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Official language

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Anofficial languageis a language having certain rights to be used in defined situations. These rights can be created in written form or by historic usage.[1][2]

178 countries recognize an official language, 101 of them recognizing more than one. The government of Italy madeItalianofficial only in 1999,[3]and some nations (such as theUnited States,Mexico,andAustralia) have never declared de jure official languages at the national level.[4]Other nations have declared non-indigenous official languages.

Many of the world's constitutions mention one or more official ornational languages.[5][6]Some countries use the official language designation to empower indigenous groups by giving them access to the government in their native languages. In countries that do not formally designate an official language, ade factonational language usually evolves.Englishis the most common official or co-official language, with recognized status in 51 countries.Arabic,French,andSpanishare official or co-official languages in several countries.

An official language that is also anindigenous languageis calledendoglossic,one that is not indigenous isexoglossic.[7]An instance isNigeriawhich has three endoglossic official languages. By this, the country aims to protect the indigenous languages although at the same time recognising the English language as its lingua franca. In spatial terms,indigenous (endoglossic) languagesare mostly employed in the function of official languages inEurasia,while mainly non-indigenous (exoglossic) imperial (European) languages fulfill this function in most of the "Rest of the World" (that is, in parts ofAfrica,theAmericas,AustraliaandOceania).Lesotho,Madagascar, South Africa,Ethiopia,Eritrea,Somalia,Greenland,New Zealand,SamoaandParaguayare among the exceptions to this tendency.[8]

History

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Around 500 BC, whenDarius the GreatannexedMesopotamiato thePersian Empire,he chose a form of theAramaic language(the so-calledOfficial Aramaicor Imperial Aramaic) as the vehicle for written communication between the different regions of the vast empire with its different peoples and languages.[9]Aramaic scriptwas widely employed fromEgyptin the southwest toBactriaandSogdianain the northeast. Texts were dictated in the native dialects and written down in Aramaic, and then read out again in the native language at the places they were received.[10]

TheFirst Emperor of Qinstandardized the written language of China after unifying the country in 221 BC.[11]Classical Chinesewould remain the standard written language for the next 2000 years. Standardization of the spoken language received less political attention, andMandarindeveloped on anad hocbasis from the dialects of the various imperial capitals until being officially standardized in the early twentieth century.

Statistics

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The following languages are official (de jureorde facto) in three or more sovereign states. In some cases, a language may be defined as different languages in different countries. Examples are Hindi and Urdu, Malay and Indonesian, Serbian and Croatian, Persian and Tajik.

Some countries—likeAustralia,theUnited Kingdomand theUnited States—have no official language recognized as such at a national level. On the other extreme,Boliviaofficially recognizes 37 languages, the most of any country in the world. Second to Bolivia isIndiawith22 official languages.South Africais the country with the third lead with 12 official languages that all have equal status;[12][13]Bolivia gives primacy toSpanish,and India gives primacy toEnglishandHindi(only for some extent).[14]

Political alternatives

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The selection of an official language (or the lack thereof) is often contentious.[15]An alternative to having a single official language is "officialmultilingualism",where a government recognizes multiple official languages. Under this system, all government services are available in all official languages. Eachcitizenmay choose their preferred language when conducting business. Most countries are multilingual[16]and many are officially multilingual.Taiwan,Canada,thePhilippines,Belgium,Switzerland,and theEuropean Unionare examples of official multilingualism. This has been described as controversial and, in some other areas where it has been proposed, the idea has been rejected.[15]It has also been described as necessary for the recognition of different groups[17]or as an advantage for the country in presenting itself to outsiders.[18]

Official languages by country and territory

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Afghanistan

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FollowingChapter 1, Article 16of theConstitution of Afghanistan,theAfghan governmentgives equal status toPashtoandDarias official languages.

Australia

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English is thede factonational language of Australia, while Australia has node jureofficial language,[19]English is thefirst languageofthe majority of the population,and has been entrenched as thede factonational languagesinceEuropean settlement,being the only language spoken in the home for 72% ofAustralians.[20]

Azerbaijan

[edit]

Article 21 ofAzerbaijani Constitutiondesignates the official language of theRepublic of AzerbaijanasAzerbaijani Language.[21]

Bangladesh

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After the independence of Bangladesh in 1971, the then Head of the StateSheikh Mujibur Rahmanadopted the policy of 'one state one language'.[22]Thede factonational language,Bengali,is the sole official language ofBangladeshaccording to the third article of theConstitution of Bangladesh.[23]The government of Bangladesh introduced theBengali Language Implementation Act, 1987to ensure the mandatory use of Bengali in all government affairs.[24]

Belarus

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BelarusianandRussianhave official status in theRepublic of Belarus.

Belgium

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Belgiumhas three official languages:Dutch,FrenchandGerman.[25]

Bulgaria

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Bulgarianis the sole official language inBulgaria.[26]

Canada

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Following the Constitution Act, 1982 the (federal)Government of Canadagives equal status to English and French as official languages. The Province ofNew Brunswickis also officially bilingual, as isYukon.Nunavuthas four official languages: English, French,InuktitutandInuinnaqtun.TheNorthwest Territorieshas eleven official languages:Chipewyan/Dené,Cree,English,French,Gwich’in,Inuinnaqtun,Inuktitut,Inuvialuktun,North Slavey,South Slavey,andTłı̨chǫ(Dogrib). All provinces, however, offer some necessary services in both English and French.

The Province of Quebec with theOfficial Language Act (Quebec)andCharter of the French Languagedefines French, the language of the majority of the population, as the official language of the provincial government.

Ethiopia

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Ethiopia has five official languages (Amharic alone until 2020)Amharic,Oromo,Somali,Tigrinya,andAfar,but Amharic is the de facto sole official language which is used by the government for issuing driving licenses, business licenses, passport, and foreign diplomacy with the addition that Court documents are in Amharic, and the constitution is written in Amharic, making Amharic a higher official language in the country.[27]

Finland

[edit]

According to the Finnish constitution,FinnishandSwedishare thenational languagesof the republic, giving their speakers the right to communicate with, and receive official documents from, government authorities in either of the two languages in any part of the country – making those languages de factoofficial.[28]Speakers ofSámi languageshave those same rights in their native area (Sámi homeland).[29]

Germany

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Germanis the official language ofGermany.However, itsminority languagesincludeSorbian(Upper SorbianandLower Sorbian),Romani,DanishandNorth Frisian,which are officially recognised. Migrant languages like Turkish, Russian and Spanish are widespread but are not officially recognised languages.

Hong Kong

[edit]

According to theBasic Law of Hong Kongand theOfficial Languages Ordinance,bothChineseandEnglishare the official languages ofHong Kongwith equal status. The variety of Chinese is not stipulated; however,Cantonese,being the language most commonly used by the majority ofHongkongers,forms thede factostandard. Similarly,Traditional Chinese charactersare most commonly used in Hong Kong and form thede factostandard for written Chinese, however, there is an increasing presence ofSimplified Chinese charactersparticularly in areas related to tourism.[30]In government use, documents written using TraditionalChinesecharacters are authoritative over ones written with Simplified Chinese characters.[31]

India

[edit]
Trilingual signboard inOdia,EnglishandHindiinOdishastate of India

TheConstitution of India(part 17) designates the official language of the Government of India asHindiwritten in the Devanagari script.[32]Although the original intentions of the constitution were to phase out English as an official language, provisions were provided so that "Parliament may by law provide for the use... of... the English language".

TheEighth Schedule of the Indian Constitutionlists has 22 languages,[33]which have been referred to as scheduled languages and given recognition, status and official encouragement. In addition, the Government of India has awarded the distinction of classical language toTamil,Sanskrit,Kannada,Telugu,MalayalamandOdia.

Indonesia

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The official language of Indonesia is theIndonesian language(Bahasa Indonesia). Bahasa Indonesia is regulated in Chapter XV, 1945 Constitution of Indonesia.

Israel

[edit]

On 19 July 2018, theKnessetpassed abasic lawunder the titleIsrael as the Nation-State of the Jewish People,which definesHebrewas "the State's language" and Arabic as a language with "a special status in the State" (article 4). The law further says that it should not be interpreted as compromising the status of theArabiclanguage in practice before the enactment of the basic law, namely, it preserves the status quo and changes the status of Hebrew and Arabic only nominally.[34]

Before the enactment of the aforementioned basic law, the status of official language in Israel was determined by the 82nd paragraph of the "PalestineOrder in Council"issued on14 August 1922,for theBritish Mandate of Palestine,as amended in 1939:[35]

"All Ordinances, official notices and official forms of the Government and all official notices of local authorities and municipalities in areas to be prescribed by order of the High Commissioner, shall be published in English, Arabic, and Hebrew."

This law, like most other laws of the British Mandate, was adopted in the State of Israel, subject to certain amendments published by the provisional legislative branch on 19 May 1948. The amendment states that:

"Any provision in the law requiring the use of the English language is repealed."[36]

In mostpublic schools,the main teaching language is Hebrew, English is taught as a second language, and most students learn a third language, usually Arabic but not necessarily. Other public schools have Arabic as their main teaching language, and they teach Hebrew as a second language and English as a third one. There are also bilingual schools which aim to teach both Hebrew and Arabic equally.

Some languages other than Hebrew and Arabic, such as English, Russian,Amharic,YiddishandLadinoenjoy a somewhat special status but are not official languages. For instance, at least 5% of the broadcasting time of privately owned TV channels must be translated into Russian (a similar privilege is granted to Arabic), warnings must be translated to several languages, and signs are mostly trilingual (Hebrew, Arabic and English), and the government supports Yiddish and Ladino culture (alongside Hebrew culture and Arabic culture).

Latvia

[edit]
A formername signon "Lenin Street" in the two official languages at the time of the 1945–1991Sovietoccupation ofLatvia:Latvian(above) andRussian(below, inCyrillic Alpha bet)

The Official Language Law recognizesLatvianas the sole official language of Latvia, whileLatgalianis protected as "a historic variant of Latvian" andLivonianis recognized as "the language of the indigenous (autochthonous) population".[37]Latvia also provides national minority education programmes inRussian,Polish,Hebrew,Ukrainian,Estonian,Lithuanian,andBelarusian.[38]In 2012 there was aconstitutional referendumon elevatingRussianas a co-official language, but the proposal was rejected by nearly three-quarters of the voters.[39]

Malaysia

[edit]

The official language of Malaysia is theMalay language(Bahasa Melayu), also known as Bahasa Malaysia or just Bahasa for short. Bahasa Melayu is being protected under Article 152 of the Constitution of Malaysia.

Netherlands

[edit]

Dutchis the official language of theNetherlands(a constituent country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands). In the province ofFriesland,Frisianis the official second language. While Dutch is therefore the official language of theCaribbean Netherlands(the islandsBonaire,SabaandSint Eustatius), it is not any of the three islands' main spoken language:Papiamentois the most often spoken language on Bonaire, whileEnglishis on both Saba and Sint Eustatius. These languages can be used in official documents (but do not have the same status as Frisian).Low SaxonandLimburgish,languages acknowledged by theEuropean Charter,are spoken in specific regions of the Netherlands.[40]

New Zealand

[edit]

New Zealandhas three official languages. English is thede factoofficial language, accepted as such in all situations. TheMāori languageandNew Zealand Sign Languageboth have restrictedde jureofficial status under theMāori Language Act 1987and New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006.[41][42]

In 2018,New Zealand FirstMPClayton Mitchellintroduced a bill to parliament tostatutorilyrecognise English as an official language. As of May 2020, the bill had not progressed.[43][44][45]During the2023 New Zealand general election,New Zealand First leaderWinston Peterspromised to make English an official language of New Zealand.[46]

Nigeria

[edit]

The official language of Nigeria is English, which was chosen to facilitate the cultural and linguistic unity of the country.British colonial ruleended in 1960.

Norway

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Pakistan

[edit]

Urduand English both are official languages in Pakistan. Pakistan has more than 60 other languages.

Philippines

[edit]

Filipinoand English both are official languages of the Philippines.

Poland

[edit]

Polishis the official language ofPoland.

Russia

[edit]

Russianis the official language of theRussian Federationand in allfederal subjects,however many minority languages have official status in the areas where they are indigenous. One type of federal subject in Russia, republics,are allowed to adopt additional official languages alongside Russian in their constitutions. Republics are often based around particular native ethnic groups and are often areas where ethnicRussiansand native Russian-language speakers are a minority.

South Africa

[edit]

South Africahas twelve official languages[12]that are mostly indigenous. Due to limited funding, however, the government rarely produces documents in most languages. Accusations of mismanagement andcorruptionhave been leveled[47]against thePan South African Language Board,established to promote multilingualism, develop the 11 official languages, and protect language rights in the country.[14]In practice, government is conducted in English.

Switzerland

[edit]

The four national languages ofSwitzerlandareGerman,French,ItalianandRomansh.At the federal level German, French and Italian are official languages, the official languages of individual cantons depend on the languages spoken in them.

Taiwan

[edit]

Mandarinis the most common language used in government. AfterWorld War IIthe mainland Chinese-run government made Mandarin the official language, and it was used in the schools and government. Under the Development of National Languages Act, political participation can be conducted in any national language, which is defined as a "natural language used by an original people group of Taiwan",[48]which also includesFormosan languages,theTaiwanese variety of HokkienandHakka.According to Taiwan's Legislative Yuan, amendments were made to the Hakka Basic Act to makeHakkaan official language ofTaiwan.[49]

Timor-Leste

[edit]

According to the constitution of Timor-Leste,TetumandPortugueseare the official languages of the country, and every official document must be published in both languages;IndonesianandEnglishhold "working language" status in the country.[50]

Ukraine

[edit]

The official language ofUkraineisUkrainian.

United Kingdom

[edit]

The de facto official language of the United Kingdom isEnglish.[51]InWales,theWelsh language,spoken by approximately 20% of the population, hasde jureofficial status, alongside English.[52][53]

United States

[edit]
Map of United States Official Language Status By State
Map of US official language status by state before 2016. Blue: English declared the official language; light-blue: English declared a co-official language; gray: no official language specified.

English is thede factonational language of the United States. While there is no official language at the federal level, 32 of the 50U.S. states[54]and all five inhabitedU.S. territorieshave designated English as one, or the only, official language, while courts have found that residents in the 50 states do not have a right to government services in their preferred language.[55]Public debate in the last few decades has focused on whetherSpanishshould be recognized by the government, or whether all business should be done in English.[15]

Californiaallows people to take theirdriving testin the following 32 languages: Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Chinese, Croatian, English, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian,Japanese,Khmer, Korean, Laotian,Persian,Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Spanish, Tagalog/Filipino, Thai, Tongan, Turkish, and Vietnamese.[56]

New Yorkstate provides voter-registration forms in the following five languages:Bengali,Chinese,English,KoreanandSpanish.The same languages are also on ballot papers in certain parts of the state (namely,New York City).[57]

Opponents of an official language policy in the United States argue that it would hamper "the government's ability to reach out, communicate, and warn people in the event of a natural or man-made disaster such as a hurricane, pandemic, or...another terrorist attack".[55]Professor of politics Alan Patten argues that disengagement (officially ignoring the issue) works well in religious issues but that it is not possible with language issues because it must offer public services in some language. Even if it makes a conscious effort not to establish an official language, ade factoofficial language, or the "national language",will nevertheless emerge.[15][58]

Yugoslavia

[edit]

Sometimes an official language definition can be motivated more by national identity than by linguistic concerns. Prior to thebreakup in early 1990s,althoughSFR Yugoslaviahad no official language on the federal level, its six constituent republics including two autonomous provinces accounted for four official languages—Serbo-Croatian,Slovene,MacedonianandAlbanian.Serbo-Croatian served as thelingua francafor mutual understanding and was also the language ofthe military,as official in four republics and taught as asecond languagein the other two.

WhenCroatiadeclared independence in 1991, it defined its official language asCroatian,while the confederate union ofSerbia and Montenegrolikewise defined its official language asSerbianin 1992.Bosnia and Herzegovinadefined three official languages:Bosnian,Croatian, and Serbian. From the linguistic point of view, the different names refer to national varieties of the same language, which is known under the appellation of Serbo-Croatian.[59][60][61] The language used inMontenegrobecame standardized as theMontenegrin languageupon Montenegro's declaration of independence fromSerbia and Montenegroin 2006.

Zimbabwe

[edit]

Since the adoption of the2013 Constitution,Zimbabwe has 16official languages,namely[62][63]

See also

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References

[edit]
  1. ^"Official Language",Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language,Ed. Tom McArthur, Oxford University Press, 1998.
  2. ^Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior, 92 D.P.R. 596 (1965). Translation taken from the English text, 92 P.R.R. 580 (1965), p. 588-589. See also LOPEZ-BARALT NEGRON, "Pueblo v. Tribunal Superior: Español: Idioma del proceso judicial", 36 Revista Juridica de la Universidad de Puerto Rico. 396 (1967), and VIENTOS-GASTON, "Informe del Procurador General sobre el idioma", 36 Rev. Col. Ab. (P.R.) 843 (1975).
  3. ^"Legge 15 Dicembre 1999, n. 482" Norme in materia di tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche "pubblicata nella Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 297 del 20 dicembre 1999".Italian Parliament.Archivedfrom the original on 12 May 2015.Retrieved2 December2014.
  4. ^"FYI: English isn't the official language of the United States".20 May 2018.
  5. ^"Read about" Official or national languages "on Constitute".Retrieved2016-03-28.
  6. ^"L'aménagement linguistique dans le monde: page d'accueil".axl.cefan.ulaval.ca.Retrieved2016-03-28.
  7. ^endoglossicandexoglossiconOxfordDictionaries.
  8. ^Tomasz Kamusella. 2020. Global Language Politics: Eurasia versus the Rest (pp. 118–151).Journal of Nationalism, Memory & Language Politics.Vol 14, No 2.
  9. ^Shahbazi, Shapur (1994),"Darius I the Great",Encyclopedia Iranica,vol. 7, New York: Columbia University, pp. 41–50
  10. ^electricpulp."ARAMAIC – Encyclopaedia Iranica".iranicaonline.org.Retrieved14 April2018.
  11. ^Records of the Grand Historian, 6
  12. ^ab"Chapter 1, Article 6 of the South African Constitution".constitutionalcourt.org.za.Retrieved18 February2018.
  13. ^https:// parliament.gov.za/press-releases/na-approves-south-african-sign-language-12th-official-language#:~:text=The%20Committee%20noted%20that%20the,Board%20Act%2059%20of%201995.
  14. ^ab"Language in South Africa: An official mess".The Economist.July 5, 2013.RetrievedAugust 25,2013.
  15. ^abcdAlan Patten (October 2011)."Political Theory and Language Policy"(PDF).Political Theory.29(5): 691–715.doi:10.1177/0090591701029005005.S2CID143178621.RetrievedAugust 25,2013.
  16. ^Follen, Charles; Mehring, Frank (2007-01-01).Between Natives and Foreigners: Selected Writings of Karl/Charles Follen (1796-1840).Peter Lang.ISBN9780820497327.
  17. ^Laycock, David (2011-11-01).Representation and Democratic Theory.UBC Press.ISBN9780774841009.
  18. ^Martin-Jones, Marilyn; Blackledge, Adrian; Creese, Angela (2012-01-01).The Routledge Handbook of Multilingualism.Routledge.ISBN9780415496476.
  19. ^Ward, Rowena (2019)."'National' and 'Official' Languages Across the Independent Asia-Pacific ".Journal of Multidisciplinary International Studies.16(1/2): 83–4.doi:10.5130/pjmis.v16i1-2.6510.The use of English in Australia is one example of both a de facto national and official language: it is widely used and is the language of government and the courts, but has never been legally designated as the country's official language.
  20. ^"2021 Australia, Census All persons QuickStats | Australian Bureau of Statistics".
  21. ^The Constitution of the Republic of Azerbaijan
  22. ^Rahman, Mohammad Mosiur; Islam, Md Shaiful; Karim, Abdul; Chowdhury, Takad Ahmed; Rahman, Muhammad Mushfiqur; Seraj, Prodhan Mahbub Ibna; Singh, Manjet Kaur Mehar (December 2019)."English language teaching in Bangladesh today: Issues, outcomes and implications | Language Testing in Asia".Language Testing in Asia.9(1): 9.doi:10.1186/s40468-019-0085-8.
  23. ^"Article 3. The state language".The Constitution of the People's Republic of Bangladesh.Ministry of Law, The People's Republic of Bangladesh.Retrieved2019-05-15.{{cite book}}:|website=ignored (help)
  24. ^"Bangla Bhasha Procholon Ain, 1987"বাংলা ভাষা প্রচলন আইন, ১৯৮৭[Bengali Language Implementation Act, 1987].Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs.Government of Bangladesh.Retrieved2019-05-15.
  25. ^Belgium, a federal state: The communities
  26. ^Constitution of the Republic Bulgaria, article 3
  27. ^Shaban, Abdurahman."One to five: Ethiopia gets four new federal working languages".Africa News.
  28. ^The Constitution of Finland(PDF).Ministry of Justice.s 17.Retrieved7 June2024.
  29. ^Sámi Language Act(PDF).Ministry of Justice. s 2(1).Retrieved7 June2024.
  30. ^"War between Traditional and Simplified".anthony8988. 7 May 2014. Archived fromthe originalon 2016-01-05.
  31. ^"Disclaimer and Copyright Notice".Legislative Council.Retrieved25 May2019.
  32. ^"THE CONSTITUTION OF INDIA"(PDF).Legislative Department.Government of India. 2022.Retrieved11 November2023.343. Official language of the Union.—(1) The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script.
  33. ^Languages Included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constution [sic]Archived2016-06-04 at theWayback Machine
  34. ^Halbfinger, David M.; Kershner, Isabel (19 July 2018)."Israeli Law Declares the Country the 'Nation-State of the Jewish People'".The New York Times.Retrieved2018-07-24.
  35. ^The Palestine Gazette,No. 898 of 29 June 1939, Supplement 2, pp. 464–465.
  36. ^Law and Administration Ordinance No 1 of 5708—1948, clause 15(b). Official Gazette No. 1 of 5th Iyar, 5708; as per authorised translation inLaws of the State of Israel,Vol. I (1948) p. 10.
  37. ^"Official Language Law".likumi.lv.Retrieved9 January2018.
  38. ^"Minority education: statistics and trends".Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Latvia.5 June 2018.Retrieved9 January2018.
  39. ^Language situation in Latvia: 2010–2015(PDF).Latvian Language Agency. 2017. pp. 229–230.ISBN978-9984-829-47-0.
  40. ^"Welke erkende talen heeft Nederland?".Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties. 11 January 2016.
  41. ^New Zealand Sign Language Act 2006.New Zealand Legislation. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  42. ^NZ Sign Language to be third official language.Ruth Dyson. 2 April 2006. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
  43. ^"NZ First submits Bill for English to be recognised as official language".Newshub.15 February 2018.
  44. ^"NZ First Bill: English set to become official".Scoop.15 February 2018.
  45. ^"English an Official Language of New Zealand Bill - New Zealand Parliament".parliament.nz.Retrieved2020-05-28.
  46. ^McGuire, Casper (20 August 2023)."Winston Peters proposes to make English an official language".1 News.Retrieved20 August2023.
  47. ^Xaba, Vusi (2 September 2011)."Language board to be probed".SowetanLive.co.za.Retrieved28 February2018.
  48. ^"Quốc gia ngôn ngữ phát triển pháp".law.moj.gov.tw(in Chinese).Retrieved22 May2019.
  49. ^languagehat (January 4, 2018)."HAKKA NOW AN OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF TAIWAN".languagehat.
  50. ^Timor-Leste (2015).Constituição da República de Timor-Leste = Konstituisaun Repúblika Timor-Leste nian.Díli.ISBN978-989-611-449-7.OCLC951960238.{{cite book}}:CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  51. ^Mac Síthigh, Daithí (March 2018). "Official status of languages in the United Kingdom and Ireland".Common Law World Review.47(1): 77–102.doi:10.1177/1473779518773642.
  52. ^"Welsh speakers by local authority, gender and detailed age groups, 2011 Census".statswales.gov.wales. 11 December 2012. Archived fromthe originalon 16 June 2016.Retrieved22 May2016.
  53. ^"Welsh Language (Wales) Measure 2011".legislation.gov.uk.The National Archives.Retrieved30 May2016.
  54. ^[1]- US English: West Virginia Becomes 32nd State to Adopt English as Official Language
  55. ^abJames M. Inhofe;Cecilia Muñoz."Should English be declared America's national language?".The New York Times upfront.Scholastic. Archived fromthe originalon February 19, 2015.RetrievedAugust 25,2013.
  56. ^"Available Languages".California DMV.RetrievedNovember 26,2014.
  57. ^"New York State Voter Registration Form"(PDF).New York State Board of Elections.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on 2018-01-27.Retrieved2017-09-05.
  58. ^James Crawford."Language Freedom and Restriction: A Historical Approach to the Official Language Controversy".Effective Language Education Practices and Native Language Survival.pp. 9–22.RetrievedAugust 26,2013.
  59. ^Mørk, Henning (2002).Serbokroatisk grammatik: substantivets morfologi[Serbo-Croatian Grammar: Noun Morphology]. Arbejdspapirer; vol. 1 (in Danish). Århus: Slavisk Institut, Århus Universitet. p. unpaginated (Preface).OCLC471591123.
  60. ^Václav Blažek, "On the Internal Classification of Indo-European Languages: Survey"retrieved 20 Oct 2010,pp. 15–16.
  61. ^Kordić, Snježana(2007)."La langue croate, serbe, bosniaque et monténégrine"[Croatian, Serbian, Bosniakian, and Montenegrin](PDF).In Madelain, Anne (ed.).Au sud de l'Est(PDF).vol. 3 (in French). Paris: Non Lieu. pp. 71–78.ISBN978-2-35270-036-4.OCLC182916790.Archived(PDF)from the original on 1 June 2012.
  62. ^"What Languages Are Spoken In Zimbabwe?".WorldAtlas.2017-04-25.Retrieved2024-02-29.
  63. ^"newsday".

Further reading

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  • Writing Systems of the World: Alphabets, Syllabaries, Pictograms(1990),ISBN0-8048-1654-9— lists official languages of the countries of the world, among other information.
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