Languages of the United States
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The United States does not have an official language at the federal level, but the most commonly used language is English (specifically, American English), which is the de facto national language. In addition, 32 U.S. states out of 50 and all five U.S. territories have declared English as an official language. The great majority of the U.S. population (approximately 78%) speaks only English at home.[5] The remainder of the population speaks many other languages at home, most notably Spanish (13.3% of the population), according to the American Community Survey (ACS) of the U.S. Census Bureau; others include indigenous languages originally spoken by Native Americans, Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and native populations in the U.S. unincorporated territories. Other languages were brought in by people from Europe, Africa, Asia, other parts of the Americas, and Oceania, including multiple dialects, creole languages, pidgin languages, and sign languages originating in what is now the United States. Interlingua, an international auxiliary language, was also created in the U.S.
The majority of foreign language speakers in the U.S. are bilingual or multilingual, and they commonly speak English. Although 21.7% of U.S. residents report that they speak a language other than English at home, only 8.2% speak English less than "very well."[6] Approximately 430 languages are spoken or signed by the population, of which 177 are indigenous to the U.S. or its territories.[7]