Speakers of Slavic Languages

[J. Douglas Clayton]

Dear Seelangovtsy:

I recently created a page on our department website about Slavic languages
(since in my experience many people have only the vaguest idea of what a
Slavic language is). Working from encyclopedias, I tried to deduce the
number of speakers of each Slavic language. Obviously, this is a tricky
question (see the recent RFE/RL survey on language use in Ukraine). But I
think it is useful information to post, since it gives people a sense of
the importance of what we do, and why it is a good idea to study such an
large group of languages.

My question is: does anyone out there have any solid, up-to-date
information on the numbers of speakers of the different Slavic languages?
Where does one look for this kind of info?

Many thanks for any help you can give.

Doug Clayton




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J. Douglas Clayton                 Tel. 613-562-5800 Ext. 3765 (office)
Professor                               613-241-1782 (home)
Modern Languages & Literatures     Fax  613-562-5138
University of Ottawa
Box 450 Stn A
Ottawa ON K1N 6N5
Canada                      http://aix1.uottawa.ca/~jdclayt/index.html

            "Life is far too tragic to be taken seriously"