A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g.

dialect) that has

some connectionde facto or de jurewith people and the territory they
occupy. There is little consistency in the use of this term. One or more
languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be
referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the
country. National and/or official languages are mentioned in over 150 world
constitutions.[1]

C.M.B. Brann, with particular reference to Africa, suggests that there are "four
quite distinctive meanings" for national language in a polity:[2]

"Territorial language" (chthonolect, sometimes known as chtonolect[3]) 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 last is usually given the title of official language.

Standard languages, such as Standard German, Standard French, and

Standard Spanish, may serve as national (language-in-common), regional,
and international languages.

Contents [hide]

1 Official versus national languages

2 National and official languages

2.1 Albania

2.2 Algeria

2.3 Andorra

2.4 Australia

2.5 Bangladesh
2.6 Bulgaria

2.7 Canada

2.8 China

2.9 Finland

2.10 Germany

2.11 Haiti

2.12 India

2.13 Indonesia

2.14 Iran

2.15 Ireland

2.16 Israel

2.17 Italy

2.18 Kenya

2.19 Lebanon

2.20 Malta

2.21 Namibia

2.22 Nepal

2.23 New Zealand

2.24 Nigeria

2.25 Pakistan

2.26 Philippines

2.27 Poland

2.28 Romania

2.29 Russia

2.30 Serbia

2.31 Singapore

2.32 Slovenia
2.33 South Africa

2.34 Switzerland

2.35 Taiwan

2.36 Tunisia

2.37 Turkey

2.38 United Kingdom

2.38.1Northern Ireland

2.38.2Scotland

2.38.3Wales

2.39 Uganda

2.40 Ukraine

2.41 United States

2.42 Vietnam

3 See also

4 Notes and references

Official versus national languages[edit]

See also: Linguistic prescription and Linguistic rights

"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. Stateless nations are not in the position to
legislate an official language, but their languages may be sufficiently distinct
and well-preserved to be national languages. Some languages may be
recognized popularly as "national languages," while others may enjoy official
recognition in use and/or promotion.

In many African countries, some or all indigenous African languages are

officially used, promoted, or expressly allowed to be promoted (usually taught
in schools and written in important publications) as semi-official languages
whether by long-term legislation or short-term, case-by-case executive
(government) measures. To be official, spoken and written languages may
enjoy government or federalised use, major tax-funded promotion or at least
full tolerance as to their teaching and employers' recognition in public
education, standing on equal footing with the official language(s). Further,
they may enjoy recognition as a language used in compulsory schooling and
treasury money may be spent to teach or encourage adults in learning a
language which is a minority language in a particular area to restore its
understanding and spread its moral stories, rhymes, poems, phrases, songs,
and other literary heritage which will promote social cohesion (where other
languages remain) or will promote nationalist differentiation where another,
non-indigenous language is deprecated.[4][5]

National and official languages[edit]

See also: List of linguistic rights in African constitutions

Albania[edit]

Albanian is the national language in Albania and Kosovo and a regional

national language for parts of Macedonia and southern Montenegro.[citation
needed]

Algeria[edit]

Arabic is the national language in Algeria.[6] Berber is also an official

language. French has no official status but is widely used in education,
business and the media.

Andorra[edit]

Andorra's national language is Catalan; moreover Catalan is an official

language in several territories in Spain (Catalonia, Valencian Community,
Balearic Islands), and is spoken (without official recognition or status) in
territories in Spain (the Catalan-Aragonese borderlands known as La Franja
and the Murcian municipality of El Carche), France (Pyrnes Orientales) and
in Italy (Alghero).[citation needed]

Azerbaijan

Azerbaijani language is the national language in Azerbaijan.

Australia[edit]
Australia has no official language, but is largely monolingual with English
being the de facto national language. A considerable proportion of first and
second generation migrants are bilingual. According to Ethnologue, 81% of
people spoke English at home, including L2 speakers. Other languages
spoken at home included Chinese 2.9%, Italian 1.2%, Arabic 1.1%, Greek 1%,
Vietnamese 0.9% and Spanish 0.4%.[7]

There were almost 400 languages spoken by Indigenous Australians prior to

the arrival of Europeans. Only about 70 of these languages have survived and
all but 30 of these are now endangered.

Bangladesh[edit]

Bengali (or Bangla) is the sole official language of Bangladesh.

Bulgaria[edit]

Bulgarian is the national language in Bulgaria.[citation needed]

Canada[edit]

Main articles: Nationalisms in Canada, Bilingualism in Canada, and Languages

of Canada

Canada's official languages since the Official Languages Act of 1969 are
English (Canadian English) and French (Canadian French). Depending on
one's views of what constitute a "nation" these two languages may be
considered two equal national languages of a nation called "Canada", or the
national languages of two nations within one state, English Canada and
French Canada.

Quebec nationalists consider Quebec French the national language of the

Quebec nation.

As well, two of Canada's northern territories legislate a variety of Indigenous

languages. Nunavut holds Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun as official languages, and
Northwest Territories has nine official languages aside from English and
French: Cree, Dnesin, Gwichin, Inuinnaqtun, Inuktitut, Inuvialuktun, North
and South Slavey and T ch. As these official languages are legislated at a
territorial (sub-federal) level, they can be construed as national languages.

Besides these there many Indigenous languages of Canada which are the
national languages of one or more of Canada's First Nations groups, Inuit and
Mtis (mixed First Nations-European peoples); a number of First Nations
legislate at the Indigenous government levels their language as an official
language of the Nation, such is the case with the Nisgg aa language in Nisggaa.
Notably the Cree language is spoken (with variations) from Alberta to
Labrador,[citation needed] Anishinaabemowin is spoken across central
Canada and Inuktitut is spoken across the arctic.

China[edit]

See also: Languages of China, Standard Chinese, and History of Mandarin

There are many languages spoken across China, with most people speaking
one of several varieties of Chinese. During successive imperial dynasties, the
spoken language of the capital city served as the official spoken language
and was used across the country by government officials who traveled to
communicate with one another. Dialects used for this purpose in different
eras included those of Xi'an, Luoyang, Nanjing, Beijing, and other historical
capital cities.

After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Kuomintang (Chinese nationalists)

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 each proposed as the
basis for a national language for China.[citation needed] In the beginning,
there were attempts to introduce elements from other Chinese varieties into
the national language in addition to those from the Beijing dialect; this was
reflected in the first official dictionary of the national language, given the
name (Pinyin: Guy, literally "national language"). But this artificial
language had no native speakers and was difficult to learn, so it was
abandoned in 1924. Ultimately, the Beijing dialect was chosen as the national
language and it continued to be referred to as in Chinese in the Republic
of China. Since then, the Beijing dialect has become the main standard for
pronunciation, due to its prestigious status during the preceding Qing
Dynasty.

Still, elements from other dialects do exist in the standard language, which is
now defined as reflecting the pronunciation of Beijing, the grammatical
patterns of Mandarin dialects spoken in the northern parts of China, and the
vocabulary of modern vernacular Chinese literature. The People's Republic of
China renamed the national language (Pinyin: Ptnghu, literally
"common speech"), without otherwise changing the definition of the standard
national language.[8]

Finland[edit]

Main article: Languages of Finland

Finland has two national languages: namely the Finnish language and the
Swedish language. The Constitution of Finland guarantees the right to use
Finnish and Swedish in courts and other state institutions.[9][10] Despite the
large difference in the numbers of users, Swedish is not officially classified as
a minority language but equal to Finnish. Both national languages are
compulsory subjects in school (except for children with a third language as
mother tongue) and a language test is a prerequisite for governmental offices
where a university degree is required. The constitution also grants the Sami
and the Roma peoples the right to maintain and develop their languages: The
Sami have partial right to use Sami languages in official situations according
to other laws.[11]

Germany[edit]

Main article: Languages of Germany

The official and national language of Germany is Standard German, with over
95% of the country speaking Standard German or German dialects as their
first language.[12]

Haiti[edit]

Main article: Languages of Haiti

Haiti's official languages are Haitian Creole and French. While French is the
language used in the media, government and education, 9095% of the
country speak Haitian Creole as the home language while French is learned in
school.

India[edit]

Main articles: Languages with official status in India and Languages of India
Dr.Ambedkar, the architect of Indian constitution wanted Sanskrit as the
national language of India. However, India didn't choose any national
language.[13][14] The official languages of the Union Government of the
Republic of India are 21 languages and English as mentioned in article 343/1
of the Constitution of India.[15] Currently there are 22 scheduled languages
in India Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Dogri, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri,
Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Meitei (Manipuri), Marathi, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi,
Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu. States of India were free to
adopt one or more local languages for all or any of the official purposes of
that state.[15] Pursuant to agitations particularly in South India in the 60s,
today all 22 languages carry official status and Government documents can
be in any of the 22 recognized official languages. This has been clarified by
court rulings as well, as for example in 2010 Gujarat High Court affirmed
equal role to all 22 languages.[14][16] India has a common law legal system
therefore, unless overturned by the legislature or a higher court explicitly,
the ruling in 2010 takes precedence and all 22 official languages are meant
to be taken on equal footing. Currency notes in India typically carry the
denomination in all 17 languages.

Indonesia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Indonesia

The official language of Indonesia is Indonesian. Indonesia has more than 700
living languages, making it the second most linguistically diverse country
after Papua New Guinea. These 700+ languages, however, are without official
status, and some are in danger of extinction. The largest local language is
Javanese.

Iran[edit]

Main article: Languages of Iran

Persian (or Farsi) is recognised as the national language of Iran.[citation

needed]

Ireland[edit]

Main article: Languages of Ireland

Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national language and

first official language of Ireland, and the English language is recognised as a
second official language.[17]
Israel[edit]

Main article: Languages of Israel

Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of Israel, though English is also
used extensively (e.g. on road signs).

Italy[edit]

Main article: Languages of Italy

The Italian language is the de jure and de facto official language of Italy.[18]
[19] Italian is also referred to as national language for historical and cultural
reasons, because since the 15th century, Italian became the language used
in the courts of nearly every state in Italy and in general among educated
Italians (scholars, writers, poets, philosophers, scientists, composers and
artists) who contributed to what is nowadays the culture of Italy.[20]
Furthermore, Italian was often an official language of the various Italian
states before unification, slowly replacing Latin, even when ruled by foreign
powers (such as the Spaniards in the Kingdom of Naples, or the Austrians in
the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia).[21]

Kenya[edit]

Main article: Languages of Kenya

While English and Swahili are official languages, Swahili also has a special
status as national language. None of the country's biggest languages
(Gikuyu, Luo, Kamba, Kalenjin, etc.) have any explicit legal status on the
national level, however the 2010 constitution enjoins the state to "promote
and protect the diversity of language of the people of Kenya."[22]

Lebanon[edit]

In Lebanon, the Arabic language is the "official national" language.[23]

Modern Standard Arabic is used for official purposes, while the everyday
spoken language is Lebanese Arabic. French and English are also widespread
in Lebanon.

Malta[edit]
The Maltese language is the national language of Malta. It is also the official
language of the island, together with English. Maltese only is recognised as
"national" in Chapter 1 of the Laws of Malta.

Namibia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Namibia

Although English is the only nationwide official language in Namibia, there are
also 20 National languages[citation needed], which are each spoken by more
or less sizeable portions of the population and are considered Namibia's
cultural heritage. All national languages have the rights of a minority
language and may even serve as a lingua franca in certain regions. Among
Namibia's national languages are German, Afrikaans, Oshiwambo, Otjiherero,
Portuguese, as well as the languages of the Himba, Nama, San, Kavango and
Damara.[citation needed]

Nepal[edit]

Main article: Languages of Nepal

Nepali is the official language of Nepal. Over 123 languages are spoken in
Nepal. Some of the language spoken in Nepal are Tamang Sherpa Rai Magar
Gurung Maithili Purbeli English Limbu Mongolian etc.

New Zealand[edit]

While the population of New Zealand is predominantly English-speaking, the

language of the indigenous Polynesian people is Te Reo Mori. Both of these
have official status in the country, along with New Zealand Sign Language,
which is one of the few sign languages in the world to have such status.

Nigeria[edit]

Main article: Languages of Nigeria

Besides official English (Nigerian Standard English), Nigeria recognizes three

'majority', or national, languages. These are Hausa, Igbo, and Yoruba, each
with some 20 million speakers or more.[24]

Pakistan[edit]
Main article: Languages of 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." Although Urdu has been declared an official
language, so far all government documents, legislation, legal orders, and
other official records are written in Pakistani English. Most higher education
instruction is in English."[25] The National Language Authority is an
organization established to make arrangements to promote Urdu since 1979.

Philippines[edit]

Main article: Languages of the Philippines

The 1973 Philippine constitution hegemonically imposed Tagalog national

language at the expense of all other ethnic nationalities in the country.
English (Philippine English) was also designated as official language, "until
otherwise provided by law" and mandated development and formal adoption
of a common national language to be known as Filipino.[26]

The 1987 constitution designated the Filipino language, which is based on

Tagalog with the inclusion of terms from all recognized languages of the
Philippines, as the national language. It also designated both Filipino and
English as the 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 BorneoPhilippines languages group of the Austronesian
language family. In 2007, a six-part series titled The Case of Ilokano as a
National Language authored by Dr. Aurelio Solver Agcaoili of the University of
Hawaii appeared in the Culture, Essays, Lifestyle of Tawid News Magazine.
[27] In September 2012, La Union became the first province in Philippine
history to pass an ordinance proclaiming a local language and a vernacular,
Ilokano, as an official language. This move aims to protect and revitalize the
use of Ilokano in various government and civil affairs within the province.[28]

Poland[edit]

Article 27 of the Constitution states: "Polish shall be the official language in

the Republic of Poland".[29]
Romania[edit]

The official and national language of Romania is the Romanian language.

[citation needed]

Russia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Russia

The Russian language is the only official language of Russia, but 27 other
languages are considered official in different regions of Russia.[citation
needed]

Serbia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Serbia

The Serbian language is the national language of Serbia, written in the Cyrillic
script. There are 15 minority languages.[citation needed]

Singapore[edit]

Main article: Languages of Singapore

Singapore has four official languages: English (Singapore English), Chinese,

Malay and Tamil. Although English is the primary language of business,
government, and education, Malay is designated as the national language.
This is due to the geographical and historical ties to Malaysia as well as the
recognition of ethnic Malays (about 14% of the population) as the indigenous
people of Singapore.

Traditionally, the lingua franca among the different ethnic groups in

Singapore was Bazaar Malay, a Malay-based creole. Since independence, the
government has been promoting English as the main language of Singapore.
The bilingual education policy requires students to study two languages:
English and a "mother tongue" corresponding to the student's ethnicity.
Malay is only offered to non-Malay students as an optional third language in
secondary schools. As a result, English has displaced Bazaar Malay as the
common language among Singaporeans. Therefore, despite the status of
Malay as the national language, the majority doesn't speak it.
Slovenia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Slovenia

The Slovene language is the national language of Slovenia. There are 6

minority languages.[citation needed]

South Africa[edit]

Main article: Languages of South Africa

South Africa has 11 official languages, namely Afrikaans, English, Ndebele,

Northern Sotho, Sotho, Swazi, Tswana, Tsonga, Venda, Xhosa and Zulu. South
African Sign Language and Dutch are distinct in South Africa though
incompletely emerged national standard languages which also subsumes a
cluster of semi-standardised dialects.

Arabic, German, Greek, Gujarati, Hebrew, Hindi, Khoi, Nama, Portuguese, San,
Sanskrit, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu, Sign Language are all constitutionally
recognised in South Africa.

The above mentioned languages can be considered as minority Lingua

francas none of these languages are of Official Language Status in the
country.[citation needed]

Switzerland[edit]

The logo of the Swiss Federal administration, in the four national languages of
Switzerland.

See also: Languages of Switzerland

Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and

Romansh.[30]

All are official languages at the national level within the Federal
administration of Switzerland.[31]

Taiwan[edit]

During Japanese rule (1895 to 1945), the "national language movement" (

kokugo und?) promoted the Japanese language. After their defeat in
the Chinese Civil War in 1949, the Kuomintang regime of the Republic of
China retreated to the island of Taiwan, where they introduced Mandarin,
which was spoken by few of the island population at the time, as the new
"national language".

Tunisia[edit]

Main article: Languages of Tunisia

The official language of the Tunisian state is Arabic.[32] But, that language is
not the mother tongue of the population or used to communicate between
Tunisian people, instead Tunisian Arabic plays these roles and is the national
language of Tunisia.[33] Also, even without an official status, French is also
used extensively in its written and spoken form in the administration,
education and business environment and known by 63.6% of the population.
[34] Also Berber minorities in the south-west and on Djerba Island use the
Tunisian Chelha language to communicate between themselves.

Turkey[edit]

Main article: Languages of Turkey

Turkish is the national language of Turkey per the Turkish constitution.

United Kingdom[edit]

Main article: Languages of the United Kingdom

The English language (British English) is the de facto official language of the
United Kingdom and is the sole language of an estimated 95% of the British
population.[citation needed] The three Home Nations outside England have
national languages of their own with varying degrees of recognition, which
coexist with the dominant English language. Britain also has several Crown
dependencies and Overseas Territories which are to some extent self-
governing, but which are not recognized as independent states. Many of
these have their own regional languages.
Northern Ireland[edit]

In Northern Ireland, both the Gaelic Irish language and the West Germanic
Ulster Scots dialects are recognized by the Good Friday Agreement as "part of
the cultural wealth of the island of Ireland" and are promoted by the Foras na
Gaeilge (Irish Institute) and Tha Boord o Ulstr-Scotch (the Ulster-Scots
Agency) respectively.

Scotland[edit]

In Scotland, Scottish Gaelic is a minority language spoken by 57,375 people

(1.1% of the Scottish population aged over three years old).[35] The Gaelic
Language (Scotland) Act 2005 gives the language a limited official status,
and the Brd na Gidhlig is tasked with "securing the status of the Gaelic
language as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to
the English language".[36] Scots, generally treated as a West Germanic
language related to but separate from English, has no official status but is
recognized as a minority language, and is the language of much Scottish
literature, including the poetry of Robert Burns.

Wales[edit]

The Welsh language has official status within Wales, and as of the 2011
census, is spoken by 562,000 people, or 19% of the population.[37] The
Welsh Language Board (Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg) is legally tasked with
ensuring that, "in the conduct of public business and the administration of
justice, the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of
equality".[38]

Uganda[edit]

Main article: Languages of Uganda

Ganda or Luganda is not the official language, but it is the de facto national
language of Uganda, spoken by about 4 million people.[citation needed]

Ukraine[edit]

Main article: Ukrainian Language

Ukrainian is the only official language of Ukraine, but Russian is also widely
spoken in eastern Ukraine.

United States[edit]

Main article: Languages of the United States

In the United States, English (American English) is the national language only
in an informal sense, by numbers and by historical and contemporary
association. The United States Constitution does not explicitly declare any
official language, although the constitution is written in English, as is all
federal legislation.

safgrshjgghsh

On February 13, 2015, Representative Peter T. King introduced H.R.997, the

English Language Unity Act of 2015, in the United States House of
Represedgsgsgdsntatives. This bill would establish English as the official
language of the United States. A companion bill, S.678, was introduced by
Senator Jim Inhofe in the United States Senate on March 9, 2015. Both bills
were referred to committee. Similar legislation has been introduced every
year since 1973.[39]

Vietnam[edit]

In Vietnam, the Vietnamese language had been the de facto national

language for many years, but it was not until Decree No. 5 of the 2013
constitution that the Vietnamese language was officially described as the
National L