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English + 20 Alaska Native languages

Alaska State Languages

English Dictionary; photo by Adam DeClercq on Flickr (noncommercial use permitted with attribution / share alike).

Official State Languages of Alaska

Alaska passed a bill in 1998 designating English as the official state language. In 2014 the official language act was amended, adding 20 Alaskan native languages as co-official languages with English. These languages are:

Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Alutiiq, Unangax, Dena'ina, Deg Xinag, Holikachuk, Koyukon, Upper Kuskokwim, Gwich'in, Tanana, Upper Tanana, Tanacross, Hän, Ahtna, Eyak, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian.

16.2% of Alaska's residents over the age of five speak a language other than English, and 2.4% are linguistically isolated.

Language Diversity in the USA

18% of the United States population over the age of five speaks a language other than English at home (including native American languages, Spanish, German, French, Tagalog, Italian, Chinese, Polish, Korean, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and American sign language). Quite a few states have adopted official state languages, but the United States does not recognize an official national language.