What Is the Language Landscape of the United States?
The United States is, by every measurable standard, one of the most linguistically complex nations on earth. No other country of comparable size has absorbed so many waves of immigration across so many centuries — from the colonial era to the post-1965 surge from Latin America and Asia — and packed the resulting linguistic variety into a single, constitutionally unified state. As of the 2024 American Community Survey (ACS), conducted annually by the U.S. Census Bureau, 430 languages are spoken or signed across the U.S. population, 177 of which are indigenous to U.S. soil or its territories. Yet despite this staggering breadth, the country operates with no formally legislated national tongue at the federal level — though that changed symbolically in March 2025, when President Trump signed Executive Order 14224, designating English as the official language of the United States for the first time in the nation’s history. The U.S. Census Bureau — the primary government body responsible for tracking and publishing language data — collects these statistics annually through the ACS, surveying approximately 3.5 million housing unit addresses every year to build a real-time picture of how Americans actually communicate at home.
What makes US language statistics in 2026 particularly compelling is the sheer scale and velocity of change happening beneath the headline numbers. Spanish has grown from fewer than 10 million home speakers in 1970 to 44.9 million as of the 2024 ACS — a more than fourfold rise in five decades that has quietly made the United States the second-largest Spanish-speaking country in the world, behind only Mexico. At the same time, 77% of the U.S. population still speaks only English at home, and all but approximately 13.6 million residents age 5 and older speak English either “well” or “very well.” The political and policy stakes attached to these numbers are enormous: language data from the ACS directly determines Voting Rights Act bilingual election requirements, drives the allocation of federal education funds to ESL programs, and shapes healthcare, public safety, and legal services across thousands of communities. Understanding these numbers is not an academic exercise — it is essential context for anyone tracking where American society is actually heading.
Interesting Facts About US Language Diversity 2026
| Fact | Data / Figure |
|---|---|
| Total languages spoken or signed in the U.S. | 430 |
| Indigenous languages spoken in the U.S. or territories | 177 |
| % of U.S. population (age 5+) speaking only English at home (2024 ACS) | 77% |
| % speaking a language other than English at home (2024 ACS) | ~22.3% |
| Total people speaking a language other than English at home | ~67–69 million |
| People speaking English less than “very well” (Limited English Proficient) | ~29.6 million |
| % of Americans who are Limited English Proficient | ~8.4% |
| Total Spanish speakers at home (2024 ACS) | 44.9 million |
| Spanish as share of all non-English home languages | ~61% |
| Total Chinese speakers at home (all dialects) | ~3.5 million |
| Total Tagalog/Filipino speakers at home | ~1.8 million |
| Total Vietnamese speakers at home | ~1.6 million |
| Total Arabic speakers at home | ~1.4 million |
| Total French speakers at home | ~1.2 million |
| Total Korean speakers at home | ~1.1 million |
| Total Russian speakers at home | ~1.0 million |
| Year English officially designated U.S. official language | 2025 (Executive Order 14224, March 1, 2025) |
| U.S. states with English as official language in state law | 32 out of 50 |
| % of ACS respondents who speak English “very well” among non-English speakers | ~62% |
| Spanish speakers in 1970 (home speakers) | ~9.6 million |
| Decline in Native North American language speakers (2009–2013 vs. 2017–2021) | −6% (from 364,331 to 342,311) |
| Number of multilingual individuals (3+ languages incl. English) in U.S. | ~1,523,000 |
| Trilingual share of those multilinguals | 93% (≈1,410,000 people) |
| ACS annual sample size (housing unit addresses surveyed) | ~3.5 million |
| Year language question first added to U.S. Census | 1890 |
| ACS transferred from decennial census | 2005 |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimates (released September 11, 2025); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2017–2021 Detailed Languages Table Package (released 2025); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2018–2022 5-Year Estimates; White House Executive Order 14224, March 1, 2025
The facts above capture a country in the middle of a genuine linguistic evolution — one that is accelerating rather than slowing. The number 430 languages spoken across U.S. households is not simply a trivia statistic; it is the cumulative product of every wave of immigration and settlement that has shaped this country from the colonial era onward. That roughly one in five Americans speaks a language other than English at home, while simultaneously more than three in four speak only English there, captures the central tension in American linguistic identity: overwhelming monolingualism in the home environment coexisting with extraordinary diversity at the community level. The 8.4% of Americans classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) — approximately 29.6 million people — represent a population large enough to constitute the 50th-largest country in the world by population on their own, which gives some indication of why federal and state language access policies carry such enormous real-world consequences.
The milestone figure of 44.9 million Spanish home speakers confirmed in the 2024 ACS deserves particular attention. It is a number that has more than doubled since 1990, and it places the U.S. firmly ahead of Colombia, Spain, and Argentina in total Spanish-speaking population — a demographic reality that reshapes everything from electoral strategy to content industry decisions and healthcare delivery models. At the other end of the scale, the 6% decline in Native North American language speakers — from 364,331 in the 2009–2013 ACS period to 342,311 in 2017–2021 — is a quiet but devastating counter-trend, one that represents the ongoing erosion of languages that in many cases have no written form, no digital presence, and no generation of fluent young speakers to carry them forward. The U.S. language picture in 2026 is one of extraordinary expansion at one end and irreversible contraction at the other.
Most Spoken Languages in the US 2026 | Top 10 by Speakers
| Rank | Language | Estimated Home Speakers | % of Non-English Speakers | English “Very Well” Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | English (only) | ~247 million | — | 100% |
| 2 | Spanish | 44.9 million | ~61% | 61% |
| 3 | Chinese (all dialects) | ~3.5 million | ~5.1% | ~48% |
| 4 | Tagalog / Filipino | ~1.8 million | ~2.5% | ~70% |
| 5 | Vietnamese | ~1.6 million | ~2.2% | ~43% |
| 6 | Arabic | ~1.4 million | ~1.9% | ~65% |
| 7 | French (incl. Cajun) | ~1.2 million | ~1.7% | ~75% |
| 8 | Korean | ~1.1 million | ~1.5% | ~55% |
| 9 | Russian | ~1.0 million | ~1.4% | ~60% |
| 10 | Hindi / Urdu | ~900,000 | ~1.2% | ~72% |
| — | German | ~850,000 | ~1.1% | ~80% |
| — | Persian (Farsi/Dari) | ~600,000 | ~0.8% | ~67% |
| — | Portuguese | ~700,000 | ~0.9% | ~60% |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimates; ACS 2018–2022 5-Year Estimates (Table S1601); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2017–2021 Detailed Language Tables (released 2025). Speaker figures for English “very well” rates sourced from U.S. Census Bureau Language Use Report 2019 (ACS-50) and 2018–2022 ACS 5-Year Estimates.
The dominance of English as a home language — spoken by approximately 247 million people in U.S. households — is, of course, the most fundamental fact in this table. But what the data reveals below that top line is a non-English linguistic ecosystem of remarkable concentration: Spanish alone accounts for roughly 61% of all non-English home languages, meaning the top two languages — English and Spanish — together cover the vast majority of American households. The gap between Spanish and the third-ranked language, Chinese (approximately 3.5 million speakers), is enormous — a factor of nearly 13 to 1. That gulf underscores just how dominant Spanish is among immigrant and heritage language communities, and why bilingual services in the U.S. context have historically meant primarily English–Spanish bilingual services. The fact that only about 48% of Chinese home speakers report speaking English “very well” — compared to 70% of Tagalog speakers and 75% of French speakers — reflects both the difficulty of English acquisition for Mandarin and Cantonese speakers and the demographic reality that many Chinese-speaking households are relatively recent arrivals.
The appearance of Arabic (approximately 1.4 million speakers), Persian/Farsi/Dari (~600,000), and Hindi/Urdu (~900,000) in the top tier of non-English languages reflects immigration patterns driven by Middle Eastern, South Asian, and Central Asian communities that have grown substantially since the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the U.S. to non-European arrivals. Vietnamese at roughly 1.6 million speakers is largely a legacy of the post-1975 Southeast Asian refugee resettlement programs, which deposited large communities in states like California, Texas, Washington, and Virginia. What is particularly notable is the English proficiency gradient running through these numbers: languages associated with longer-established immigrant communities — French (80%+ very well), German (80%+ very well), Tagalog (70% very well) — show high English proficiency, while more recent arrivals — Chinese (48%), Vietnamese (~43%), Korean (~55%) — show lower rates that will likely improve over successive generations as the data from previous immigrant waves consistently predicts.
English Only vs. Non-English Speakers in the US 2026 | Trends Over Time
| ACS Period | English Only (%) | Non-English at Home (%) | Approx. Non-English Speakers (Millions) | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009–2013 | ~79.5% | ~20.5% | ~60.0 million | Baseline 5-yr period |
| 2013–2017 | 78.7% | 21.3% | ~62.0 million | Pre-pandemic period |
| 2018–2022 | 78.3% | 21.7% | ~67.0 million | Census official release (Dec 7, 2023) |
| 2024 (1-yr ACS) | 77% | ~22.3% | ~67–69 million | Most recent available |
| Among non-English speakers speaking English “very well” (2018–2022) | — | 62% | — | ACS 5-yr estimate |
| Spanish speakers as % of non-English speakers (2018–2022) | — | 61.1% | — | ACS 5-yr estimate |
| Chinese as % of non-English speakers (2018–2022) | — | 5.1% | — | ACS 5-yr estimate |
| Tagalog as % of non-English speakers (2018–2022) | — | 2.5% | — | ACS 5-yr estimate |
| Native North American languages: 2009–2013 | — | — | 364,331 | Declining category |
| Native North American languages: 2017–2021 | — | — | 342,311 | −6% vs. prior period |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, ACS 2018–2022 5-Year Estimates (Press Release, December 7, 2023); ACS 2024 1-Year Estimates (September 11, 2025); ACS 2017–2021 Detailed Language Tables (U.S. Census Bureau, 2025); Wikipedia/Languages of the United States citing 2024 ACS.
The long-run trend in this data is slow but unmistakable: the share of Americans who speak only English at home has been declining incrementally for over a decade — from 78.7% in 2013–2017 to 78.3% in 2018–2022 to 77% in the 2024 ACS. That is a drop of roughly 1.7 percentage points over roughly a decade, which sounds modest in percentage terms but translates to several million additional non-English home speakers when applied to a national population now exceeding 335 million. The absolute count of people speaking a language other than English at home has grown from approximately 60 million in the 2009–2013 period to an estimated 67–69 million in 2024 — an increase of nearly 9 million people in roughly a decade. For policymakers, healthcare administrators, and educators, these numbers are not demographic background noise — they are the primary driver of service planning decisions in schools, hospitals, courts, and voting precincts across the country.
The 6% decline in Native North American language speakers — from 364,331 in 2009–2013 to 342,311 in 2017–2021 — stands as perhaps the most sobering figure in this entire dataset. The U.S. Census Bureau has separately documented the vulnerability of these languages, noting that many are spoken by aging communities with few fluent younger speakers, making irreversible loss a near-term statistical certainty for dozens of tongues. This trend runs in the precisely opposite direction from the growth of Spanish, Chinese, and Tagalog — immigrant and heritage languages that are actively reinforced by continuous new arrivals, transnational media ecosystems, and concentrated community settlement patterns. The 2018–2022 ACS data showing 62% of non-English home speakers also report speaking English “very well” offers an important corrective to any assumption that linguistic diversity implies English incompetence: the majority of Americans who maintain a heritage language at home are bilingual by any reasonable definition, functioning fluently in English in their professional and civic lives.
US Spanish Speakers 2026 | Statistics, Growth & State Breakdown
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Spanish home speakers (2024 ACS) | 44.9 million |
| Spanish home speakers (2023 ACS) | 43.4 million |
| Spanish home speakers (2010 Census) | 36,995,602 |
| Spanish home speakers (1990 estimate) | ~17.3 million |
| Spanish home speakers (1970 estimate) | ~9.6 million |
| Spanish speakers as % of non-English home languages (2024) | ~61% |
| Total Spanish speakers incl. 2nd-language speakers (broader estimate) | ~59 million (18% of population) |
| U.S. global ranking for Spanish-speaking population | 2nd (after Mexico) |
| % of Spanish speakers who are Hispanic/Latino | ~94% (per 2017 ACS data) |
| % of Spanish speakers at home who also speak English “very well” | ~61% |
| % of Spanish speakers at home who speak English “less than very well” | ~39% |
| % of U.S.-born Hispanics who were English-proficient (2019) | 91% |
| % of Hispanic immigrants who speak Spanish at home | 94% |
| Top state by % of population speaking Spanish at home: Texas | 29.2% |
| Top state by % of population speaking Spanish at home: California | 28.8% |
| Top state by % of population speaking Spanish at home: New Mexico | 26.5% |
| Projected Spanish speakers in U.S. by 2030 | 50–60 million |
| Projected Spanish speakers in U.S. by 2050 | 132–138 million (Pew/Census projections) |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimates; U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2019 Language Use Report (ACS-50); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2017 Data; Wikipedia/Spanish Language in the United States citing ACS 2024
No single language data point in the United States carries as much demographic, political, and cultural weight as the Spanish speaker count. The 2024 ACS figure of 44.9 million home speakers — up from 43.4 million in 2023 — represents a number that has grown more than fourfold since 1970 and more than doubled since 1990, placing the U.S. ahead of every Spanish-speaking country in the world except Mexico. Critically, this is a home-speaker figure — it does not include the additional millions of Americans who speak Spanish as a second or heritage language in non-home settings. Broader estimates that incorporate second-language and partial speakers push the total to approximately 59 million, or roughly 18% of the entire U.S. population. The geographic concentration is intense and predictable: Texas (29.2%), California (28.8%), and New Mexico (26.5%) report the highest shares of Spanish home speakers, driven by proximity to Mexico, historical settlement patterns, and decades of continued immigration from Latin America.
The generational trajectory of Spanish in the U.S. is more nuanced than the raw growth numbers suggest. Among U.S.-born Hispanics, English proficiency is nearly universal — 91% were English-proficient in 2019, up from 72% in 1980 — while only 57% spoke Spanish at home, indicating that language shift toward English is occurring across generations even as immigration continues to replenish the overall Spanish-speaking population. Among Hispanic immigrants, by contrast, 94% speak Spanish at home and English proficiency, while improving, remains lower. This means the sustained growth of the U.S. Spanish-speaking population is fundamentally an immigration story, not primarily a story of heritage language retention. The 2050 projection of 132–138 million Spanish speakers from Pew Research and Census modeling depends heavily on continued immigration trends — a variable that Executive Order 14224 and the broader immigration enforcement environment of 2025–2026 could materially affect in the years ahead.
Limited English Proficiency (LEP) Statistics in the US 2026
| Metric | Data |
|---|---|
| Total LEP population (speak English less than “very well”) | ~29.6 million |
| LEP as % of U.S. population (age 5+) | ~8.4% |
| Chinese (all dialects) speakers: % speaking English “less than very well” | ~52% |
| Vietnamese speakers: % speaking English “less than very well” | ~57% |
| Arabic speakers: % speaking English “less than very well” | ~35% |
| Spanish speakers: % speaking English “less than very well” | ~39% |
| Tagalog speakers: % speaking English “less than very well” | ~30% |
| Limited English-speaking households (Chinese) | ~33% of Chinese-speaking households |
| Limited English-speaking households (Vietnamese) | ~31% of Vietnamese-speaking households |
| Federal EO governing LEP access to services (prior) | Executive Order 13166 (August 2000) — REVOKED March 2025 |
| Replacement federal framework | Executive Order 14224 (March 1, 2025) |
| Effect of EO 14224 on existing language access laws | Laws (incl. Title VI, Civil Rights Act) remain in effect |
| Federal law still requiring language access | Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
| ACS data period for LEP estimates | 2019–2023 pooled (SparkMap/ACS) |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau Language Use Report 2019 (ACS-50); U.S. Census Bureau ACS 2018–2022 5-Year Estimates; Migration Policy Institute analysis of EO 14224 (March 2025); White House Executive Order 14224, Federal Register, March 6, 2025
The 29.6 million Americans classified as Limited English Proficient (LEP) are not a monolithic group — they are a cross-section of recent immigrants, elderly heritage community members, refugee arrivals, and others for whom English has not yet become the primary medium of daily communication. What the ACS data reveals about the distribution of limited English proficiency across language groups is telling: Vietnamese speakers show the highest LEP rate at ~57%, followed by Chinese speakers at ~52% and Spanish speakers at ~39%. The relatively lower LEP rate among Spanish speakers — despite their vastly larger absolute numbers — reflects the longer, more established history of Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and the broader range of social and institutional infrastructure, from bilingual schools to Spanish-language media, that has supported English acquisition across generations. For Tagalog speakers, the low 30% LEP rate reflects both the English-heavy educational system in the Philippines and the tendency of Filipino immigrants to arrive with professional and academic credentials that include English proficiency.
The policy dimension of LEP statistics in 2026 cannot be separated from the landmark shift in federal language access policy triggered by Executive Order 14224, signed by President Trump on March 1, 2025. That order — the first in U.S. history to formally designate English as the official language — also revoked Executive Order 13166, the Clinton-era mandate that had required all federal agencies to develop plans for serving LEP individuals and to issue guidance requiring recipients of federal funding to do the same. The Migration Policy Institute described this as the most significant shift in federal language access policy in over two decades. Crucially, EO 14224 did not repeal underlying statutes — Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination based on national origin (interpreted by courts to include language discrimination), remains in full force and continues to require federal funding recipients to provide meaningful language access. The practical consequence for the nation’s ~29.6 million LEP individuals depends heavily on how federal agencies and state governments choose to interpret their remaining discretion under the new framework.
US Language Diversity by Region & State 2026 | Key Facts
| State / Region | Notable Non-English Language | Context / Significance |
|---|---|---|
| Texas | Spanish | 29.2% of population speaks Spanish at home |
| California | Spanish | 28.8% speak Spanish at home; also largest Chinese-speaking state |
| New Mexico | Spanish | 26.5% speak Spanish at home; oldest continuous Spanish-speaking community in U.S. |
| Maine & Vermont | French | French is most common non-English language in both states |
| Hawaii | Ilokano (Iloko) | Most common non-English language; followed by Tagalog and Japanese |
| New York | Spanish, Chinese, Russian | Most linguistically diverse state; NYC metro among most diverse cities globally |
| Florida | Spanish | Major hub: Cuban, Puerto Rican, Venezuelan, and Colombian Spanish speakers |
| Alaska | Native Alaskan languages | Multiple indigenous languages; data pooled across 2020–2024 ACS |
| 9 U.S. States | Native North American languages | In the top 15 non-English languages (incl. Navajo, Central Yupik, Western Apache) |
| Northern New Mexico / Southern Colorado | New Mexican Spanish | Distinct regional dialect isolated for centuries in the southern Rockies |
| 32 of 50 States | English (state official) | Have state laws recognizing English as official language |
| Puerto Rico | Spanish | Predominant language; proceedings in federal district court required to be in English |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | English | English is primary official language; Spanish and French Creole also spoken |
Data Source: U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey (ACS) 2024 1-Year Estimates; ACS 2020–2024 5-Year Pooled Estimates (for small population states); Migration Policy Institute State Language Data profiles (2024 ACS tabulations)
The state-level language geography of the United States in 2026 tells a story of extreme regional variation that the national averages obscure. The Southwest is defined by Spanish — with Texas (29.2%), California (28.8%), and New Mexico (26.5%) recording roughly one-quarter or more of their populations speaking Spanish at home, a linguistic pattern rooted in centuries of continuous Spanish-speaking settlement that long predates U.S. statehood in these regions. Maine and Vermont present a starkly different picture, where French — primarily Québécois French carried across the border in historical migration patterns — is the most common non-English language, with tiny absolute numbers compared to Southwestern Spanish but deep historical roots. Hawaii’s most common non-English language is Ilokano (Iloko), a Philippine language that reflects the distinctive immigration history of Hawaii’s labor-recruitment economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries — a reminder that the linguistic map of each state is effectively an immigration history map.
New York stands out as the most linguistically diverse state in the continental U.S., with Spanish, Chinese, and Russian among the largest non-English home language groups — a reflection of successive immigration waves from Puerto Rico, China, the former Soviet Union, and dozens of other countries that have made New York City one of the most linguistically complex urban environments anywhere on earth. The fact that nine U.S. states still have a Native North American language in their top 15 non-English home languages — including Navajo, Central Yupik, and Western Apache — is remarkable given the overall decline trend documented at the national level. These languages survive primarily on reservations and in remote communities where geographic isolation has helped insulate them from the English-dominant mainstream, but the 6% decline recorded between 2009–2013 and 2017–2021 suggests that even this relative protection is proving insufficient to reverse the long-term trajectory.
US Language Policy & Official Language Statistics 2026
| Policy / Law / Fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Executive Order 14224 | Signed March 1, 2025 by President Trump — first-ever federal declaration of English as official language |
| EO 13166 (Clinton, 2000) | REVOKED by EO 14224; had required federal agencies to serve LEP individuals |
| English Language Unity Act of 2025 (S.542) | Senate bill introduced in 119th Congress (2025–2026) to codify English as official language in statute |
| Designation of English as Official Language Act of 2025 (H.R.1772) | House companion bill; introduced in 119th Congress |
| U.S. states with English-only laws | 32 of 50 states |
| U.S. states with English + other official language | 3 states (e.g., Hawaii: English + Hawaiian) |
| U.S. territories with official language policies | All 5 territories have official language designations |
| Title VI, Civil Rights Act of 1964 | Still in force; prohibits national origin (language) discrimination by federal funding recipients |
| Voting Rights Act language provisions | Still in force; requires bilingual ballots in jurisdictions with large non-English populations |
| Languages used in Voting Rights determination | ACS language data used directly; updated post each Census |
| Federal Register publication of EO 14224 | March 6, 2025 (FR Doc. 2025-03694) |
| Number of languages covered by ACS coding system (ISO-639-3 based) | 1,333 language codes (revised 2016) |
| ACS language code revision standard | ISO-639-3; updated from 382 codes (pre-2016) to 1,333 codes |
Data Source: White House Executive Order 14224, Federal Register, March 6, 2025; Congress.gov, H.R.1772 and S.542, 119th Congress (2025–2026); USAGov “Official Language of the United States” (updated March 2026); U.S. Census Bureau Language Use About page
The language policy landscape in the United States shifted fundamentally in 2025 in a way that will shape language access debates for years to come. Executive Order 14224, signed on March 1, 2025, is the first formal proclamation in the nation’s 249-year history to designate English as the official language at the federal level — a step that supporters described as a long-overdue recognition of linguistic unity and critics characterized as a signal of hostility toward the country’s ~29.6 million LEP individuals. The order revoked Executive Order 13166, the Clinton-era mandate that had for 25 years required federal agencies to develop language access plans, and directed the Attorney General to withdraw and update all guidance issued under that order. Companion legislation in Congress — S.542 (Senate) and H.R.1772 (House) — sought to codify the designation in statute during the 119th Congress (2025–2026), making the change more durable than an executive order that a future administration could reverse.
Critically, what EO 14224 did not do is as significant as what it did: it did not repeal Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which federal courts have interpreted to prohibit discrimination on the basis of language (as a form of national origin discrimination) by any recipient of federal funds. It also did not eliminate the Voting Rights Act‘s bilingual ballot requirements, which continue to be applied based on ACS data collected by the Census Bureau. The ACS itself — which surveys language use in 1,333 coded language categories — continues to operate as the definitive U.S. government instrument for measuring linguistic diversity, and its data still directly determines which jurisdictions must provide bilingual election materials and how federal ESL education funds are allocated. For the 430 languages spoken across U.S. households, and for the communities of speakers behind each one, the policy environment of 2026 is one of heightened uncertainty — but also of persistent legal protections that an executive order alone cannot dissolve.
Disclaimer: The data research report we present here is based on information found from various sources. We are not liable for any financial loss, errors, or damages of any kind that may result from the use of the information herein. We acknowledge that though we try to report accurately, we cannot verify the absolute facts of everything that has been represented.
