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 prestige, and typically publish prescriptive dictionaries,^[1] which purport to officiate and prescribe the meaning of words and pronunciations. A language regulator may also have a more descriptive approach, however, while maintaining and promoting (but not imposing) a standard spelling. Many language academies are private institutions, although some are governmental bodies in different states, or enjoy some form of government-sanctioned status in one or more countries. There may also be multiple language academies attempting to regulate and codify the same language, sometimes based in different countries and sometimes influenced by political factors (see also: pluricentric language).

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). The English language has never had a formal regulator anywhere.

Natural languages

Language	Territory	Regulator(s)
Amis	Republic of China	Council of Indigenous Peoples
Afrikaans	South Africa	Die Taalkommissie
Akan	Ghana	Akan Orthography Committee (AOC)
Albanian	Albania Kosovo	Academy of Sciences of Albania, Tirana
Arabic
	Arab League	Academy of the Arabic Language (مجمع اللغة العربية) Arabic Language International Council
	Algeria	Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria
	Egypt	Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo
	Iraq	Iraqi Academy of Sciences
	Jordan	Jordan Academy of Arabic
	Libya	Academy of the Arabic Language in Jamahiriya
	Morocco	Academy of the Arabic Language in Morocco
	Saudi Arabia	Academy of the Arabic Language in Riyadh
	Somalia	Academy of the Arabic Language in Mogadishu
	Sudan	Academy of the Arabic Language in Khartum
	Syria	Academy of the Arabic Language in Damascus
	Tunisia	Beit Al-Hikma Foundation
	Israel Palestine	Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel (مجمع اللغة العربية)
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
Basque	Basque Country Navarre French 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^[2] at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus
Bengali (Bangla)	Bangladesh	Bangla Academy (বাংলা একাডেমি)
Bengali (Bangla)	West Bengal	Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi (পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বাংলা আকাদেমি)
Berber	Morocco	Royal Institute of Amazight Culture
	Algeria	Haut-Conseil à l'amazighité
	Algeria	Algerian Academy of Amazigh Language
Central Bikol	Philippines	Academia Bicolana defunct
Bosnian	Bosnia and Herzegovina Sandžak	University of Sarajevo
Bulgarian	Bulgaria	Institute for Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences
Burmese	Myanmar	Myanmar Language Commission
Catalan	Catalonia	Institute of Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans)
Catalan	Valencian Community	Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (for the Valencian standard)
Cebuano	Philippines	Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters (Akademyang Bisaya)
Cherokee	Cherokee Nation	Council of the Cherokee Nation (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ)^[3]
Standard Chinese	China	State Language Work Committee (国家语言文字工作委员会)
	Republic of China	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)
Croatian	Bosnia and Herzegovina
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 (རྫོང་ཁ་གོང་འཕེལ་ལྷན་ཚོགས)
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 (Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino)
Finnish	Finland	Institute for the Languages of Finland
French	France	Académie française (French Academy)
	Belgium	Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique (Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium)
	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)
Guarani	Paraguay	Guarani Language Academy (Guarani Ñe’ ẽ Rerekuapavẽ)
Hakka	Republic of China	Hakka Affairs Council (客家委員會)
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)^{[citation needed]}
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	Language and Book Development Agency (Badan Pengembangan Bahasa dan Perbukuan)
Irish	Republic of 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
Khmer	Cambodia	Royal Academy of Cambodia (រាជបណ្ឌិត្យសភាកម្ពុជា)
Korean	South Korea	National Institute of the Korean Language (국립국어원/國立國語院)
	North Korea	The Language Research Institute, Academy of Social Science (사회과학원 어학연구소/社會科學院語學研究所)
	China	China Korean Language Regulatory Commission (중국조선어규범위원회/中国朝鲜语规范委员会)
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) (ecclesiastical Latin)^[4]
		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)
Malay	Malaysia	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (The Institute of Language and Literature)
	Brunei	Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Language and Literature Bureau)
	Singapore	Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Malay Language Council, Singapore)
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)
Khalkha Mongolian	Mongolia	Council of the official state language (Төрийн хэлний зөвлөл). Decisions have to be confirmed by the Mongolian government.^[5]
Chakhar Mongolian	China	Council for Language and Literature Work
Nepali	Nepal	Language Academy of Nepal
Norwegian (Riksmål/Bokmål)	Norway	Norwegian Academy
Norwegian Bokmål Norwegian Nynorsk	Norway	Norwegian Language Council
Occitan	Occitania France Spain Monaco Italy	Lo Congrès Permanent de la lenga occitana (the permanent congress of occitan language)^[6] Institut d'Estudis Aranesi (Aranese)^[7] Conselh de la Lenga Occitana
Pashto	Afghanistan	Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan
Pashto	Pakistan	Pashto Academy
Persian	Iran Tajikistan Afghanistan Uzbekistan	Academy of Persian Language and Literature (فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی)
Paiwan	Republic of China	Council of Indigenous Peoples
Polish	Poland	Polish Language Council (Rada Języka Polskiego), of the Polish Academy of Sciences
Portuguese	Portugal	Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Classe de Letras
	Brazil	Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Literary Academy)
	Galicia	Galician Academy of the Portuguese Language (Academia Galega da Lingua Portuguesa)
Quechua	Peru	High Academy of the Quechua Language (Qheswa simi hamut'ana kuraq suntur)
Rohingya	Arakan (Rakhine State)	Rohingya Language Academy (𐴌𐴟𐴇𐴥𐴝𐴚𐴒𐴙𐴝 𐴎𐴟𐴁𐴝𐴕 𐴀𐴠𐴑𐴝𐴋𐴠𐴔𐴞)
Romanian	Romania	Institutul de Lingvisticǎ al Academiei Române (Institute for Linguistics of the Romanian Academy)
Romanian	Moldova	Academia de Ştiinţe a Moldovei
Romansh	Switzerland	Lia Rumantscha
Russian	Russian Empire	Russian Academy (1783–1841)
Russian	Russia	Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences (since 1944)
Scots	Scotland	The Scots Language Centre supports the Scots language.^[8] Scottish Language Dictionaries record and analyse the language as it is spoken and written throughout Scotland and Ulster today.^[9]
Secwepemctsín	Canada	Secwepemc Cultural Education Society
Serbian and Montenegrin	Serbia Montenegro	Board for Standardization of the Serbian Language
Sindhi	Pakistan	Sindhi Language Authority [2]
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 Czech Republic Poland	Serbski institut [3]
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 Equatorial Guinea Israel	Asociación de Academias de la Lengua Española (constituted by the Real Academia Española plus 23 other separate national academies in the Spanish-speaking world and an Israel-based committee for Judaeo-Spanish.)
Swahili	Tanzania	Baraza la Kiswahili la Taifa
Swahili	Kenya	Chama cha Kiswahili cha Taifa
Swedish	Sweden	Swedish Language Council (semi-official) Swedish Academy
Swedish	Finland	Swedish Language Department of the Research Institute for the Languages of Finland (Svenska språkbyrån)
Tamil	Tamil Nadu	Thanjavur Tamil University and Official Language Commission of Government of Tamil Nadu
	Sri Lanka	Department of Official Languages, Sri Lanka
	Singapore	Tamil Language Council, Singapore
Taiwanese Hokkien	Republic of China	Ministry of Education (Taiwan)
Tatar	Tatarstan	Institute of Language, Literature and Arts of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan [4]
Telugu	Andhra Pradesh and Telangana	Telugu Academy and Official Language Commission of Government of Andhra Pradesh
Tetum	East Timor	National Institute of Linguistics at the National University of East Timor
Thai	Thailand	Royal Society of Thailand (ราชบัณฑิตยสภา)
Tibetan	Tibet Autonomous Region	Committee for Tibetan Language Affairs [5]
Tibetan	India	Committee for the Standardisation of the Tibetan Language
Turkish	Turkey Cyprus Northern Cyprus	Turkish Language Association
Ukrainian	Ukraine	NASU Institute of Ukrainian Language
Urdu	Pakistan	National Language Authority, Pakistan
Urdu	India	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^[10]
Yoruba	Nigeria	Yoruba Academy

Auxiliary languages

Esperanto

Apart from the Akademio de Esperanto, most auxiliary languages, also known as constructed languages (Conlangs) have no true linguistic regulators, language academies.^[11]

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.

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

Other constructed languages

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

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. The International Auxiliary Language Association ceased to exist in 1954, and according to the secretary of Union Mundial de Interlingua "Interlingua doesn't need its Academy".^[11]

Other bodies

These bodies do not attempt to regulate any language in a prescriptive manner and are primarily concerned with aiding and advising the government on policies regarding language usage.

Hong Kong: Official Language Division Civil Service Bureau Government of Hong Kong — concerned with matters concerning government language policy
Macau: Departamento dos Assuntos Linguísticos of the Public Administration and Civil Service Bureau of the Government of Macau — concerned with matters concerning government language policy

References

^ Thomas, George (1991) Linguistic purism p.108, quotation:
Whereas a number of the puristically motivated language societies have assumed de facto responsibility for language cultivation, the decisions of the academies have often had the force of law. ... Since academies are so closely associated with the notion of purism, a brief word on their history may not be out of place. The first academy to deal expressly and exclusively with language matters was the Accademia della Crusca ... Its orientation was essentially conservative, favouring a return to the Tuscan language as cultivated in the fourteenth century over the innovations of contemporary renaissance poets such as Torquato Tasso. ... One of its first tasks -- as with so many academies to follow -- was to produce a large-scale prescriptive dictionary of Italian
^ "Organizations Attached to the Department of Humanitarian Sciences and Arts". National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Retrieved 8 June 2012. Field of Activities: ... compilation of the Belarusian language dictionaries including Belarusian – the other Slavonic languages and the other Slavonic languages – Belarusian dictionaries; ...
^ Council of the Cherokee Nation
^ "Pontificia Academia Latinitatis" (in Latin). Vatican.va. 10 November 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
^ "Хуулийн нэгдсэн портал сайт". Legalinfo.mn (in Mongolian). Archived from the original on 14 September 2015.
^ "Lo Congrès". locongres.org. Retrieved 25 October 2019.
^ "Reconeishença der Institut d'Estudis Aranesi coma academia e autoritat lingüistica der occitan, aranés en Aran - Conselh Generau d'Aran". conselharan.org.
^ "Scots Language Centre". Scotslanguage.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
^ "Scottish Language Dictionaries - Home". Scotsdictionaries.org.uk. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.
^ "YIVO Institute". Retrieved 25 October 2019.
^ ^a ^b Johan Derks, Prilingvaj institutoj de 18 naciaj lingvoj (Language Institutes of eighteen states), Interlingvistikaj Studoj, UAM, 2014/17, Esperanta Interlingvistiko 1

[1] Thomas, George (1991) Linguistic purism p.108, quotation:
Whereas a number of the puristically motivated language societies have assumed de facto responsibility for language cultivation, the decisions of the academies have often had the force of law. ... Since academies are so closely associated with the notion of purism, a brief word on their history may not be out of place. The first academy to deal expressly and exclusively with language matters was the Accademia della Crusca ... Its orientation was essentially conservative, favouring a return to the Tuscan language as cultivated in the fourteenth century over the innovations of contemporary renaissance poets such as Torquato Tasso. ... One of its first tasks -- as with so many academies to follow -- was to produce a large-scale prescriptive dictionary of Italian

[Belarus-2] "Organizations Attached to the Department of Humanitarian Sciences and Arts". National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. Retrieved 8 June 2012. Field of Activities: ... compilation of the Belarusian language dictionaries including Belarusian – the other Slavonic languages and the other Slavonic languages – Belarusian dictionaries; ...

[3] Council of the Cherokee Nation

[4] "Pontificia Academia Latinitatis" (in Latin). Vatican.va. 10 November 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2013.

[5] "Хуулийн нэгдсэн портал сайт". Legalinfo.mn (in Mongolian). Archived from the original on 14 September 2015.

[6] "Lo Congrès". locongres.org. Retrieved 25 October 2019.

[7] "Reconeishença der Institut d'Estudis Aranesi coma academia e autoritat lingüistica der occitan, aranés en Aran - Conselh Generau d'Aran". conselharan.org.

[8] "Scots Language Centre". Scotslanguage.com. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[9] "Scottish Language Dictionaries - Home". Scotsdictionaries.org.uk. 3 August 2015. Retrieved 11 August 2015.

[10] "YIVO Institute". Retrieved 25 October 2019.

[:0-11] Johan Derks, Prilingvaj institutoj de 18 naciaj lingvoj (Language Institutes of eighteen states), Interlingvistikaj Studoj, UAM, 2014/17, Esperanta Interlingvistiko 1

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]