An official language is a language Language is a term most commonly used to refer to so called "natural languages" — the forms of communication considered peculiar to humankind. By extension the term also refers to the type of human thought process which creates and uses language. Essential to both meanings is the systematic creation, maintenance and use of systems of that is given a special legal status in a particular country, state, or other jurisdiction A jurisdiction is an area with a set of laws under the control of a system of courts which are different to neighbouring areas. Unitary states usually form single jurisdictions, whilst each state in a federal state forms a separate jurisdiction. However sometimes certain laws in a federal state are uniform across the constituent states and. Typically a nation's official language will be the one used in that nation's courts, parliament and administration.[1] However, official status can also be used to give a language (often indigenous An indigenous language or autochthonous language is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples but has been reduced to the status of a minority language. This language would be from a linguistically distinct community that has been settled in the area for many generations. Indigenous languages may not be national) a legal status, even if that language is not widely spoken. For example, in New Zealand New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori language name for New Zealand is Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud. The Realm of New Zealand also the Māori language Māori or te reo Māori commonly te reo ("the language"), is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori, where it has the status of an official language. Linguists classify it within the Eastern Polynesian languages as being closely related to Cook Islands Māori, Tuamotuan and Tahitian; somewhat less closely to has official status under the Māori Language Act even though it is spoken by less than five percent of the New Zealand population.[2] Non-national or supra-national organizations such as the United Nations The United Nations Organization or simply United Nations (UN) is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and the achieving of world peace. The UN was founded in 1945 after World War II to replace the League of and the European Union The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 member states which are located primarily in Europe. Committed to regional integration, the EU was established by the Treaty of Maastricht in 1993 upon the foundations of the European Communities. With over 500 million citizens, the EU combined generated an estimated 28% share (US$ 16.5 may also have official languages.
Politics
Official language status is often connected with wider political issues of sovereignty Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided. The concept has been discussed, debated and questioned throughout history, from the time of the Romans through to the present day,, cultural nationalism, and the rights of indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are people, communities, and nations who claim a historical continuity and cultural affinity with pre-invasion and pre-colonial societies which sprung up on their original territories, and therefore consider themselves distinct from societies of the majority culture/s that have contested their cultural sovereignty and self- and ethnic minorities, including immigrant communities. For example, the campaign English-only movement, also known as Official English movement, refers to a political movement for the use only of the English language in official government operations through the establishing of English as the only official language in the United States. There have been various unrelated incarnations of the movement throughout American history to make English the de jure De jure is an expression that means "concerning law", as contrasted with de facto, which means "concerning fact" official language of the United States is often seen as a way of marginalizing non English-speaking minorities, particularly Hispanic and Latino Americans Hispanic and Latino Americans are Americans with origins in the Hispanic countries of Latin America or in Spain. The group encompasses distinct sub-groups by national origin and race, with ancestries from all continents represented. Some members of the community prefer Hispanic and others Latino, the latter being more common in the western United, whereas in the Republic of Ireland the decision to make the Irish language Irish is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language only by a small minority of the Irish population but is also used as a second language by a larger and expanding minority[citation needed]. It also plays an important an official language was part of a wider program of cultural revitalization and Gaelic nationalism Irish nationalism comprises political and social movements and sentiment inspired by a love for Irish culture, language and history, and a sense of pride in Ireland and the Irish people. Today, the term generally refers to support for a united Ireland. Various indigenous rights movements have sought greater recognition of their languages, often through official language status.
See also
- List of official languages (by language)
- List of official languages by state This is a complete list of the official languages designated in the sovereign states of the world. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language
- List of official languages by institution
- Official script
- National language A national language is a language which has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country. National language may alternatively be a designation given to one or more
- Working language A working language is a language that is given a unique legal status in a supra-national company, society, state or other body or organization as its primary mean of communication. It is primarily the language of the daily correspondence and conversation, since the organization usually has members with various differing language backgrounds
- A language is a dialect with an army and navy "A language is a dialect with an army and navy" is one of the most frequently used aphorisms in the discussion of the distinction between dialect and language. It points out the influence that political conditions can have over a community's perception of the status of a language or dialect. In other words, if a language has political
References
- ^ "OFFICIAL LANGUAGE", Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language, Ed. Tom McArthur, Oxford University Press, 1998.
- ^ Statistics New Zealand:Language spoken (total responses) for the 1996-2006 censuses (Table 16)
- (1990) "Writing Systems of the World: Alphabets, Syllabaries, Pictograms", ISBN 0804816549 — the book lists official languages of the countries of the world, among other information, although it contains errors; e.g., it names English as the official language of the United States.[[
Categories: Linguistic rights | Language varieties and styles Categories: Sociolinguistics | Dialectology | Languages | Cultures | Language policy
Fri, 23 Jul 2010 03:33:49 GMT+00:00
Knoxville News Sentinel (blog) ... schools instruct in Catalan yet the central government in Madrid still resists Catalonian efforts to make Catalan the official language of Catalonia. ...
351px x 452px | 53.30kB
[source page]
Choose your Italian province on the map and inquire directly to each school for further information Double click on the map = zoom About Italy Official name Repubblica Italiana Official language Italian Capitol Rome Government Parliamentary Republic Area 301 338 km Time Zone UTC +1 Currency Euro
