Dek language

Historical spurious languages

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 Hongote, the name given in 1892 to two colonial-era 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 Mapi, Kia, Upper Digul, Upper Kaeme, 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

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

Itaem (PNG) [ITM]

Marajona (Brazil) [MPQ]

Nemeyam (PNG) [NMY]

Nereyama, Nereyó (Brazil) [NRY]

Numbiaí (Orelha de Pau) [NUH]

Oganibi (PNG) [OGA]

Tijuana Sign Language (Mexico) [TJS] – added to Ethnologue 1988 by mistake due to a misunderstanding, removed in 1992. No evidence that it ever existed.

Tyeliri Senoufo [TYE] – the Tyeliri are a caste of leather workers, and do not have their own language

Wagumi [WGM]

Zanofil [ZNF] – name of an ethnic group that speaks Yongkom [yon]

Removed from Ethnologue, 13th ed., 1996

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

Removed from Ethnologue, 14th ed., 2000

Alak 2 [ALQ] – a mislabeled fragment of a word list

Dzorgai [DZI], Kortse [KBG], Pingfang [PFG], Thochu [TCJ], Lofuchai (Lophuchai) [LFU], Wagsod [WGS] – old names for Qiangic languages, some of uncertain correspondence to currently recognized names

Hsifan [HSI] – an ethnic name for people speaking a variety of Qiangic or Jiarongic languages

Scandinavian Pidgin Sign Language [SPF] – normal inter-language contact, not an established pidgin

Wutana (Nigeria) [WUW] – an ethnic name

Removed from Ethnologue, 15th ed., 2005

Jiji [JIJ]

Kalanke [CKN]

Lewada-Dewara [LWD], incl. Balamula/Mataru

Lowland Semang [ORB] (though other languages without ISO codes, such as Wila', are also called Lowland Semang)

Mutús [MUF] – suspected to be the otherwise extinct Timote, e.g. by Adelaar and Muysken (2004)

Nchinchege [NCQ]

Nkwak [NKQ] – same as Tanjijili? Also a possible synonym for Kwak (retired in 2015)

Oso (Southern Fungom) [OSO] – no evidence it is distinct from Fungom and Bum

Rungi [RUR]

Wamsak [WBD]

Retired 2007

Miarrã [xmi] – unattested

Atuence [atf] – an old town name, likely referring to Dêqên

Amapá Creole [amd]

Retired 2008

Amikoana (Amikuân) [akn]

Land Dayak [dyk] – language family name, not individual language

Ware [wre] – 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.

Bahau River Kenyah [bwv], Kayan River Kenyah [knh], Mahakam Kenyah [xkm], Upper Baram Kenyah [ubm] – Any current use is likely either Mainstream Kenyah [xkl] or Uma' Lung [ulu]

Amerax [aex] – prison jargon

Garreh-Ajuran [ggh] (Borana & Somali)

Sufrai [suf] – two languages, Tarpia and Kaptiau, which are not close

Retired 2009

Aariya [aay]

Papavô [ppv] – name given to several uncontacted groups

Europanto [eur] – a jest

Retired 2010

Chimakum [cmk] – duplicate of Chemakum [xch]

Beti (Cameroon) [btb] – a group name

Retired 2011

Ayi (China) [ayx]

Dhanwar (India) [dha]

Mahei [mja]

Retired 2012

Palu [pbz]

Pongyong [pgy]

Elpaputih [elp] – could be either of two existing languages

Wirangu-Nauo [wiw] – the two varieties which do not form a unit

Retired 2013

Malakhel [mld] – likely Ormuri

Forest Maninka [myq] – generic

Retired 2014

Gugu Mini [ggm] – a generic name

Maskoy Pidgin [mhh] – never existed

Emok [emo] – never existed

Yugh [yuu] – duplicate of Yug [yug]

Lamam [lmm] – duplicate of Romam [rmx]

Retired 2015

Mator-Taygi-Karagas [ymt] – duplicate of Mator

Yiddish Sign Language [yds] – no evidence that it existed

The [thx] – duplicate of Oy

Imraguen (Mauritania) [ime]

Borna (Eborna) [bxx] – perhaps a typo for Boma (Eboma)

Bemba [bmy] – a tribal name

Songa [sgo] – a tribal name

Daza [dzd] – retired in 2015 (with the reason "Nonexistent") but that decision was reversed in 2023, bringing [dzd] back

Buya [byy]

Kakauhua [kbf] – Kakauhua/Caucahue is an ethnonym, language unattested – see Alacalufan languages

Subi [xsj] – duplicate of Shubi [suj] but that decision was reversed in 2019, bringing [xsj] back

Yangho [ynh] – does not exist

ǂKxʼaoǁʼae ("=/Kx'au//'ein") [aue] – dialect of Juǀʼhoan [ktz]

Retired 2016

Bhatola [btl]

Cagua [cbh]

Chipiajes [cbe] – a Saliba and Guahibo surname

Coxima [kox]

Iapama [iap] – uncontacted, and likely either Wayampi or Apalaí

Runa [rna]

Savara (Dravidian) [svr]

Xipináwa [xip] – unattested and may not be distinct

Yarí [yri] – dialect of Carijona

And several supposed extinct Arawakan languages of Venezuela and Colombia:

Cumeral [cum]

Omejes [ome]

Ponares [pod] – a Sáliba surname, perhaps just Piapoco or Achagua

Tomedes a.k.a. Tamudes [toe]

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' [prb]

Rennellese Sign Language [rsi] – a home sign system, not a full language

Rien [rie]

Shinabo [snh]

Pu Ko [puk] – no substantive evidence that the language ever existed.

Retired 2018

Lyons Sign Language [lsg] – no substantive evidence that the language ever existed.

Mediak [mwx]

Mosiro [mwy] – a clan name

Retired 2019

Lui [lba]

Khlor [llo] – duplicate of Kriang [ngt]

Mina (India) [myi] – Meena, a tribe and caste name in India

Retired 2020

Arma [aoh]

Tayabas Ayta [ayy]

Babalia Creole Arabic [bbz] – misunderstanding of a study on Chadian Arabic

Barbacoas [bpb]

Cauca [cca]

Chamari [cdg]

Degaru [dgu]

Eastern Karnic [ekc]

Khalaj [kjf]

Lumbee [lmz]

Palpa [plp]

Tapeba [tbb] – a recently created indigenous ethnicity, not a language

Retired 2021

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

Retired 2022

Warduji [wrd] – no evidence of a distinct language spoken in Warduj

Pini [pii]

Judeo-Tunisian Arabic [ajt] – duplicate of Tunisian Arabic [aeb]

Retired 2023

Tupí [tpw] – duplicate of Tupinamba [tpn]

Karipúna [kgm] – duplicate of Palikur [plu]

Koibal [zkb] – duplicate of Khakas [kjh]

Salchuq [slq]

Parsi [prp] – dialect of Gujarati [gu]

Retired 2024

Dek (Cameroon) [dek] – duplicate of 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: