What languages are best suited to small, 1-3 person software development teams? Obviously, something like Java is more aimed at enterprise; what's the best fit for small teams?
Nothing too dynamicky/slow (e.g., PHP).
EDIT: Okay, so maybe this wasn't the smartest question ever. But just answering with "it doesn't really make a difference" would be great—this question was a genuine one; I was indeed under the impression that different languages were suited to different team sizes.
I like @John's answer "go with what you know". I personally feel that true serious OO languages are far superior to scripted languages, but other than that... use the right tool for the job.
I don't think the size of the development team should determine the choice of language. You should probably choose your language based on at least one of the following:
Rockinthesixstring said it more succinctly: use the right tool for the job.
The language you use should be considered by what you are familiar with and the solution. For example, will your solutions be large and scalable? Or smaller applications? What integration may be required?
Obviously huh? I completely disagreee wth your initial premises here. You use the language that best fits the problem at hand - or what you know best. Team size has little or no say on it. Who's paying you probably has much more to do with it :)
I think you're asking the wrong question entirely. Whatever language you use should not depend on the size of your team; I've seen several small teams (3-5 people) implement very impressive JavaEE applications. I've also seen large task forces using Perl and Python.
What are you designing, and which language best suits your needs?? You already specified 2 potential requirements: no dynamism and speed -- what other requirements do you have? Does your application include string-parsing? If so, you might need a language with decent Regular Expression support. Will your application run on more than one architecture? If so, you might consider Java (please, no comments about whether or not this is a good idea -- I'm simply making a point). Are you concerned with memory management? These are questions you need to consider when picking a language; the size of your team will not have much bearing on your decision.
Ultimately, the language is simply a means to an end -- it's a tool (as @rockin mentioned). It's up to you and your team to decide what tools you know, their strengths and weaknesses per your project requirements, and how they might best serve your purposes.