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**[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] (in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Himachal pradesh]] [[Haryana]], [[Delhi]] and [[Chandigarh]])
**[[Punjabi language|Punjabi]] (in [[Punjab, India|Punjab]], [[Himachal pradesh]] [[Haryana]], [[Delhi]] and [[Chandigarh]])
**[[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]] (in [[Rajasthan]])
**[[Rajasthani language|Rajasthani]] (in [[Rajasthan]])
**[[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] (in [[Mattur and Uttarakhand]])
**[[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] (in [[Mattur]] and [[Uttarakhand]])
**[[Santali language|Santali]] (in [[Jharkhand]])
**[[Santali language|Santali]] (in [[Jharkhand]])
**[[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] (sindhi community/people dependent)
**[[Sindhi language|Sindhi]] (sindhi community/people dependent)

Revision as of 21:02, 18 October 2010

This is a complete list of the official languages designated in the sovereign states of the world. It includes all languages that have official language status either statewide or in a part of the state, or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minority language.

Only states, which are defined as sovereign, internationally recognised, independent political entities, are listed. This is not a list of countries or nations, although many states listed, are simultaneously also countries and/or nations.

For dependent territories, refer to the corresponding sovereign states.

Definitions

  • Official language: one designated as having a unique legal status in the state, typically, the language used in a nation's legislative bodies, and often, official government business
  • Regional language: one designated as having official status limited to a specific area, administrative division, or territory of the state (on this page a regional language will have parentheses next to it that contain a region, province, etc. where the language has regional status)
  • Minority language: (as used here) one spoken by a minority population within the state and officially designated as such; typically afforded protection and designated an officially permissible language for legal and government business in a specific area or territory of the state (on this page a minority language will be followed by parentheses that identify its minority status)
  • National language: one that uniquely represents the national identity of a state, nation, and/or country and so designated by a country's government; some are technically minority languages (on this page a national language will be followed by parentheses that identify it as a national language status). Some countries have more than one language with this status.

A

  •  Afghanistan[1]
    • Pashto (statewide) (official)
    • Dari (statewide) (official)
    • Uzbek (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Turkmen (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pashai (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Nuristani (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Balochi (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)
    • Pamiri (statewide) (third official language in areas where spoken by majority of population)

B

C

  •  Chile
    • No official language, Spanish is the de facto official language.
  •  Colombia
    • Spanish (the languages and dialects of ethnic groups are also official in their territories [13])

D


E

  •  Ecuador
    • Spanish (Quechua or Kichwa and Shuar are official languages of intercultural relation, ancient languages are official in their territories.[15])

F



G

H

I

  •  Iran
    • Persian (statewide)
    • Azeri (Recognized regional language)
    • Kurdish (Recognized regional language)
    • Luri (Recognized regional language)
    • Mazandarani (Recognized regional language)
    • Gilaki (Recognized regional language)
    • Baluchi (Recognized regional language)
    • Arabic (Recognized regional language)

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y


Z

Partially recognised states

  •  Kosovo
    • Albanian (territory wide)
    • Serbian (territory wide)
    • English (territory wide, during the NATO occupation of the territory on behalf of the UN)
    • Turkish (territory wide, upon request)

References and footnotes

  1. ^ Constitution of Afghanistan (Article 16)
  2. ^ Constitution of Albania (Article 14)
  3. ^ a b Constitution of Algeria (Article 3) (MS Word format)
  4. ^ Constitution of Andorra (Article 2)
  5. ^ "Angola". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency.
  6. ^ Constitution of Antigua and Barbuda, 1981 (Article 29)
  7. ^ [http://www.romanistik.uni-mainz.de/guarani/texte/Ley5598.pdf Provincial Law Nº5598
  8. ^ Constitution of Armenia (Article 12)
  9. ^ Constitution of Austria (Article 8)
  10. ^ a b Constitution of Austria, Article 8 & State Treaty for the Re-establishment of an Independent and Democratic Austria (Article 7, Page 188)
  11. ^ Constitution of Azerbaijan, Constitution of Azerbaijan (English translation) (Article 21)
  12. ^ Constitution of Belgium, in Dutch, French and German (Article 4)
  13. ^ Constitution of Colombia, 1991 (Article 10)
  14. ^ Slovak language is defined as official language together with Czech language by several laws - e.g. law 500/2004, 337/1992. Source: http://portal.gov.cz. Cited: "Například Správní řád (zákon č. 500/2004 Sb.) stanovuje: "V řízení se jedná a písemnosti se vyhotovují v českém jazyce. Účastníci řízení mohou jednat a písemnosti mohou být předkládány i v jazyce slovenském..." (§16, odstavec 1). Zákon o správě daní a poplatků (337/1992 Sb.) „Úřední jazyk: Před správcem daně se jedná v jazyce českém nebo slovenském. Veškerá písemná podání se předkládají v češtině nebo slovenštině..." (§ 3, odstavec 1). http://portal.gov.cz
  15. ^ Constitution of Ecuador 2008, (Article 2)
  16. ^ Constitution of France (Article 2)
  17. ^ Constitution of Ireland (Article 8)
  18. ^ The Constitution of Jamaica section 20(6e) (implicit)
  19. ^ Priedīte, Aija (2005). "Surveying Language Attitudes and Practices in Latvia". Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development. 26 (5): 409–424. doi:10.1080/01434630508668413.<quote>In 1992, following further amendments to this directive, Latvian was established as the only official language. It took 410 Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development seven more years before the State language law was adopted in 1999, with further amendments in the years 2000, 2001 and 2002.</quote>
  20. ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/lg.html
  21. ^ Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia designated Malay as the national language. Section 2 of that article allowed English to be used officially until otherwise provided by Parliament. In 1967, the Parliament of Malaysia passed the National Language Act, making Malay the official language of Malaysia. The act does, however, allow the use of English for some official purposes.
  22. ^ Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia designated Malay as the national language. Section 2 of that article allowed English to be used officially until otherwise provided by Parliament. In 1967, the Parliament of Malaysia passed the National Language Act, making Malay the official language of Malaysia. The act does, however, allow the use of English for some official purposes.
  23. ^ Constitution of Monaco (Article 8)
  24. ^ "Article 3 – Language". The Constitution of The Republic of Namibia. orusovo.com. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  25. ^ https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/wa.html 32% Namibians speak German
  26. ^ "United Kingdom; Key Facts". Commonwealth Secretariat. Retrieved 2008-04-23.
  27. ^ "Cornish gains official recognition". BBC News. November 6, 2002. Retrieved 2008-05-08.
  28. ^ Template:Ru icon "Конституция Республики Абхазия". President of Abkhazia. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  29. ^ Template:Ru icon "Конституции Республики Южная Осетия". The State Committee on Information and Press of the Republic of South Ossetia. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
  30. ^ "Taiwan (self-governing island, Asia)". Britannica Online Encyclopedia. 1975-04-05. Retrieved 2009-08-30.
  31. ^ "Taiwan Information: People and Language". Asia-planet.net (Information provided by Tourism Bureau, ROC). Retrieved 2009-08-30.
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