diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManager.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManager.php
index dd1687d56bac738588fe656c5e54a3a8a5d5f19d..915dac19f6bec95650f357127700a4a7739319eb 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManager.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManager.php
@@ -215,7 +215,7 @@ public function getFallbackCandidates(array $context = []) {
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
   public function getLanguageSwitchLinks($type, Url $url) {
-    return [];
+    return NULL;
   }
 
   /**
diff --git a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManagerInterface.php b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManagerInterface.php
index 9a6b213d645ef0302355690274ad221923245d0d..7f7306d421021c9503b402259766d676e8005646 100644
--- a/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManagerInterface.php
+++ b/core/lib/Drupal/Core/Language/LanguageManagerInterface.php
@@ -171,8 +171,11 @@ public function getFallbackCandidates(array $context = []);
    * @param \Drupal\Core\Url $url
    *   The URL the switch links will be relative to.
    *
-   * @return array
-   *   A keyed array of links ready to be themed.
+   * @return object|null
+   *   An object with the following keys:
+   *   - links: An array of links indexed by the language ID
+   *   - method_id: The language negotiation method ID
+   *   or NULL if there are no language switch links.
    */
   public function getLanguageSwitchLinks($type, Url $url);
 
diff --git a/core/modules/language/src/ConfigurableLanguageManager.php b/core/modules/language/src/ConfigurableLanguageManager.php
index 143adf604b3344be22e8b9f972d96e9fcb5ae679..9dd65ff4953a215e018834b8033fef1416e92306 100644
--- a/core/modules/language/src/ConfigurableLanguageManager.php
+++ b/core/modules/language/src/ConfigurableLanguageManager.php
@@ -403,8 +403,6 @@ public function getFallbackCandidates(array $context = []) {
    * {@inheritdoc}
    */
   public function getLanguageSwitchLinks($type, Url $url) {
-    $links = FALSE;
-
     if ($this->negotiator) {
       foreach ($this->negotiator->getNegotiationMethods($type) as $method_id => $method) {
         $reflector = new \ReflectionClass($method['class']);
@@ -422,7 +420,7 @@ public function getLanguageSwitchLinks($type, Url $url) {
       }
     }
 
-    return $links;
+    return $links ?? NULL;
   }
 
   /**