EH
Western Sahara
Summary
Official Name
International Conventions
ACHPR (1986)
Population
597,000
Principal Languages
Standard Arabic
Language Counts
The number of established languages listed for Western Sahara is 4. All are living languages. Of these, 2 are indigenous and 2 are non-indigenous. Furthermore, 1 is institutional and 3 are developing. Also listed is 1 unestablished language.
Languages
- Arabic, Hassaniyya mey
- Widespread. Users: 424,000 in Western Sahara (Leclerc 2018d). Status: 5* (Dispersed). Alternate Names: Hasanya, Hassani, Maure, Mauri, Moor, Sahrawi, Sulaka Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
- Arabic, Moroccan Spoken ary
- Users: 8,150 in Western Sahara (2018). Status: 5* (Dispersed). Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
- Arabic, Standard arb
- Users: 287,000 in Western Sahara (2015 SIL), all users. Status: 1 (National). De facto national language. Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Semitic, Central, South, Arabic
- Spanish spa
- Users: 22,000 in Western Sahara (Instituto Cervantes 2019), L2 users. Status: Unestablished. Classification: Indo-European, Italic, Romance, Italo-Western, Western, Gallo-Iberian, Ibero-Romance, West Iberian, Castilian
- Tachelhit shi
- Users: 112,000 in Western Sahara (Leclerc 2018d). Status: 5* (Developing). Alternate Names: Tašlḥiyt Classification: Afro-Asiatic, Berber, Northern, Atlas
Languages by Status
Arabic, Standard
[arb] 1 (National). De facto national language. 287,000 in Western Sahara (2015 SIL), all users.
Arabic, Hassaniyya
[mey] 5* (Dispersed). 424,000 in Western Sahara (Leclerc 2018d).
Arabic, Moroccan Spoken
[ary] 5* (Dispersed). 8,150 in Western Sahara (2018).
Tachelhit
[shi] 5* (Developing). 112,000 in Western Sahara (Leclerc 2018d).
Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Western Sahara
Language Vitality Profile
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Language Status Profile
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