National language

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A national language is a language (or language variant, i.e. 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:^[1]

• "Territorial language" (chthonolect, sometimes known as chtonolect^[2]) 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."

Contents 1 Official versus national languages 2 Country examples 2.1 Pakistan 2.2 China 2.3 European Union 2.4 Finland 2.5 Republic of India 2.6 Ireland 2.7 Malta 2.8 Philippines 2.9 Singapore 2.10 United States 3 See also 4 References

[edit] 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 is not 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.^{[citation needed]}

A national language is used for political and legal discourse.^{[citation needed]}

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.

[edit] Country examples

[edit] Pakistan

Article 251(1) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan, titled National language, specifies: "The National language of Pakistan is Urdu, and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day."^[3]

[edit] 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 " 國語" 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 is largely based on the Beijing dialect as "普通話" (Pinyin: pǔtōnghuà, lit. common speech) in Chinese.^[4]

[edit] European Union

The European Union has a list of 23 official languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Greek, Portuguese, Polish, Italian, Hungarian and others.

[edit] 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 is 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 is not legally valid everywhere. Despite the large difference in the numbers of users, Swedish is not 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 has not 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 cannot 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.

[edit] Republic of India

Main articles: Languages of India and Official languages of 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.^[5] 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.^[6] 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 shall be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof.^[7]

[edit] 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.^[8]

[edit] 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 is recognised as "national" in Chapter 1 of the Laws of Malta.

[edit] Philippines

The 1973 Philippine constitution designated English and Pilipino (a Tagalog-based language) as official languages, "... until otherwise provided by law", and mandated development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino. The 1987 constitution designated the Filipino language, which is based on Tagalog and on other Philippine languages as the national language, designated both Filipino and English as official languages for purposes of communication and instruction, and designated 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.

[edit] Singapore

In Singapore, the Malay language is the national and official language, since it is 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

[edit] United States

In the United States, English is the national language only in an informal sense, by numbers and by historical and contemporary association. The US Constitution does not 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.^[11]

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.^[12][13][14]

[edit] See also

• Ethnolect
• Indigenous language
• Language policy
• Regional language
• Standard language
• Official language
• Working language

[edit] References

1. ^ Brann, C.M.B. 1994. "The National Language Question: Concepts and Terminology." Logos [University of Namibia, Windhoek] Vol 14: 125-134
2. ^ Wolff, H. Ekkehard "African Languages: An Introduction Ch./Art: Language and Society p. 321 pub. Cambride University Press 2000
3. ^ "PART XII (contd); Miscellaneous; Chapter 4. General", The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, August 14, 1973, <http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part12.ch4.html>. Retrieved on 22 April 2008 
4. ^ General Information of the People's Republic of China (PRC): Languages, chinatoday.com, <http://www.chinatoday.com/general/a.htm#LANGU>. Retrieved on 17 April 2008 
5. ^ Official Language related—Part 17 of the Constitution of India, Government of India, <http://rajbhasha.nic.in/consteng.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-11-15 
6. ^ Official Languages Act of 1963, as amended 1967, Government of India, 1963, <http://rajbhasha.nic.in/dolacteng.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-11-15 
7. ^ Rules, 1976 (As Amended, 1987), Government of India, <http://rajbhasha.nic.in/dolruleseng.htm>. Retrieved on 2007-11-15 
8. ^ "Statement on the Irish Language 2006". Government of Ireland. Retrieved on 2007-06-19.
9. ^ "World Factbook — Singapore". CIA. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
10. ^ "Languages of singapore". Ethonologue. Retrieved on 2007-09-10.
11. ^ James M. Inhofe (8 May 2007). "Senate Bill S.1335: S. I. Hayakawa Official English Language Act of 2007". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
12. ^ Steve King (31 January 2007). "House Bill H. R. 768: To provide that Executive Order 13166 shall have no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes.". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
13. ^ Peter T. King (31 January 2007). "House Bill H. R. 769: To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the official language of the Government of the United States, and for other purposes.". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.
14. ^ Peter T. King (12 February 2007). "House Bill H. R. 997: English Language Unity Act of 2007". Library of Congress. Retrieved on 2007-05-27.