Language spoken in parts but not all of a country
Aregional language is alanguage spoken in a region of asovereign state , whether it be a small area, afederated state orprovince or some wider area.
Internationally, for the purposes of theEuropean 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 anofficial language .
Relationship with official languages [ edit ] In some cases, a regional language may be closely related to the state's main language orofficial language . For example:
TheFrisian languages spoken in the Netherlands and Germany, which belong to theGermanic family. TheGutnish language , a regional language spoken inGotland and related to the Swedish language. Kurdish inKurdistan , which is an autonomous region in northernIraq , NorthwesternIran and southeasternTurkey .Assyrian Neo-Aramaic in northern Iraq, northeasternSyria , southeastern Turkey and northwestern Iran.The several hundredSinitic languages are nearly always replaced byStandard Chinese (based on theBeijing dialect ) in writing.Wu , inShanghai , southernJiangsu ,Zhejiang and easternJiangxi .Yue Chinese , inGuangdong , parts ofGuangxi ,Hainan ,Hong Kong andMacau ,Cantonese is the regional standard variety for Yue-speaking areasHakka , in parts ofGuangdong ,Jiangxi ,Fujian , andTaiwan Min , inFujian ,Taiwan , easternGuangdong andHainan .Xiang , inHunan .Gan , inJiangxi . Kashubian , a regional language ofPoland , has a bit under 90 thousand speakers, and is a language of theLechitic branch, alongsidePolish andSilesian .[ 2] Limburgish , a regional language inGermany , theNetherlands and Belgium, has around one million speakers and is closely related toLuxembourgish ,Kleverlandish andRipuarian .Low German (also referred to as Low Saxon), an officially recognized regional language in Germany and the Netherlands, the direct descendant ofOld 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 toFrisian , more distantly toGerman .Scots , a regional language ofScotland andNorthern Ireland (both part of theUnited Kingdom , and where it is known asUlster Scots in the latter location), belongs to the same family ofWest Germanic languages asEnglish .Neapolitan ,Sicilian andVenetian , regional languages spoken inItaly which also belong to the same family of standard Italian (Italo-Dalmatian ).Regional languages ofSpain andPortugal : Tibetic languages Võro andSeto , regional languages ofEstonia , are either dialects ofEstonian or separateFinnic languages as Estonian.Walloon , a regional language of France andBelgium , belongs to the same family ofOïl languages asFrench .Hindi and English are theofficial languages ofIndia 'sCentral Government .The officially declaredregional 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 , andUrdu . Most areIndo-Aryan languages like Hindi and descend from Sanskrit, but 4 (Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam) areDravidian languages , 2 (Bodo and Manipuri) areSino-Tibetan , and Santali is aMunda language . In addition, there have been demands for 38 more languages to receive recognition.[ 3] Sylheti , a regional language of theSylhet Division ofBangladesh and theBarak Valley ofAssam , India, is often considered a dialect of Bengali but is also sometimes seen as a separate language.Chittagonian , a regional language of parts of theChittagong Division ofBangladesh , 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 inSpain andFrance (Basque Country ).Breton , a regional Celtic language spoken inFrance (Brittany ).Cherokee is anIroquoian language, and one of the manyNative American languages spoken in theU.S. State ofOklahoma .Cornish , a regional Celtic language in theUnited Kingdom (Cornwall ).Corsican , a regional language inFrance (Corsica ) closely related toTuscan -derivedItalian .Gagauz , a regionalTurkic language spoken inMoldova .Livonian , a regional language of theFinnic family spoken inLatvia .Resian , a dialect ofSlovene spoken inItaly (Resia valley ).Sardinian , a regionalRomance language spoken inItaly (Sardinia ).Scottish Gaelic , a regionalCeltic language spoken in theUnited Kingdom (Scotland ).Sorbian , a regionalSlavic language ofGermany .Welsh , a regionalCeltic language spoken in theUnited Kingdom (Wales ).Official languages as regional languages [ edit ] 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 ofSouth Africa , is a regional language ofNamibia .Arabic , official inZanzibar , a region ofTanzania .Bengali is the official language of Bangladesh, and is the regional language ofWest Bengal in India.Bulgarian is the official language ofBulgaria , and is the regional language ofAlbania ,Czech Republic ,[ 4] Hungary ,[ 5] Moldova ,Romania ,[ 6] Serbia ,Turkey ,[ 7] [ 8] [ 9] [ 10] Ukraine .Cantonese , one of the official standard varieties inHong Kong andMacau (bothspecial administrative regions of thePeople's Republic of China ), is used as a regional language of the province ofGuangdong ,People's Republic of China .Catalan , the official language ofAndorra , is a regional language inSpain (Catalonia ,Balearic Islands andValencian Community ),France (Pyrénées Orientales ) andItaly (Alghero ,Sardinia ).German , an official language ofAustria ,Belgium ,Germany ,Liechtenstein ,Luxembourg andSwitzerland , is a regional language inItaly (South Tyrol ),Poland (Silesia ),France (Alsace andLorraine ),Denmark (Southern ),Namibia ,Argentina ,Brazil ,Chile , andVenezuela .Hakka , one of the national languages ofTaiwan , is spoken as a regional language in the provinces ofGuangdong ,Jiangxi andFujian ,People's Republic of China .Hokkien , one of the national languages ofTaiwan , is spoken as a regional language in the provinces ofFujian ,Zhejiang andGuangdong ,People’s Republic of China .Hungarian , aUralic language and official inHungary , is a regional language ofRomania (Northern Transylvania ).Irish , the first official language of theRepublic of Ireland , is a regional language inNorthern Ireland , part of theUnited Kingdom .Japanese , one of the national language inJapan , is a regional language inPalau (Angaur Island ).Korean , the official language ofKorea , is a regional language inPeople's Republic of China (Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture ).Malay , the official language ofMalaysia ,Brunei andSingapore , is a regional language inIndonesia (Riau Province ).Portuguese , the official language ofAngola ,Brazil ,Cape Verde ,East Timor ,Mozambique ,Portugal , andSão Tomé and Príncipe , is a regional language inSouth Africa andUruguay and inGoa in India andOlivenza in Spain; it is also both the official and regional language in Macau.Romanian , the official language ofRomania ,Moldova ,[ 11] Transnistria ,[ 12] Serbia (Vojvodina ),[ 13] Bulgaria ,Hungary (Gyula ),[ 14] Serbia [Timok Valley (both known as Romanian and "Vlach ")],[ 15] Ukraine (Chernivtsi andOdesa oblasts )Russian , the official language of theRussian Federation andBelarus , is a regional language ofAbkhazia ,South Ossetia and other entities.Tamil , one of the official languages ofSingapore andSri Lanka , is a regional language in India (Tamil Nadu )Tigrinya , an official language ofEritrea , is a regional language inEthiopia (Tigray Region ).Turkish , the official language ofTurkey andNorthern Cyprus , is a regional language ofKosovo .^ "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages" .Council of Europe .Archived from the original on 26 February 2011. Retrieved11 March 2015 .^ "Lekhitic languages | Slavic, Baltic & Germanic | Britannica" .www.britannica.com .Archived from the original on 2015-06-10. Retrieved2024-05-30 .^ "Constitutional provisions relating to Eighth Schedule" (PDF) . Archived fromthe original (PDF) on 2022-04-24.^ "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 fromthe original on 27 February 2014. Retrieved16 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. Retrieved2 April 2023 .^ Untila, Stela (14 July 2021)." .NewsMaker (in Romanian).Archived from the original on 2 April 2023. Retrieved2 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. Retrieved18 October 2010 .^ "Hungary needs to strengthen use of and access to minority languages" .Council of Europe .Archived from the original on 27 August 2019. Retrieved16 January 2019 .^ "Latest Council of Europe report on regional or minority Languages in Serbia published" . The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity. Archived fromthe original on 26 June 2015. Retrieved25 June 2015 .
