Last July I posted on the U.S. Census Bureau's coverage of African languages spoken in the United States. That focused on names and categories used (which I understand will be reviewed for possible revision), and included a map from Slate based on the Bureau's data showing the most spoken African languages or categories by State.
In October, the Census Bureau released its detailed data on over 300 languages (and language categories) spoken in the U.S. A summary table of this data was featured in an article written by Nikhil Sonnad last month on Quartz (and on CityLab under a different title). There is a small error in the text of that article, where it mentions "Sudanese" (spelled like the nationality) as a language - that should actually be "Sundanese" (spelled correctly in the table), which is spoken in Indonesia.
Below is a table with information excerpted from the Census Bureau's data, showing the numbers for the African languages discussed in my previous post, sorted by number of speakers. I have added Krio and Pidgin, which were omitted from that post. "African" stands for "African (not further specified)" in the Bureau's list of languages. The total number of speakers of African languages as defined by the Bureau - all of the below except Afrikaans, Arabic (which of course is spoken in Southwest Asia as well as North Africa), Krio, Malagasy, and Pidgin - is 894,499.
Notes:
1. Detailed-language estimates are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Aggregate estimates (in this selection from the original, only Arabic) are unrounded and appear in table B16001 (http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/13_5YR/B16001/0100000US). Detailed-language estimates may not sum to aggregate estimates because of rounding.
2. Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data at http://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/accuracy/MultiyearACSAccuracyofData2013.pdf). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.
Source:
U.S. Census Bureau, 2009-2013 American Community Survey, Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for United States: 2009-2013. Release Date: October 2015. http://www2.census.gov/library/data/tables/2008/demo/language-use/2009-2013-acs-lang-tables-nation.xls
In October, the Census Bureau released its detailed data on over 300 languages (and language categories) spoken in the U.S. A summary table of this data was featured in an article written by Nikhil Sonnad last month on Quartz (and on CityLab under a different title). There is a small error in the text of that article, where it mentions "Sudanese" (spelled like the nationality) as a language - that should actually be "Sundanese" (spelled correctly in the table), which is spoken in Indonesia.
Below is a table with information excerpted from the Census Bureau's data, showing the numbers for the African languages discussed in my previous post, sorted by number of speakers. I have added Krio and Pidgin, which were omitted from that post. "African" stands for "African (not further specified)" in the Bureau's list of languages. The total number of speakers of African languages as defined by the Bureau - all of the below except Afrikaans, Arabic (which of course is spoken in Southwest Asia as well as North Africa), Krio, Malagasy, and Pidgin - is 894,499.
Number
of speakers1
|
Margin
of Error2
|
Speak
English less than "Very Well"1
|
Margin
of Error2
|
|
Arabic
|
924,374
|
13,743
|
341,425
|
5,888
|
Kru, Ibo, Yoruba
|
322,255
|
7,681
|
64,690
|
2,487
|
Amharic
|
195,260
|
6,368
|
81,385
|
3,479
|
Cushite
|
122,445
|
4,437
|
59,495
|
2,817
|
Swahili
|
88,685
|
3,414
|
22,055
|
1,913
|
Bantu
|
56,685
|
2,641
|
16,635
|
1,574
|
Fulani
|
30,475
|
2,022
|
11,745
|
1,193
|
Mande
|
29,835
|
2,461
|
10,370
|
1,171
|
Afrikaans
|
23,010
|
1,525
|
1,885
|
318
|
African
|
12,320
|
1,508
|
5,000
|
997
|
Krio
|
10,560
|
1,240
|
2,820
|
718
|
Chadic
|
8,565
|
991
|
2,275
|
426
|
Sudanic
|
8,510
|
1,317
|
3,935
|
710
|
Nilotic
|
6,890
|
1,184
|
2,235
|
490
|
Efik
|
5,620
|
775
|
905
|
305
|
Pidgin
|
4,445
|
636
|
1,100
|
352
|
Berber
|
2,940
|
756
|
1,630
|
472
|
Gur
|
1,310
|
529
|
405
|
272
|
Nilo-Hamitic
|
1,275
|
644
|
575
|
327
|
Malagasy
|
720
|
231
|
225
|
101
|
Mbum (and related)
|
715
|
353
|
370
|
269
|
Nubian
|
305
|
234
|
185
|
175
|
Nilo-Saharan
|
270
|
183
|
155
|
127
|
Saharan
|
80
|
95
|
(D)
|
(D)
|
Khoisan
|
55
|
89
|
20
|
32
|
Notes:
1. Detailed-language estimates are rounded to the nearest multiple of five. Aggregate estimates (in this selection from the original, only Arabic) are unrounded and appear in table B16001 (http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/13_5YR/B16001/0100000US). Detailed-language estimates may not sum to aggregate estimates because of rounding.
2. Data are based on a sample and are subject to sampling variability. The degree of uncertainty for an estimate arising from sampling variability is represented through the use of a margin of error. The value shown here is the 90 percent margin of error. The margin of error can be interpreted roughly as providing a 90 percent probability that the interval defined by the estimate minus the margin of error and the estimate plus the margin of error (the lower and upper confidence bounds) contains the true value. In addition to sampling variability, the ACS estimates are subject to nonsampling error (for a discussion of nonsampling variability, see Accuracy of the Data at http://www2.census.gov/programs-surveys/acs/tech_docs/accuracy/MultiyearACSAccuracyofData2013.pdf). The effect of nonsampling error is not represented in these tables.
Source:
U.S. Census Bureau, 2009-2013 American Community Survey, Table 1. Detailed Languages Spoken at Home and Ability to Speak English for the Population 5 Years and Over for United States: 2009-2013. Release Date: October 2015. http://www2.census.gov/library/data/tables/2008/demo/language-use/2009-2013-acs-lang-tables-nation.xls
No comments:
Post a Comment