Language spoken in parts but not all of a country
A regional language is a language spoken in a region of a sovereign state , whether it be a small area, a federated state or province or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , "regional or minority languages " means languages that are:
traditionally used within a given territory of a State by nationals of that State who form a group numerically smaller than the rest of the State's population and different from the official language(s) of that State [ 1] Recognition of regional or minority languages must not be confused with recognition as an official language .
Relationship with official languages
In some cases, a regional language may be closely related to the state's main language or official language . For example:
The Frisian languages spoken in the Netherlands and Germany, which belong to the Germanic family.
The Gutnish language , a regional language spoken in Gotland and related to the Swedish language.
Kurdish in Kurdistan , which is an autonomous region in northern Iraq , Northwestern Iran and southeastern Turkey .Assyrian Neo-Aramaic in northern Iraq, northeastern Syria , southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran.The several hundred Sinitic languages are nearly always replaced by Standard Chinese (based on the Beijing dialect ) in writing.
Wu , in Shanghai , southern Jiangsu , Zhejiang and eastern Jiangxi .Yue Chinese , in Guangdong , parts of Guangxi , Hainan , Hong Kong and Macau , Cantonese is the regional standard variety for Yue-speaking areasHakka , in parts of Guangdong , Jiangxi , Fujian , and Taiwan Min , in Fujian , Taiwan , eastern Guangdong and Hainan .Xiang , in Hunan .Gan , in Jiangxi .
Kashubian , a regional language of Poland , has a bit under 90 thousand speakers, and is a language of the Lechitic branch, alongside Polish and Silesian .[ 2] Limburgish , a regional language in Germany , the Netherlands and Belgium, has around one million speakers and is closely related to Luxembourgish , Kleverlandish and Ripuarian .Low German (also referred to as Low Saxon), an officially recognized regional language in Germany and the Netherlands, the direct descendant of Old Saxon . Sometimes (e.g. by nds and nds-nl Wikipedia) considered two languages divided by today’s Netherlands–German border on account of Dutch influences in the west and German influences in the east; closely related to Frisian , more distantly to German .Scots , a regional language of Scotland and Northern Ireland (both part of the United Kingdom , and where it is known as Ulster Scots in the latter location), belongs to the same family of West Germanic languages as English .Neapolitan , Sicilian and Venetian , regional languages spoken in Italy which also belong to the same family of standard Italian (Italo-Dalmatian ).Regional languages of Spain and Portugal :
Tibetic languages
Võro and Seto , regional languages of Estonia , are either dialects of Estonian or separate Finnic languages as Estonian.Walloon , a regional language of France and Belgium , belongs to the same family of Oïl languages as French .Hindi and English are the official languages of India 's Central Government .
The officially declared regional languages of India are: Assamese , Bengali , Bodo , Dogri , Gujarati , Hindi , Kannada , Kashmiri , Konkani , Maithili , Malayalam , Manipuri , Marathi , Nepali , Odia , Punjabi , Sanskrit , Santali , Sindhi , Tamil , Telugu , and Urdu . Most are Indo-Aryan languages like Hindi and descend from Sanskrit, but 4 (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam) are Dravidian languages , 2 (Bodo and Manipuri) are Sino-Tibetan , and Santali is a Munda language . In addition, there have been demands for 38 more languages to receive recognition.[ 3] Sylheti , a regional language of the Sylhet Division of Bangladesh and the Barak Valley of Assam , India, is often considered a dialect of Bengali but is also sometimes seen as a separate language.Chittagonian , a regional language of parts of the Chittagong Division of Bangladesh , is often considered a dialect of Bengali but is also sometimes seen as a separate language.In other cases, a regional language may be very different from the state's main language or official language. For example:
Basque , a regional language spoken in Spain and France (Basque Country ).Breton , a regional Celtic language spoken in France (Brittany ).Cherokee is an Iroquoian language, and one of the many Native American languages spoken in the U.S. State of Oklahoma .Cornish , a regional Celtic language in the United Kingdom (Cornwall ).Corsican , a regional language in France (Corsica ) closely related to Tuscan -derived Italian .Gagauz , a regional Turkic language spoken in Moldova .Livonian , a regional language of the Finnic family spoken in Latvia .Resian , a dialect of Slovene spoken in Italy (Resia valley ).Sardinian , a regional Romance language spoken in Italy (Sardinia ).Scottish Gaelic , a regional Celtic language spoken in the United Kingdom (Scotland ).Sorbian , a regional Slavic language of Germany .Welsh , a regional Celtic language spoken in the United Kingdom (Wales ).
Official languages as regional languages
An official language of a country may also be spoken as a regional language in a region of a neighbouring country. For example:
Afrikaans , an official language of South Africa , is a regional language of Namibia .Arabic , official in Zanzibar , a region of Tanzania .Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh, and is the regional language of West Bengal in India.Bulgarian is the official language of Bulgaria , and is the regional language of Albania , Czech Republic ,[ 4] Hungary ,[ 5] Moldova , Romania ,[ 6] Serbia , Turkey ,[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] Ukraine .Cantonese , one of the official standard varieties in Hong Kong and Macau (both special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China ), is used as a regional language of the province of Guangdong , People's Republic of China .Catalan , the official language of Andorra , is a regional language in Spain (Catalonia , Balearic Islands and Valencian Community ), France (Pyrénées Orientales ) and Italy (Alghero , Sardinia ).German , an official language of Austria , Belgium , Germany , Liechtenstein , Luxembourg and Switzerland , is a regional language in Italy (South Tyrol ), Poland (Silesia ), France (Alsace and Lorraine ), Denmark (Southern ), Namibia , Argentina , Brazil , Chile , and Venezuela .Hakka , one of the national languages of Taiwan , is spoken as a regional language in the provinces of Guangdong , Jiangxi and Fujian , People's Republic of China .Hokkien , one of the national languages of Taiwan , is spoken as a regional language in the provinces of Fujian , Zhejiang and Guangdong , People’s Republic of China .Hungarian , a Uralic language and official in Hungary , is a regional language of Romania (Northern Transylvania ).Irish , the first official language of the Republic of Ireland , is a regional language in Northern Ireland , part of the United Kingdom .Japanese , one of the national language in Japan , is a regional language in Palau (Angaur Island ).Korean , the official language of Korea , is a regional language in People's Republic of China (Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture ).Malay , the official language of Malaysia , Brunei and Singapore , is a regional language in Indonesia (Riau Province ).Portuguese , the official language of Angola , Brazil , Cape Verde , East Timor , Mozambique , Portugal , and São Tomé and Príncipe , is a regional language in South Africa and Uruguay and in Goa in India and Olivenza in Spain; it is also both the official and regional language in Macau.Romanian , the official language of Romania , Moldova ,[ 11] Transnistria ,[ 12] Serbia (Vojvodina ),[ 13] Bulgaria , Hungary (Gyula ),[ 14] Serbia [Timok Valley (both known as Romanian and "Vlach ")],[ 15] Ukraine (Chernivtsi and Odesa oblasts )Russian , the official language of the Russian Federation and Belarus , is a regional language of Abkhazia , South Ossetia and other entities.Tamil , one of the official languages of Singapore and Sri Lanka , is a regional language in India (Tamil Nadu )Tigrinya , an official language of Eritrea , is a regional language in Ethiopia (Tigray Region ).Turkish , the official language of Turkey and Northern Cyprus , is a regional language of Kosovo .
See also
References
^ "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" . Council of Europe . Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved 11 March 2015 .^ "Lekhitic languages | Slavic, Baltic & Germanic | Britannica" . www.britannica.com . Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved 2024-05-30 .^ https://www.mha.gov.in/sites/default/files/EighthSchedule_19052017.pdf Archived 2022-04-24 at the Wayback Machine [bare URL PDF ^ "Národnostní menšiny v České republice a jejich jazyky" [National Minorities in Czech Republic and Their Language] (PDF) (in Czech). Government of Czech Republic. p. 2. Archived (PDF) from the original on 2014-07-14. Podle čl. 3 odst. 2 Statutu Rady je jejich počet 12 a jsou uživateli těchto menšinových jazyků: ..., srbština a ukrajinština ^ "Implementation of the Charter in Hungary" . Database for the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages . Public Foundation for European Comparative Minority Research. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved 16 June 2014 .^ Frawley, William (2003). International Encyclopedia of Linguistics ISBN 978-0-19-513977-8 ^ Bayır, Derya (2013). Minorities and nationalism in Turkish law Ashgate Publishing . pp. 88, 203– 204. ISBN 978-1-4094-7254-4 ^ Toktaş, Şule; Araş, Bulent (2009). "The EU and Minority Rights in Turkey" . Political Science Quarterly . 124 (4): 697– 720. doi :10.1002/j.1538-165X.2009.tb00664.x . ISSN 0032-3195 . JSTOR 25655744 . ^ Köksal, Yonca (2006). "Minority Policies in Bulgaria and Turkey: The Struggle to Define a Nation" . Southeast European and Black Sea Studies . 6 (4): 501– 521. doi :10.1080/14683850601016390 . ISSN 1468-3857 . S2CID 153761516 . ^ Özlem, Kader (2019). "An Evaluation on Istanbul's Bulgarians as the "Invisible Minority" of Turkey" . Turan-Sam . 11 (43): 387– 393. ISSN 1308-8041 . ^ "Modificat și în Constituție: "Limba de stat a Republicii Moldova este limba română" – FOTO" (in Romanian). ProTV Chișinău . 30 March 2023. Archived from the original on 31 March 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023 .^ Untila, Stela (14 July 2021). " . NewsMaker (in Romanian). Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved 2 April 2023 . ^ "Official use of languages and scripts in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina" . Provincial Secretariat for Regulations, Administration and National Minorities. Archived from the original on 25 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2010 .^ "Hungary needs to strengthen use of and access to minority languages" . Council of Europe . Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved 16 January 2019 .^ "Latest Council of Europe report on regional or minority Languages in Serbia published" . The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity. Archived from the original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved 25 June 2015 .
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