Regional language: Difference between revisions
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However, here all languages - no sources. Here is Scots language or Luxembourgish language etc, but troll from Poland does not tolerate the Silesian language. Silesian is no exception. |
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*[[Low Saxon]] (also referred to as [[Low German]]), an officially recognized regional language in [[Germany]] and [[The Netherlands]], the direct descendant of [[Old Saxon]], in some people’s opinion two languages divided by today’s [[Netherlands]]-[[Germany|German]] border on account of Dutch influences in the west and German influences in the east; closely related to [[Frisian language|Frisian]], more distantly to [[German language|German]]. |
*[[Low Saxon]] (also referred to as [[Low German]]), an officially recognized regional language in [[Germany]] and [[The Netherlands]], the direct descendant of [[Old Saxon]], in some people’s opinion two languages divided by today’s [[Netherlands]]-[[Germany|German]] border on account of Dutch influences in the west and German influences in the east; closely related to [[Frisian language|Frisian]], more distantly to [[German language|German]]. |
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*[[Scots language|Scots]], a regional language of [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]], belongs to the same family of [[West Germanic languages]] as [[English language|English]]. |
*[[Scots language|Scots]], a regional language of [[Scotland]] and [[Ireland]], belongs to the same family of [[West Germanic languages]] as [[English language|English]]. |
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*[[Silesian language|Silesian]], a regional language |
*[[Silesian language|Silesian]], a regional language of [[Poland]] and [[Czech Republic]]. Silesian (with Czech and Polish) is a [[Slavic languages|Slavic language]]. Exist also Germanic version - [[Lower Silesian language]]. |
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* Regional languages of [[Spain]]: [[Aranese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan/Valencian]], [[Basque language|Basque]] and [[Galician]] are each, in the regions where they are the indigenous language, co-official in status with Castilian which is official everywhere in the Spanish State. Basque is unrelated to any other language of Spain; Asturo-Leonese (see below) is closely related to both Castilian and Galician, which itself is most closely related to Portuguese. Aranese is a subdialect of Gascon Occitan, most widely spoken across the Pyrenees in France and Catalan itself, together with Occitan, forms a subgroup of Romance languages linguistically intermediate between French and the Ibero-Romance languages of Spain and Portugal. |
* Regional languages of [[Spain]]: [[Aranese]], [[Catalan language|Catalan/Valencian]], [[Basque language|Basque]] and [[Galician]] are each, in the regions where they are the indigenous language, co-official in status with Castilian which is official everywhere in the Spanish State. Basque is unrelated to any other language of Spain; Asturo-Leonese (see below) is closely related to both Castilian and Galician, which itself is most closely related to Portuguese. Aranese is a subdialect of Gascon Occitan, most widely spoken across the Pyrenees in France and Catalan itself, together with Occitan, forms a subgroup of Romance languages linguistically intermediate between French and the Ibero-Romance languages of Spain and Portugal. |
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*[[Leonese language|Leonese]], a regional language of Leonese Kingdom, recognized in Castile and León ([[Spain]]), and in [[Miranda do Douro]] (Portugal) as [[Mirandese]]. |
*[[Leonese language|Leonese]], a regional language of Leonese Kingdom, recognized in Castile and León ([[Spain]]), and in [[Miranda do Douro]] (Portugal) as [[Mirandese]]. |
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Revision as of 18:39, 15 October 2009
A regional language is a language spoken in an area of a nation state, whether it be a small area, a federal state or province, or some wider area.
Definition in international law
For the purposes of the European 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
Influence of number of speakers
There are many cases when a regional language can claim greater numbers of speakers than certain languages which happen to be official languages of sovereign states. For example, Catalan (a regional language of Spain and France, albeit official in Andorra) has more speakers than Finnish or Danish. In China, Wu, spoken in southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang by more than 90 million speakers, can claim more native speakers than French, and Cantonese, a regional language of Guangdong and nearby areas in China with more than 60 million local and overseas speakers (North America, parts of Malaysia), outnumbers Italian in number of speakers. Subgroups and dialects of the Min group have over 70 million speakers, mainly in Fujian and in nearby Taiwan, but also in the Southeast Asian countries of Malaysia and Singapore.
Relationship with official languages
In some cases, a regional language may be closely related to the state's main language or official language. For example:
- Walloon, a regional language of France and Belgium, belongs to the same family of Oïl languages as French.
- Limburgish, a regional language in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium has over 250,000 speakers and is closely related to Luxembourgish, Rhinelandic and Ripuarian.
- Low Saxon (also referred to as Low German), an officially recognized regional language in Germany and The Netherlands, the direct descendant of Old Saxon, in some people’s opinion 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 to Frisian, more distantly to German.
- Scots, a regional language of Scotland and Ireland, belongs to the same family of West Germanic languages as English.
- Silesian, a regional language of Poland and Czech Republic. Silesian (with Czech and Polish) is a Slavic language. Exist also Germanic version - Lower Silesian language.
- Regional languages of Spain: Aranese, Catalan/Valencian, Basque and Galician are each, in the regions where they are the indigenous language, co-official in status with Castilian which is official everywhere in the Spanish State. Basque is unrelated to any other language of Spain; Asturo-Leonese (see below) is closely related to both Castilian and Galician, which itself is most closely related to Portuguese. Aranese is a subdialect of Gascon Occitan, most widely spoken across the Pyrenees in France and Catalan itself, together with Occitan, forms a subgroup of Romance languages linguistically intermediate between French and the Ibero-Romance languages of Spain and Portugal.
- Leonese, a regional language of Leonese Kingdom, recognized in Castile and León (Spain), and in Miranda do Douro (Portugal) as Mirandese.
- The Frisian languages, regional languages of The Netherlands and Germany, belong to the Germanic family.
- Romansch, a regional Romance language with a different set of vocabulary, but related to Italian spoken in the Swiss canton of Graubünden.
- Võro, a regional language of Estonia, belongs to the same family of Finno-Ugric languages as Estonian.
- All Chinese languages belong to the same family as Standard Mandarin (Putonghua), the national standard of the PRC. Mandarin is not mutually intelligible with them. Speakers of all of them, nevertheless, use the same standard written language (although this written language is largely based on the Mandarin dialects group)
- Wu, a regional language of Shanghai, southern Jiangsu and northern Zhejiang
- Cantonese, a regional language of Guangdong
- Hakka, a regional language in southern China, including Guangdong, Fujian, and Taiwan
- Min, a regional language in southeastern China, including Fujian and Taiwan
- Xiang, a regional language China’s Hunan province and some surrounding areas
- Gan, a regional language in non-coastal central China, in and around Jiangxi Province
In other cases, a regional language may be very different from the state’s main language or official language. For example:
- Welsh, a Celtic language spoken in Wales, part of the United Kingdom.
- Cornish, a Celtic language spoken in Cornwall, part of the United Kingdom.
- Breton, a Celtic language spoken in Brittany, part of France.
- Basque, a regional language in Spain and France. It is a language isolate
- Sorbian, a regional language of Germany. Sorbian is a Slavic language.
- Gagauz, a Turkic language used in Moldova.
- Livonian, a regional language of the Finno-Ugric languages family spoken in Latvia.
Official languages as regional languages
An official language of a country may also be spoken as a regional language in a region of a neighbouring country. For example:
- Russian, the official language of the Russian Federation, is a regional language of Ukraine (such as the autonomous republic of the Crimea), Abkhazia, South Ossetia and other entities.
- Catalan, the official language of Andorra, is a regional language in Spain and France.
- German, an official language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, is a regional language of Italy, France (Alsace) and Denmark.
- Hungarian, a Finno-Ugric language and official in Hungary, is a regional language of Romania whose official language, Romanian is a Romance language.
- Cantonese, one of the official languages in Hong Kong and Macau (both special administrative regions of the People's Republic of China), is used as a regional language of the province of Guangdong, People's Republic of China.
- Afrikaans, an official language of South Africa, is a regional language of Namibia.
- Irish, the first official language of Ireland, is a regional language in the UK.