spurious language

Spurious languages are languages that have been reported as existing in reputable works, while other research has reported that the language in question did not exist. Some spurious languages have been proven to not exist. Others have very little evidence supporting their existence, and have been dismissed in later scholarship. Others still are of uncertain existence due to limited research.

Below is a sampling of languages that have been claimed to exist in reputable sources but have subsequently been disproved or challenged. In some cases a purported language is tracked down and turns out to be another, known language. This is common when language varieties are named after places or ethnicities.

Some alleged languages turn out to be hoaxes, such as the Kukurá language of Brazil or the Taensa language of Louisiana. Others are honest errors that persist in the literature despite being corrected by the original authors; an example of this is ', the name given in 1892 to two Colonial word lists, one of Tlingit and one of a Salishan language, that were mistakenly listed as Patagonian. The error was corrected three times that year, but nonetheless "Hongote" was still listed as a Patagonian language a century later in Greenberg (1987).

In the case of New Guinea, one of the most linguistically diverse areas on Earth, some spurious languages are simply the names of language surveys that the data was published under. Examples are '', Kia, , '', listed as Indo-Pacific languages in Ruhlen 1987; these are actually rivers that gave their names to language surveys in the Greater Awyu languages and Ok languages of New Guinea.

Dubious languages

Dubious languages are those whose existence is uncertain. They include:
* Oropom (Uganda)
* Nemadi (Mauritania)
* Rer Bare (Ethiopia) – extinct, if it ever existed
* Tapeba (Brazil) – a recently created indigenous ethnicity, not a language
* Ladakhi Sign Language – no community to use it

Spurious according to ''Ethnologue'' and ISO 639-3

Following is a list of ISO 639-3 language codes which have been retired since the standard was established in 2006, arranged by the year in which the actual retirement took effect; in most cases the change request for retirement was submitted in the preceding year. Also included is a partial list of languages (with their SIL codes) that appeared at one time in ''Ethnologue'' but were removed prior to 2006, arranged by the first edition in which they did not appear.

The list includes codes that have been retired from ISO 639-3 or languages removed from ''Ethnologue'' because the language apparently does not exist and cannot be identified with an existing language. The list does not include instances where the "language" turns out to be a spelling variant of another language or the name of a village where an already known language is spoken; these are cases of duplicates, which are resolved in ISO 639-3 by a code merger. It does include "languages" for which there is no evidence or which cannot be found. (In some cases, however, the evidence for nonexistence is a survey among the current population of the area, which would not identify extinct languages such as Ware below.)

SIL codes are upper case; ISO codes are lower case. Once retired, ISO 639-3 codes are not reused. SIL codes that were retired prior to 2006 may have been re-used or may have reappeared as ISO codes for other languages.

Removed from ''Ethnologue'', 12th ed., 1992

* (PNG) []
* (Brazil) []
* (PNG) []
* , (Brazil) []
* () []
* (PNG) []
* (Mexico) [] – added to ''Ethnologue'' 1988 by mistake due to a misunderstanding, removed in 1992. No evidence that it ever existed.
* Senoufo [] – the Tyeliri are a caste of leather workers, and do not have their own language
* []
* [] – name of an ethnic group that speaks Yongkom language, Yongkom [yon]

Removed from ''Ethnologue'', 13th ed., 1996

* (PNG) [] – described as "isolate in need of survey" in the 12th ed.

Removed from ''Ethnologue'', 14th ed., 2000

* 2 [] – a mislabeled fragment of a word list
* [], [], [], [], () [], [] – old names for Qiangic languages, some of uncertain correspondence to currently recognized names
* [] – an ethnic name for people speaking a variety of Qiangic or Jiarongic languages
* Scandinavian Pidgin Sign Language [] – normal inter-language contact, not an established pidgin
* Wutana language, Wutana (Nigeria) [] – an ethnic name

Removed from ''Ethnologue'', 15th ed., 2005

* []
* []
*- [], incl. /
* [] (though other languages without ISO codes, such as Wila' language, Wila', are also called Lowland Semang)
*Mutús language, Mutús [] – suspected to exist, e.g. by Adelaar 2005
* []
* [] – same as Tanjijili language, Tanjijili? Also a possible synonym for Kwak (retired in 2015)
* () [] – no evidence it is distinct from Fungom and Bum
* []
* []

Retired 2007

* [] – unattested
* [] – an old town name
* Creole []

Retired 2008

* () []
* Land Dayak languages, Land Dayak [] – language family name, not individual language
*Ware [] – Ware is listed as extinct in Maho (2009). When an SIL team in Tanzania were not able to find any evidence of it being spoken, the code was retired.
* River Kenyah [], River Kenyah [], Kenyah [], Kenyah [] – Any current use is likely either Mainstream Kenyah [] or Uma' Lung language, Uma' Lung []
* [] – prison jargon
*- [] (Borana & Somali)
*Sufrai [] – two languages, Tarpia language, Tarpia and Kaptiau language, Kaptiau, which are not close

Retired 2009

* Aariya []
* [] – name given to several uncontacted groups
*Europanto [] – a jest
*ISO 639:chs, Chumash [chs]

Retired 2010

*Chimakum [] – duplicate of Chemakum language, Chemakum ch* Beti (Cameroon) [] – a group name

Retired 2011

*Ayi language (China), Ayi (China) []
* (India) []
* []

Retired 2012

* []
*Pongyong language, Pongyong []
*Elpaputih language, Elpaputih [] – could be either of two existing languages
*Wirangu language, Wirangu-Nauo language, Nauo [] – the two varieties which do not form a unit

Retired 2013

*Malakhel language, Malakhel [] – likely Ormuri
*Forest Maninka language, Forest Maninka [] – generic

Retired 2014

*Gugu Mini [] – a generic name
* Pidgin [] – never existed
* [] – never existed
*Yugh language, Yugh [] – duplicate of Yugh language, Yug []
*Lamam language, Lamam [] – duplicate of Romam language, Romam []

Retired 2015

*Mator-Taygi-Karagas language, Mator-Taygi-Karagas [] – duplicate of Mator
*Yiddish Sign Language [] – no evidence that it existed
*The language, The [] – duplicate of Oy
* Imraguen language, Imraguen (Mauritania) []
* (') [] – perhaps a typo for Boma language, Boma (''Eboma'')
*Bemba language (Congo), Bemba [] – a tribal name
*Songa language (Democratic Republic of Congo), Songa [] – a tribal name
* Daza [] – retired in 2015 (with the reason "Nonexistent") but that decision was reversed in 2023, bringing [dzd] back
*Buya language (Democratic Republic of Congo), Buya []
*Kawésqar language, Kakauhua [] – Kakauhua/Caucahue is an ethnonym, language unattested – see Alacalufan languages
*Subi language, Subi [] – duplicate of Shubi [suj] but that decision was reversed in 2019, bringing [xsj] back
* [] – does not exist
*ǂKxʼaoǁʼae ("=/Kx'au//'ein") [] – dialect of Juǀʼhoan language, Juǀʼhoan [ktz]

Retired 2016

* [btl]
* [cbh]
* [cbe] – a Saliba and Guahibo surname
* ox* [] – uncontacted, and likely one of the neighboring languages
* [xbx] – generic name for Pareci language, Parecis, Nambiquaras, or any hostile group (see Cabixi language for one specific use)
* na* (Dravidian) []
* Shipibo language, Xipináwa [] – unattested and may not be distinct
* [yri] – dialect of Carijona language, Carijona

And several supposed extinct Arawakan languages of Venezuela and Colombia:
* []
* []
* [] – a Sáliba surname, perhaps just Piapoco language, Piapoco or Achagua language, Achagua
* []

Additional languages and codes were retired in 2016, due to a lack of evidence that they existed, but were not necessarily spurious as languages.

Retired 2017

* Lua' []
* Rennellese Sign Language [] – a home sign system, not a full language
* []
* []
* [] – no substantive evidence that the language ever existed.

Retired 2018

* [] – no substantive evidence that the language ever existed.
* []
* [] – a clan name

Retired 2019

* []
* [] – duplicate of Ta’Oi language, Kriang []
* [] – Meena, a tribe and caste name in India

Retired 2020

* Arma []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* []
* Palpa language (Indo-Aryan), Palpa []
* []

Retired 2021

*Bikaru language, Bikaru [bic] – posited based on a poor elicitation of ordinary Bisorio

Retired 2022

* []
* []
* ISO 639:ajt, Judeo-Tunisian Arabic [] – duplicate of Tunisian Arabic [aeb]

Retired 2023

* [] – duplicate of Tupinamba language, Tupinamba [tpn]
* [] – duplicate of Palikur lu* [] – duplicate of Khakas language, Khakas [kjh]
* []
* Parsi language, Parsi []

Retired 2024

* [] – listed in ''Ethnologue'' but SIL has no evidence it ever existed.
* (Cameroon) [] – duplicate of Gbeya language, Suma [sqm]

Spurious according to ''Glottolog''

''Glottolog'', maintained at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, classifies several languages, some with ISO 639 codes, as spurious/unattested in addition to those retired by the ISO. These include:

References and notes

External links

*{{cite web, url=http://www-01.sil.org/iso639-3/codes_retired.asp, title=Retired Code Elements Index, website=SIL International.