diff --git a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/MigrateDefaultLanguageTrait.php b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/MigrateDefaultLanguageTrait.php
index deb6020..4c3750f 100644
--- a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/MigrateDefaultLanguageTrait.php
+++ b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/MigrateDefaultLanguageTrait.php
@@ -53,4 +53,24 @@ protected function doTestMigration($langcode, $existing = TRUE) {
     }
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Helper method to test the migration with unset variable.
+   */
+  protected function doTestMigrationWithUnsetVariable() {
+    // Delete the language_default variable.
+    $this->sourceDatabase->delete('variable')
+      ->condition('name', 'language_default' )
+      ->execute();
+
+    $this->startCollectingMessages();
+    $this->executeMigrations(['language', 'default_language']);
+    $messages = $this->migration->getIdMap()->getMessageIterator()->fetchAll();
+
+    // Make sure there's no migration exceptions.
+    $this->assertEmpty($messages);
+
+    // Make sure the default langcode is 'en', since it was the default on D6 $ D7.
+    $this->assertIdentical('en', $this->config('system.site')->get('default_langcode'));
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d6/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d6/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
index 20beb96..645af29 100644
--- a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d6/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d6/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
@@ -33,4 +33,11 @@ public function testMigrationWithNonExistentLanguage() {
     $this->doTestMigration('tv', FALSE);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests language_default migration with unset variable.
+   */
+  public function testMigrationWithUnsetVariable() {
+    $this->doTestMigrationWithUnsetVariable();
+  }
+
 }
diff --git a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d7/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d7/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
index 0e584e5..79769bc 100644
--- a/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d7/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
+++ b/core/modules/language/tests/src/Kernel/Migrate/d7/MigrateDefaultLanguageTest.php
@@ -33,4 +33,11 @@ public function testMigrationWithNonExistentLanguage() {
     $this->doTestMigration('tv', FALSE);
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Tests language_default migration with unset variable.
+   */
+  public function testMigrationWithUnsetVariable() {
+    $this->doTestMigrationWithUnsetVariable();
+  }
+
 }