List of states where language is a political issue
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This is a list of states where language is a political issue. It is not a list of sovereign states with more than one official language, nor is it where you can find more than one language community.
Many states in the world have more than one official language. This may simply reflect the existence of well defined groups speaking different languages, often including minority groups near borders, and in many such cases the use of multiple languages is unproblematic. However in some cases the issue of which language is to be used in what contexts is a major political issue, with the rights of particular language groups a constant source of political friction. Only these latter cases are listed here.
More than a question about language per se, such frictions generally illustrate the uneasy cohabitation of different cultural communities, sometimes with different ethnic origins. This is especially the case if one community dominates, or used to dominate, the other (better economical situation, control of government, etc.).
This is not a list of countries or nations, although many of the political entities listed may also be countries and/or nations.
Assessments of gravity
The list attempts to give an idea of the gravity of the problem, but this is inevitably a subjective judgement and liable to change. The ratings are:
- Serious - language is a major organizing principle of the state's politics, and language disputes persistently threaten the unity of the state and/or involve violent protest or terrorist action
- Moderate - language disputes regularly arise, but are currently contained
- Minor - language issues are the concern of a small minority of the population (though those people may take them very seriously.)
List of sovereign states
Note that only the languages that are causing political disputes in their respective societies are listed here.
- Afghanistan (Pashto, Dari, Uzbek and numerous minor languages): moderate
- Algeria (Arabic and Berber): moderate to serious
- Azerbaijan (Azerbaijani, Talysh, and Tat): serious
- Bahrain (Arabic and Persian): serious
- Belarus (Russian and Belarusian): serious
- Belgium (Dutch and French): moderate to serious
- * Wallonia (French and Walloon): minor
- * German-speaking community of Belgium (French and German): moderate
- Cameroon (English and French): moderate to serious
- Canada (English and French, particularly in Quebec; also, to varying degrees, English and Aboriginal languages): moderate to serious
- China, People's Republic of (Chinese and various local languages): minor
- China, Republic of (Mandarin Chinese, Taiwanese Chinese, and to some extent Hakka Chinese): minor
- Cyprus (Greek and Turkish): serious
- Egypt (Masri and Arabic): moderate
- Estonia (Estonian and Russian): serious
- Finland (Finnish and Swedish): minor to moderate, see mandatory Swedish
- France (French, Basque, Breton, Catalan, Franco-Provençal, Flemish, Alsatian and Italian), minor except Basque Country and Corsica: moderate
- Greece (varieties of Modern Greek): solved after 1975
- India (English and Hindi, Hindi and local language in some states): moderate
- Indonesia (Bahasa Indonesia and various native languages): serious
- Iraq (Arabic and Kurdish): serious
- Iran (Persian, Azerbaijani, and Kurdish): serious
- Italy (French in Aosta Valley and Friulian in Friuli-Venezia Giulia): minor; (Valdôtain in Aosta Valley, German in Trentino-South Tyrol, and Slovenian in Trieste): moderate
- Ireland (English and Irish): minor
- Kazakhstan (Kazakh and Russian): serious
- Latvia (Latvian and Russian): serious
- Macedonia (Macedonian and Albanian): serious
- Malaysia: (Malay, Mandarin and English): moderate
- Moldova (Russian, Moldovan, and Romanian): serious (ironically, part of the issue is whether Moldovan is the same language as Romanian)
- Morocco (Arabic and Berber): moderate
- The Netherlands (Dutch, Frisian): non existent to minor
- New Zealand (English, Maori and NZ Sign Language): minor to moderate
- Norway (Bokmål, Nynorsk, Sami and Finnish/Kven): minor to moderate
- Pakistan (Issue among the official language Urdu, the most common language Punjabi and regional languages such as Sindhi): moderate
- Philippines (Filipino based on Tagalog and English ): moderate. (English and Spanish: serious in past, now very minor, Cebuano native speakers resist Tagalog). See Languages of the Philippines
- Romania (Romanian and Hungarian): minor
- Serbia and Montenegro (Serbian, Albanian, Hungarian, Bosnian, Montenegrin): serious
- Slovakia (Slovakian, Hungarian and Romani): moderate
- South Africa (English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa and seven smaller Bantu languages): minor to moderate.
- Spain (Basque, Catalan, Galician and Spanish): serious. Aranese, Asturian, Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official in certain regions. (Catalan and Valencian): serious).
- Sri Lanka (Sinhalese and Tamil): serious
- Syria (Arabic and Kurdish): serious
- Sweden (regionally Swedish and Meänkieli/Finnish): minor
- Switzerland (regionally French and German): minor
- Taiwan - See "China, Republic of"
- East Timor (Tetum and Portuguese in relation to Indonesian): moderate. Indonesian and English are considered working languages.
- Turkey (Turkish, Kurdish, and Laz): serious
- Ukraine (Russian and Ukrainian): moderate
- United Kingdom
- *England (English, Cornish): minor
- *Northern Ireland (English, Ulster Scots, Irish): minor to moderate. Irish and Scots were officially recognised as regional or minority languages in 2001, when the UK ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Under the Good Friday Agreement, and subsequent legislation, both Irish Gaelic and Scots have cross-border, state-funded language boards.
- *Scotland (English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots): minor. Some Gaelic language service provision was guaranteed by statute in 2005. Scots and Scottish Gaelic were officially recognised as regional or minority languages in 2001, when the UK ratified the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages.
- *Wales (English and Welsh in Wales): minor to moderate. Welsh is a national language and can be a medium of instruction within Wales.
- United States (English and Spanish; also English alongside Hawaiian (in Hawaii), French (in Louisiana), and various Native American languages (on Indian reservations): minor to moderate (see also Spanish in the United States)
- Uzbekistan (Uzbek, Persian, and Russian): serious
See also
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