Everything about National Language totally explained
A
national language is a
language (or
language variant, for example
dialect) 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 languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country.
C.M.B. Brann, with particular reference to Africa, suggests that there are "four quite distinctive meanings" for national language in a polity:
- "Territorial language" (chthonolect) of a particular people
- "Regional language (choralect)
- "Language-in-common or community language" (demolect) used throughout a country
- "Central language" (politolect) used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value.
The latter seems often to be given the title "
official language."
Official versus national languages
"National language" and "
official language" are best understood as two concepts or legal categories with ranges of meaning that may coincide, or may be intentionally separate. Obviously a
stateless nation isn't in the position to legislate an
official language, but their language may be considered a national language.
A national language declared as such by
legislation could be the same as an
official language. It is different for that reason from the national predominant language, which is a national language only through
de facto use or by historical association with a particular
nation.
A national language is used for
political and
legal discourse.
Some languages may be recognized popularly as "national languages," while others may enjoy a high degree of official recognition. Some examples of national languages that are not official languages include
Aromanian,
Cherokee, and
Navajo (and other living
Native American languages).
Certain languages may enjoy government recognition or even status as
official languages in some countries while not in others.
Country examples
China
» See also: Standard Mandarin and History of Standard Mandarin.
In
China, plenty of
spoken variants exist in different parts of the country. In ancient times, several local dialects were chosen as the official spoken language, such as the dialects from
Hangzhou,
Nanjing, etc.
After the
Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the
Chinese Nationalist party (the
Kuomintang) founded the
Republic of China. In order to promote a sense of national unity and enhance the efficiency of communications within the nation, the Government decided to designate a national language. The
Beijing dialect of
Mandarin and
Guangzhou dialect of
Cantonese were the most popular options, and the Beijing dialect was chosen as the national language, given the name " 国语" in
Chinese (
Pinyin: Guóyǔ,
lit. national language, commonly known as "Standard Mandarin" in English). In the beginning there were attempts to introduce elements from other Chinese spoken variants into the national language, in addition to those existing in the Beijing dialect. But this was deemed too difficult, and was abandoned in 1924. Since then the Beijing dialect became the major source of standard national pronunciation, due to its prestigious status in the preceding
Qing Dynasty. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language.
After the
Chinese Civil War in 1949, the
Chinese communist party established the
People's Republic of China in
mainland China. The
nationalist regime of the
Republic of China retreated to the island of
Taiwan and maintained the same policy. Similarly, the People's Republic of China, which administers
mainland China, continued the effort, and renamed the national language that's largely based on the Beijing dialect as "普通話" (Pinyin: pǔtōnghuà,
lit. common speech) in Chinese.
European Union
The
European Union has a list of 23
official languages, including
English,
French,
German,
Spanish,
Greek,
Portuguese,
Polish,
Italian,
Hungarian and others.
Finland
Suomi -
Finland has two national languages namely
Finnish language (suomi) and (Finland-)
Swedish language ((finlands)svenska), according to the
Constitution of Finland. However, there's an aboriginal nation Sami (saami) and another group Romani (romani) that have their languages mentioned as legal to be maintained and developed by such groups. The Sami have partial right to use
Sami languages in official situations according to other laws.
Swedish language (6% of people) is a valid language everywhere in Finland, whereas Finnish language (92% of people) is most widely used, but isn't legally valid everywhere. Despite the large difference in the numbers of users, Swedish isn't officially classified as a minority language but equal to Finnish language. E.g., there are some Swedish-only, but no Finnish-only universities. Finnish is legally in many cases banned in
Åland Islands. In specific cases, Finnish language in particular may be forbidden in other regions in Finland, but in Sweden and Norway, too.
Most often bilingual Finns are counted as Swedes. Leading politicians have during the 2000s begun to proclaim that in order to have the identity of a Finn, one must possess Swedish skills. Historically, it hasn't been so, which we can see also from the
Kalevala, or other old folklore, where no word of Swedish was used. Today, all schools at any grade compel all Finns to study Swedish, and one can't get any exam nor public servant position above peon level, without particular exam/ certificate of Swedish language. Similar requirements for Swedes to know Finnish are required partially.
India
Neither the
Constitution of India nor Indian law specifies a National language. Article 343 of the constitution specifies that the official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. Article 354 specifies that the legislature of a State may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the Language or Languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State. Section 8 of The Official Languages Act of 1963 (as amended in 1967) empowers the Union Government to make rules regarding the languages which may be used for the official purposes of the Union, for transaction of business in Parliament, and for communication between the Union Government and the states. Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053, titled "Rules, 1976 (As Amended, 1987)" specifies that communications from a Central (Union) Government office to a State or a Union Territory in shall, save in exceptional cases (Region "A") or shall ordinarily (Region "B"), be in Hindi, and if any communication is issued to any of them in English it'll be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof.
Tamil Nadu state communicates with the Union Government in
Tamil and
English due to its
two language policy.
Ireland
Irish (Gaeilge), a
Celtic language, is recognized as the primary constitutional language of Ireland; notwithstanding that English is the
de facto language of the nation. Irish is spoken by about 1% of its population as a first language in restricted geographical locations. However, according to the
2002 Census of Population, 42% of the population of Ireland have the ability to speak Irish. The Irish government is committed to the development of a bilingual society, where as many people as possible can use Irish and English with equal ease
and facility.
Malta
In
Malta, the
Maltese language is the national language. This is recognised as official as well together with English. In Malta most of the people speak the Maltese language and it's recognised as "national" in Chapter 1 of the
Laws of Malta.
Philippines
The
Filipino language, which is based on
Tagalog alone although it should also be based on other existing
Filipino languages, is designated by the
1987 Constitution of the Philippines as the national language. The constitution also designates both Filipino and English as official languages for purposes of communication and instruction, and designates the regional languages as auxiliary official languages in the regions to serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. More than 170
languages are spoken in the
Philippines and almost all of them belong to the
Borneo-Philippines languages group of the
Austronesian language family. As of 2008, leaders from the
Ilocos region and other
Ilocano-dominated provinces are considering the possible declaration of
Ilocano language as an official language in their provinces along with the national language to foster the continuity of their language and heritage.
Singapore
In
Singapore, the
Malay language is the national and official language, since it's the native language of
Malay Singaporeans, who were the original inhabitants of the land but are now a minority due to mass ethnic Chinese immigration and who, as of the 2000 census, make up only about 14% of the total population of 4.55 million.
Three other languages enjoy official language status, including
English, which is the language of business and governance and the medium of instruction in public schools;
Mandarin Chinese, and
Tamil.
United States
In the USA,
English is the national language only in an informal sense, by numbers and by historical and contemporary association. The
US Constitution doesn't explicitly declare any
official language, although the constitution is written in English, as is all federal legislation.
On
May 8,
2007,
Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced
Senate Bill S.1335, which would declare
English as the official language of the government of the United States. The bill would require that the U.S. government conduct its official activities in English, repeal
federal bilingual voting requirements, and require
naturalization ceremonies to be conducted solely in the English language. The bill contains a provision preventing it from pre-empting any law of any
U.S. state.
Previous incarnations of this bill were co-written and supported by
Ron Unz, a
California millionaire. He, along with his organization (
U.S. English), has been pushing for the "
English-Only" cause for many years.
As of
May 2007, several bills relating to English as a national language are pending in the
U.S.House of Representatives.
Further Information
Get more info on 'National Language'.
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