Editing Template:Infobox language/doc (section)

=== Number of speakers ===

; speakers : the number of native speakers of the language. If unknown, enter {{angle bracket|?}} and do not enter NA for the date (this causes the article to be listed in the [[:Category:Language articles with speakers set to 'unknown']], a hidden [[WP:PROJCATS|maintenance category]]). If no native speakers, enter {{angle bracket|none}}. Otherwise, if no date is supplied, ''missing date'' will be displayed.  Use <code><nowiki>{{sigfig|...|2}}</nowiki></code> to round to 2 [[significant figures]] while retaining the exact figure from the reference.
; date : the date of publication of the estimate of the number of speakers.
: Used for calculations for obsolete data, so needs to start with a 4-digit year (see next parameter). Exception: If {{angle bracket|NA}} is entered, nothing will display. If {{angle bracket|no date}} is entered, "no date" will display.  Do not enter a date parameter at all if speakers is set to {{angle bracket|none}}.
: Articles with old dates (currently ≥ 30 years) appear in [[:Category:Language articles with old speaker data]].
; dateprefix : any text wanted inside the parentheses before the date; a space ({{code|&nbsp;}}) must be explicitly included at the end
; ref : reference for the speaker data, , placed after the date, if any. This can be any [[WP:CITEFOOT|inline citation]] or a predefined code such as e19, linglist, ne2010, etc. For more details, see the documentation at [[Template:Infobox language/ref]].
: If {{angle bracket|e17}} is entered, this will automatically generate a reference to the ''Ethnologue'' 17 article that bears the ISO 639-3 code entered at 'iso3'.
: To link to the auto-generated reference from elsewhere in the article, use <code><nowiki><ref name=e17/></nowiki></code>.
: {{angle bracket|e16}} and <code><nowiki><ref name=e16/></nowiki></code> or {{angle bracket|e15}} and <code><nowiki><ref name=e15/></nowiki></code> can be used to ref the 16th or 15th edition, for example for extinct languages which are no longer supported.
: {{angle bracket|linglist}} and <code><nowiki><ref name=linglist/></nowiki></code> can be used to ref the ''MultiTree'' entry at the Linguist List.
: {{angle bracket|ne2007/ne2010}} and <code><nowiki><ref name=NE100/></nowiki></code> can be used to ref the Swedish national encyclopedia, which we use for many of the world's top 100 languages
: {{angle bracket|inali}} and <code><nowiki><ref name=INALI/></nowiki></code> can be used to ref Mexico's [[Instituto Nacional de Lenguas Indígenas]]
: Similarly, aiatsis can be used to link to the <code><nowiki><ref name=AIATSIS/></nowiki></code> ref generated by the infobox for the AIATSIS entry for Australian languages.  (For Maho's edition of the Guthrie list for Bantu languages, <code><nowiki><ref name=Guthrie/></nowiki></code> needs to be added manually, as they do not provide population data.)
; refname : Name used in reference generated by certain 'ref' parameter values such as e19. It defaults to the value of the 'name' parameter or PAGENAME.
; speakers2 : a 2nd line for speaker data, such as 2nd estimate, 2nd country, L2 speakers, etc, appearing after the date.
: If this is a second line of L1 speakers, it should be arranged so that, if there are two dates cited, the oldest appears in the date parameter, for automated update calculations. Data from different countries should not be added together if they are not comparable: say if one is from 1973 and another from 2006, or if one is rounded to the nearest million and another is on the order of 10,000.
; speakers_label : The infobox label for the number of speakers is "Native speakers" by default. Set this parameter to <code>|speakers_label = Speakers</code> to change it to "Speakers".