Do you know that America doesn’t have an official language?
India’s official language is Hindi, China’s is Chinese, Japan’s is Japanese and Russia’s is Russian. What about the US? Well, it’s English, you would assume. After all, Americans speak English! But your answer is wrong. There is no official language in the US.
As a country of immigrants, it’s no wonder that there are more than 350 different languages spoken in the US. In main languages, English is the most common; approximately 78.5% of the population uses English followed by Spanish (13%). Then there are other linguistic minorities such as Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, Hokkien, etc.), Tagalog (Filipino), Vietnamese, French, Arabic, Korean, Persian, etc. Apart from these, there are around 170 indigenous languages spoken by the native American tribes such as Navajo, Cherokee, Choctaw, etc.
Why has the US not chosen any official language?
The founding fathers of the US did not find it necessary to give the country an official language. That’s because, for one, English was pretty much the dominant language at the time so they did not think there was a need to protect it. And two, they didn't want to offend their fellow Americans (who have their own indigenous languages) who helped fight for the country’s independence. They thought prescribing an official language would be divisive.
Some US states have English as the official language
However, the US Constitution allows for its states to declare their official language. Under that provision, 35 states have declared English as their official language. Some states have even made some native American languages official apart from English. For example, Alaska has made English as well as many indigenous languages official.
Indigenous languages
Native American languages are spoken in smaller pockets of the country, but these populations are decreasing, and the languages are almost never widely used outside of reservations. Let us tell you about the top five native languages.
Navajo: Navajo is by and far the most common indigenous language in the US with about 170,000 speakers. Navajo is spoken primarily in the southwestern US, especially in the Navajo Nation. Navajo is part of the Athabaskan family of languages.
Sioux: Sioux language, with a number of dialects, is spoken by over 25,000 people in the US and Canada. It can be found in the Dakotas as well as northern Nebraska, southern Minnesota, and northeastern Montana.
Yupik: The Yupik languages are several distinct languages spoken by 20,000 Yupik people of western and south-central Alaska and northeastern Siberia. The most commonly spoken Yupik language is Central Alaskan Yup’ik. All of the Yupik languages belong to the Eskimo – Aleut language family.
Keresan: This language is spoken by about 13,000 Keres Pueblo people in New Mexico and other parts of the southwest. Keres is considered a small language family or a with several dialects.
Choctaw: Choctaw language is spoken by the 9,600 Choctaws, Indigenous people of the south eastern Woodlands, Texas and is part of the Muskogean language family.