The ''[[World Atlas of Language Structures]]'' uses ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s genealogical classification.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Acknowledgements |date=23 December 2010  |first1=Matthew S. |last1=Dryer |first2=Martin |last2=Haspelmath |url=https://wals.info/about/credits |access-date=2022-11-22 |website=WALS Online }}</ref> The [[Rosetta Project]] uses ''Ethnologue''<nowiki/>'s language metadata.<ref>{{Cite web |title=17th Edition of the Ethnologue  |url=https://rosettaproject.org/blog/02013/mar/20/Ethnologue_17th_Edition/ |access-date=2022-11-22 |website= The Rosetta Project |date=March 20, 2013 |first1=Karin |last1=Wiecha }}</ref>

In 2005, linguist [[Harald Hammarström]] wrote that ''Ethnologue'' was consistent with specialist views most of the time and was a catalog "of very high absolute value and by far the best of its kind".<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1022117457 |title=The Handbook of Dialectology |year=2018 |editor-first1=Charles|editor-last1= Boberg|editor-first2= John A. |editor-last2=Nerbonne|editor-first3=Dominic James|editor-last3=Landon Watt |isbn=978-1-118-82758-1|chapter=Dialect Intellibility |oclc=1022117457|page=206|first1=Charlotte |last1=Gooskens|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref><ref name="Hammarström2005">{{citation|first=Harald|last=Hammarström|year=2005|title=Review of the Ethnologue, 15th edn, in: R.J. Gordon (Ed.), SIL International, Dallas|publisher=LINGUIST LIST|issue=16.2637|url=http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/linguist/issues/16|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110615000000/http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/linguist/issues/16|archive-date=June 15, 2011|access-date=November 23, 2022|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2011, Hammarström created [[Glottolog]] in response to the lack of a comprehensive language bibliography, especially in ''Ethnologue''.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Nordhoff |first1=Sebastian |last2=Hammarström |first2=Harald |date=2012 |title=Glottolog/Langdoc:Increasing the visibility of grey literature for low-density languages |url=http://www.lrec-conf.org/proceedings/lrec2012/pdf/733_Paper.pdf |journal=Proceedings of the Eighth International Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC'12) |location=Istanbul |publisher=European Language Resources Association (ELRA) |pages=3289–3294}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=About |url=https://glottolog.org/about |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Glottolog 4.6 |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hammarström |first=Harald |date=2015 |title=Glottolog: A Free, Online, Comprehensive Bibliography of the World's Languages |url=https://www.mpi.nl/publications/item2354764/glottolog-free-online-comprehensive-bibliography-worlds-languages |journal=Proceedings of the 3rd International Conference on Linguistic and Cultural Diversity in Cyberspace|pages=183–188|editor-first=E. |editor-last=Kuzmin |language=en}}</ref> In 2015, Hammarström reviewed the 16th, 17th, and 18th editions of ''Ethnologue'' and described the frequent lack of citations as its only "serious fault" from a scientific perspective. He concluded: "''Ethnologue'' is at present still better than any other nonderivative work of the same scope. [It] is an impressively comprehensive catalogue of world languages, and it is far superior to anything else produced prior to 2009. In particular, it is superior by virtue of being explicit."<ref>{{cite journal |title = Ethnologue 16/17/18th editions: A comprehensive review |journal = Language |year = 2015 |issn = 1535-0665 |pages = 723–737 |volume = 91 |issue = 3 |doi = 10.1353/lan.2015.0038 |first = Harald |last = Hammarström |hdl = 11858/00-001M-0000-0014-C719-6|s2cid = 119977100 |hdl-access = free |quote=Conclusion. From a scientific perspective, there is really only one serious fault with E16/E17/E18, namely, that the source for the information presented is not systematically indicated.}}</ref> According to Hammarström, as of 2016, ''Ethnologue'' and Glottolog are the only global-scale continually maintained inventories of the world's languages. The main difference is that ''Ethnologue'' includes additional information (such as speaker numbers or vitality) but lacks systematic sources for the information given. In contrast, Glottolog provides no language context information but points to primary sources for further data.<ref name="Hammarström2016">{{Cite journal |last=Hammarström |first=Harald |date=January 2016 |title=Linguistic diversity and language evolution |journal=Journal of Language Evolution |language=en |volume=1 |issue=1 |pages=19–29 |doi=10.1093/jole/lzw002 |issn=2058-4571|doi-access=free |hdl=11858/00-001M-0000-0029-2F3E-C |hdl-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Drude |first=Sebastian |url=http://hdl.handle.net/10125/24814 |title=Reflections on diversity linguistics: Language inventories and atlases |date=2018-12-01 |publisher=University of Hawai'i Press |isbn=978-0-9973295-3-7 |language=en|page=127|hdl=10125/24814 }}</ref> Contrary to ''Ethnologue'', Glottolog does not run its own surveys,<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/> but it uses ''Ethnologue'' as one of its primary sources.<ref name="ScienceOrg2020"/><ref>{{Cite web |title=References Information |url=https://glottolog.org/langdoc/langdocinformation#provider-sil16 |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Glottolog 4.6}}</ref> As of 2019, Hammarström uses ''Ethnologue'' in his articles, noting that it "has (unsourced, but) detailed information associated with each speech variety, such as speaker numbers and map location".<ref>{{Citation |last=Hammarström |first=Harald |title=An inventory of Bantu languages |url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315755946-2/inventory-bantu-languages-harald-hammarstr%C3%B6m |work=The Bantu Languages |year=2019 |doi=10.4324/9781315755946-2 |access-date=2022-11-22|pages=66–67|isbn=9781315755946|s2cid=129471421 |editor-first1=Mark|editor-last1=van de Velde|editor-first2=Koen |editor-last2=Bostoen|editor-first3=Derek|editor-last3= Nurse|editor-first4= Gérard|editor-last4= Philippson}}</ref> In response to feedback about the lack of references, ''Ethnologue'' added in 2013 a link on each language to language resources from the [[Open Language Archives Community]] (OLAC)<ref>{{Cite web |date=2013-06-30 |title=Language Resources |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/ethnoblog/paul-lewis/language-resources |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en|first=Paul|last=Lewis}}</ref> ''Ethnologue'' acknowledges that it rarely quotes any source verbatim but cites sources wherever specific statements are directly attributed to them, and corrects missing attributions upon notification.<ref name="Ethnologue">{{Cite web |title=Plan of the Site |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/about/plan-site |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> The website provides a list of all of the references cited.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-25 |title=About the Ethnologue |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/node/19267 |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2012-09-26 |title=Bibliography of Ethnologue Data Sources |url=https://www.ethnologue.com/bibliography |access-date=2022-11-23 |website=Ethnologue |language=en}}</ref> In her 2021 review, Shobhana Chelliah noted that Glottolog aims to be better than ''Ethnologue'' in language classification and genetic and areal relationships by using linguists' original sources.<ref name="Chelliah2021"/>