Sprachraum (plural: Sprachräume, the Dutch term Taalgebied can be used alternatively, at least in theory, since Dutch is also known very well by many linguists) is a linguistics term used to designate a geographical area where a language, dialect, group or family of languages is spoken. The German word Sprachraum literally means "language space". Because so much work in linguistics has been written in German and a high percentage of English-speaking linguists have a working knowledge of German, the term has simply been borrowed into English, rather than a new English concept-word being created, although Dutch and the Scandinavian languages have created new concept words for this purpose – which can be used alternatively, since much linguistic material has also been written in these languages and many English-speaking lingusts have working knowledge in these too. To suggest a relevant news story for the main page, refer to the criteria then add your suggestion at the candidates page. ... Linguistics is the scientific study of human language, and someone who engages in this study is called a linguist. ... This article or section contains information that has not been verified and thus might not be reliable. ...

A Sprachraum/Taalgebid does not necessarily follow national borders. For example, most of South America is part of the Spanish Sprachraum, while a single, small country like Switzerland is at the intersection of four such language spheres. A Sprachraum can also be separated by oceans. The English Sprachraum (Anglosphere) spans the globe, from the United Kingdom, United States, Canada, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand, not to mention the many former British colonies where English has official language status alongside local languages, such as in South Africa. The French Sprachraum, which also spans several continents, is known as La Francophonie. The Francophonie is also the name of an international organisation composed of countries with French as an official language. Borders Books and Music (NYSE: BGP) is a North American chain of bookstores, with some branches overseas. ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... Definitions of the Anglosphere vary: one definition (depicted, all in blue) includes two node countries – the United Kingdom and the United States – and five outliers: Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and South Africa. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... La Francophonie (occasionally in English Francophony, formally lOrganisation internationale de la Francophonie), a French language term coined in 1880 by French geographer Onésime Reclus, brother of Elisée Reclus, to designate the community of people and countries using French, is an international organisation of French-speaking countries and...

By extension, a Sprachraum can also include a group of related languages. Thus the Scandinavian Sprachraum includes Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Iceland, or the Finnic Sprachraum is Finland, Estonia and adjacent areas of Scandinavia and Russia. The North Germanic languages (also Scandinavian languages or Nordic languages) is a branch of the Germanic languages spoken in Scandinavia, parts of Finland and on the Faroe Islands and Iceland. ... Scandinavia is a region in Northern Europe named after the Scandinavian Peninsula. ...

Even within a single language, there can be different Sprachräume, otherwise known as dialect continua. A classic example is the dialects of Chinese, which are often mutually unintelligible in spoken form, but have a unified non-phonetic writing system. Arabic has a similar situation, but its writing system is partially phonetic (a so-called abjad). A dialect continuum is a range of dialects spoken across a large geographical area, differing only slightly between areas that are geographically close, and gradually decreasing in mutual intelligibility as the distances become greater. ... The Arabic language is classified as a Semitic language. ... An abjad is a type of writing system where there is one symbol per consonantal phoneme, sometimes also called a consonantary. ...

Examples

• Anglosphere (the Anglophone world)
• Francophonie (the Francophone world)
• Lusofonia (the Lusophone world)
• Arab World
• Dutch Language Union
• Commonwealth of Independent States (more or less coterminous with the realm of the Russian language)
• La Raza (the Hispanophone world)
• Malay world
• Latin Europe
• Swahililand