World Language Map

Languages spoken in South Sudan

87 living languages are mapped in South Sudan. The most widely spoken, by Unicode CLDR’s estimate, is English (27% of the population). They belong to 12 language families, the largest being Nilotic (31 languages).

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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 South Sudan at a glance

  • 87living languages
  • 12language families
  • 12.7 millionpeople (CLDR estimate)
  • 3with a CLDR share

Tap the map to list every language whose area covers a spot in South Sudan. 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 South Sudan

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
EnglishIndo-European27%3,429,999Not endangered
Standard ArabicAfro-Asiatic27%3,429,999Not endangered
NuerNilotic5.6%711,407Not endangered
AcoliNiloticNot endangered
Aja (South Sudan)Kresh-AjaShifting
AnuakNiloticNot endangered
AringaCentral SudanicNot endangered
AvokayaCentral SudanicNot endangered
BaiAtlantic-CongoShifting
Baka (South Sudan)Central SudanicNot endangered
Banda-BandaAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Banda-MbrèsAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Banda-NdéléAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
BariNiloticNot endangered
Belanda BorNiloticShifting
Belanda ViriAtlantic-CongoNot endangered
Beli (South Sudan)Central SudanicShifting
BoguruAtlantic-CongoShifting
BongoCentral SudanicThreatened
DaasanachAfro-AsiaticThreatened
DanaKomanThreatened
DidingaSurmicNot endangered
Dongo KreshKresh-AjaThreatened
DongotonoNiloticThreatened
FerogeAtlantic-CongoThreatened
GanzaBlue Nile MaoShifting
GoloAtlantic-CongoShifting
Gula (Central African Republic)Central SudanicNot endangered
IndriAtlantic-CongoMoribund
JumjumNiloticNot endangered
Jur ModoCentral SudanicNot endangered
Kacipo-BalesiSurmicShifting
KakwaNiloticNot endangered
KaramojongNiloticNot endangered
KelikoCentral SudanicNot endangered
KeloEastern JebelShifting
Komo (Sudan-Ethiopia)KomanShifting
Kresh-WoroKresh-AjaThreatened
KrongoKadugli-KrongoThreatened
KukuNiloticThreatened

Read more: where is English spoken?

Language families in South Sudan

All 87 languages in South Sudan, A to Z

About these numbers

The list of languages in South Sudan 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 South Sudan

How many languages are spoken in South Sudan?

87 living languages are mapped in South Sudan, from 12 families. 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 South Sudan?

By Unicode CLDR's estimate, English is spoken by 27% of the population, about 3,429,999 people, followed by Standard Arabic (27%). 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 South Sudan?

Nilotic (31 languages), Central Sudanic (17 languages), Atlantic-Congo (16 languages), Surmic (6 languages) and Afro-Asiatic (5 languages), and 7 more.

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