List of language regulators

This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages, often called language academies. Language academies are motivated by, or closely associated with, linguistic purism, and typically publish prescriptive dictionaries, which purport to officiate and prescribe the meaning of words and pronunciations. A language regulator may also be descriptive, however, while maintaining (but not imposing) a standard spelling.

Many world languages have one or more language academies. However, the degree of control that the academies exert over these languages does not render the latter controlled natural languages in the sense that the various kinds of "simple English" (e.g. Basic English, Simplified Technical English) or George Orwell's fictional Newspeak are. They instead remain natural languages to a considerable extent and are thus not formal languages such as Attempto Controlled English. They have a degree of standardization that allows them to function as standard languages (e.g. standard French).

Natural languages

Language	Territory	Regulator(s)
Afrikaans	South Africa	Die Taalkommissie
Akan	Ghana	Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)
Albanian	Albania Kosovo	Academy of Sciences of Albania, Tirana
Arabic	Algeria Egypt Iraq Jordan Morocco Somalia Sudan Syria Tunisia Israel	Academy of the Arabic Language (مجمع اللغة العربية) Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Morocco, Somalia, Syria, Tunisia, Sudan Israel Arabic Language International Council
Aragonese	Aragon	Academia de l'Aragonés, Aragon, Spain
Armenian	Armenia	Armenian National Academy of Sciences (Հայաստան)
Assamese	Assam	Asam Sahitya Sabha (অসম সাহিত্য সভা)
Asturian	Asturias	Academy of the Asturian Language (Academia de la Llingua Asturiana)
Azerbaijani	Azerbaijan Iran	Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences
Bengali (Bangla)	Bangladesh	Bangla Academy (বাংলা একাডেমি)
	West Bengal	Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi (পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বাংলা আকাদেমি)
Basque	Basque Country	Euskaltzaindia, often translated as Royal Academy of the Basque language
Belarusian	Belarus	The Jakub Kolas and Janka Kupala Institute of Language and Literature at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Bosnian	Bosnia and Herzegovina Sandžak	University of Sarajevo
Berber or Tamazight	Morocco	Royal Institute of Amazight Culture (IRCAM)
	Algeria	HCA
Bulgarian	Bulgaria	Institute for Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Burmese	Myanmar	Myanmar Language Commission
Cantonese	Hong Kong Macau	Official Language Division Civil Service Bureau Government of Hong Kong
Catalan	Catalonia	Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans)
	Valencian Community	Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (for the Valencian standard)
Cebuano	Philippines	Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters
Cherokee	Cherokee Nation	Council of the Cherokee Nation (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ)
Mandarin Chinese	People's Republic of China	State Language Work Committee (国家语言文字工作委员会)
	Republic of China (Taiwan)	National Languages Committee (國語推行委員會)
	Singapore	Promote Mandarin Council (讲华语运动理事会)
	Malaysia	Chinese Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia (马来西亚华语规范理事会)
Cornish	Cornwall	Cornish Language Partnership (Keskowethyans an Taves Kernewek)
Croatian	Croatia	Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics (Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje)
Czech	Czech Republic	Institute of the Czech Language (of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) (Ústav pro jazyk český (Akademie věd České republiky))
Danish	Denmark	Dansk Sprognævn (Danish Language Council)
Dalecarlian	Dalarna County	Ulum Dalska
Dari	Afghanistan	Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan
Divehi	Maldives	Dhivehi Academy
Dutch	Netherlands Belgium Suriname	Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union)
Dzongkha	Bhutan	Dzongkha Development Commission
Estonian	Estonia	Emakeele Seltsi keeletoimkond (Language Board at the Mother Tongue Society) sets rules and standards, authoritative advice is given by the Institute of the Estonian Language (Eesti Keele Instituut)
Faroese	Faroe Islands	Faroese Language Council (Málráðið)
Filipino	Philippines	Commission on the Filipino Language
Finnish	Finland	Research Institute for the Languages of Finland
French	France	Académie française (French Academy)
	Quebec	Office québécois de la langue française (Quebec Office of the French Language)
Galician	Galicia	Royal Galician Academy (Real Academia Galega)
German	Germany Austria Switzerland South Tyrol Belgium Liechtenstein Luxembourg	Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung)
Greenlandic	Greenland	The Greenland Language Secretariat (Oqaasileriffik)
Greek	Greece Cyprus	Center for the Greek language (Κέντρον Ελληνικής Γλώσσας)
Haitian Creole	Haiti	Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole Academy)
Hebrew	Israel	Academy of the Hebrew Language (האקדמיה ללשון העברית)
Hindi	India	Central Hindi Directorate (regulates use of Devanagari script and Hindi spelling in India)
Hmar	India	Hmar Literature Society (Manipur, India)
Hungarian	Hungary	Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi Intézete)
Icelandic	Iceland	Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies
Igbo	Nigeria	Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture
Indonesian	Indonesia	Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa
Irish	Ireland Northern Ireland	Foras na Gaeilge
Italian	Italy San Marino Switzerland Vatican City	Accademia della Crusca (Academy of the bran)
Japanese	Japan	No official centralized regulation, but de facto regulations by Agency for Cultural Affairs (文化庁) at the Ministry of Education of Japan (文部科学省)
Kannada	Karnataka	Various academies and Government of Karnataka
Kashubian	Poland	Commission of the Kashubian Language [1]
Kazakh	Kazakhstan	Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan
Korean	South Korea	National Institute of the Korean Language (국립국어원)
Kven	Norway	Kainun institutti – kvensk institutt
Kyrgyz	Kyrgyzstan	National Committee for State Language under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic (Кыргыз Республикасынын Президентине караштуу Мамлекеттик тил боюнча улуттук комиссия)
Latin	Holy See	Pontifical Academy for Latin (Pontificia Academia Latinitatis) (Latin in the Roman Catholic Church)
		International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy: botanical Latin)
		International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: zoological Latin)
Latvian	Latvia	Latvian State Language Center (Valsts Valodas Centrs)
Lithuanian	Lithuania	Commission of the Lithuanian Language (Valstybinė lietuvių kalbos komisija)
Lusoga	Uganda	Lusoga Language Authority (LULA)
Macedonian	North Macedonia	Macedonian Language Institute "Krste Misirkov" (Институт за македонски јазик „Крсте Мисирков“, Institut za makedonski jazik „Krste Misirkov“)
Malay	Malaysia Brunei	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (The Institute of Language and Literature)
Malayalam	Kerala	Kerala Sahitya Akademi (കേരള സാഹിത്യ പരിശീലന സ്ഥാപനം) and Government of Kerala
Maltese	Malta	National Council for the Maltese Language (www.kunsilltalmalti.gov.mt)
Manx	Isle of Man	Coonceil ny Gaelgey
Māori	New Zealand	Māori Language Commission
Mirandese	Portugal	Anstituto de la Lhéngua Mirandesa (Institute of the Mirandese Language)
Mixtec	Mexico	Academy of the Mixtec Language (Ve'e Tu'un Sávi)
Mongolian	Mongolia	Council of the official state language (Төрийн хэлний зөвлөл). Decisions have to be confirmed by the Mongolian government.
Nepali	Nepal	Language Academy of Nepal
Norwegian (Bokmål and Nynorsk)	Norway	Norwegian Language Council
Occitan	France Spain Monaco Italy	Lo Congrès Permanent de la lenga occitana (the permanent congress of occitan language) [2]
Pashto	Afghanistan Pakistan	Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan Pashto Academy
Persian	Iran Tajikistan Afghanistan Uzbekistan	Academy of Persian Language and Literature (فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی)
Polish	Poland	Polish Language Council (Rada Języka Polskiego)
Portuguese	Portugal	Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Classe de Letras
	Brazil	Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Literary Academy)
Quechua	Peru	High Academy of the Quechua Language (Qheswa simi hamut'ana kuraq suntur)
Romanian	Romania	Institutul de Lingvisticǎ al Academiei Române (Institute for Linguistics of the Romanian Academy)
	Moldova	Academia de Ştiinţe a Moldovei
Russian	Russian Empire	Russian Academy (1783–1841)
	Russia	Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1944)
Scots	Scotland	The Scots Language Centre supports the Scots language. Scottish Language Dictionaries record and analyse the language as it is spoken and written throughout Scotland and Ulster today.
Scottish Gaelic	Scotland	Bòrd na Gàidhlig maintains the national plan for Gaelic, to promote its use and make Gaelic culture accessible
Secwepemctsín	Canada	Stk'wemiple7s re Secwepemctsin, are the group of people supported by the Secwepemc Cultural Education Society who develop new words.
Serbian and Montenegrin	Serbia Montenegro	Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language
Sindhi	Pakistan	Sindhi Language Authority [3]
Sinhala	Sri Lanka	Hela Havula (හෙළ හවුල)
Slovak	Slovakia	Ľudovít Štúr Institute of Linguistics (Jazykovedný ústav Ľudovíta Štúra) at Slovak Academy of Sciences (Slovenská akadémia vied)
Slovene	Slovenia	Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts
Somali	Djibouti Ethiopia Somalia	Regional Somali Language Academy
Sorbian	Germany	Serbski institut [4]
Spanish	Spain Colombia Ecuador Mexico El Salvador Venezuela Chile Peru Guatemala Costa Rica Philippines Panama Cuba Paraguay Bolivia Dominican Republic Nicaragua Argentina Uruguay Honduras Puerto Rico United States	Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (constituted by the Real Academia Española plus 21 other separate national academies in the Spanish-speaking world)
Swahili	Tanzania	Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa
	Kenya	Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa
Swedish	Sweden	Swedish Language Council (semi-official) Swedish Academy
	Finland	Swedish Language Department of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland (Svenska språkbyrån)
Tamil	Tamil Nadu Sri Lanka	Thanjavur Tamil University and Official language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu Department of Official Languages, Sri Lanka.
Tatar	Tatarstan	Institute of Language, Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan
Telugu	Andhra Pradesh	Telugu Academy and Official Language Commission of Government of Andhra Pradesh
Tetum	Timor-Leste	National Institute of Linguistics at the National University of East Timor
Thai	Thailand	Royal Society of Thailand (ราชบัณฑิตยสภา)
Turkish	Turkey Azerbaijan Iran	Turkish Language Association
Ukrainian	Ukraine	National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
Urdu	Pakistan India	National Language Authority, Pakistan National Council for Promotion of Urdu Language, India
Urhobo	Nigeria	Urhobo Studies Association
Võro	Estonia	Võro Institute
Waray	Philippines	Sanghiran san Binisaya ha Samar ug Leyte (Academy of the Visayan Language of Samar and Leyte) defunct
Welsh	Wales	Welsh Language Commissioner (Meri Huws) — The Welsh Government (previously the Welsh Language Board Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg)(Principally, however, the role of the Welsh Language Commissioner is that of language planning and policy regulator and enforcer. The role also includes corpus planning.)
West Frisian	Friesland	Fryske Akademy (Frisian Academy)
Wolof	Senegal	Centre de linguistique appliquée de Dakar (Center of Applied Linguistics of Dakar at the Cheikh Anta Diop University)
Yiddish	United States Sweden Russia	YIVO [5]
Yoruba	Nigeria	Yoruba Academy

Auxiliary languages

Interlingua

The auxiliary language Interlingua has no regulating body, as its vocabulary, grammar, and orthography are viewed as a product of ongoing social forces. In theory, Interlingua therefore evolves independent from any human regulator. Interlingua's vocabulary is verified and recorded by dynamically applying certain general principles to an existing set of natural languages and their etymologies.

Constructed languages

Languages such as Esperanto and Ido have been constructed (or planned) by a person or small group, before being adopted and further developed by communities of users through natural language evolution. Bodies such as the Akademio de Esperanto look at questions of usage in the light of the original goals and principles of the language.

International auxiliary languages

Language	Regulator(s)
Esperanto	Akademio de Esperanto
Ido	Uniono por la Linguo Internaciona Ido
Lojban	Logical Language Group
Volapük	Kadäm Volapüka

Other constructed languages

Language	Regulator(s)
Klingon	Marc Okrand
Talossan	Comità per l'Útzil del Glheþ

See also

• Language policy
• Language revival
• Language planning
• Linguistic purism
• Languages in censuses