A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. A language is a dynamic set of visual auditory or tactile Symbols of Communication and the elements used to manipulate them In Biology a population is the collection of inter-breeding organisms of a particular Species; in Sociology Such people are termed linguistic minorities.

In Europe and in some other parts of the world, like in Canada, minority languages are often defined by legislation or constitutional documents and afforded some form of official support. Legislation (or " Statutory law " is law which has been promulgated (or " Enacted quot by a Legislature or other Governing A constitution is a system for government often Codified as a written document that establishes the rules and principles of an autonomous political entity The term, for example, appears in the Constitution of Canada in the heading above section 23 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees minority language educational rights. The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the country's Constitution is an amalgamation of codified acts and uncodified traditions Section Twenty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the section of the ''Charter'' that constitutionally guarantees Minority language The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (also known as The Charter of Rights and Freedoms or simply the Charter) is a Bill of rights entrenched in the

Some minority languages are simultaneously also official languages, including the Irish language (Gaelic) in the Republic of Ireland. An official language is a Language that is given a special legal status in a particular Country, State, or other territory Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Ireland ( Irish: Éire, ˈeːrʲə is a country in north-western Europe. Likewise, some national languages are often considered minority languages, insofar as they are the national language of a stateless nation. A national language is a Language (or language variant, ie Dialect) which has some connection - de facto or de jure - with A stateless nation is a political term used to imply that a group usually a minority Ethnic group, is a Nation, and is entitled to its own State, specifically

Contents 1 Definition in international law 2 Controversy 3 See also 4 References

Definition in international law

For the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages:

"regional or minority languages" means languages that are:

1. 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
2. different from the official language(s) of that State

Controversy

Minority languages are occasionally marginalised within nations for a number of reasons. The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe These include the small number of speakers, the decline in the number of speakers, and their occasional consideration as uncultured, primitive, or simple dialects when compared to the dominant language. They are also occasionally viewed as a threat, for example the recent resurgence of Celtic languages (Irish, Manx, Scottish Gaelic, Welsh, Cornish and Breton)^[1] are viewed by some to be support for separatism, thus as a threat to the political establishment. Irish (ga ''Gaeilge'' is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish. Scottish Gaelic ( Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. Welsh ( cy Cymraeg or cy y Gymraeg, kəmˈrɑːɨɡ and {{IPA|[ə ɡəmˈrɑːɨɡ]}}, is a member of the Brythonic branch of Celtic For the Cornish-English dialect see West Country dialects and List of Cornish dialect words. Immigrant minority languages are often also seen as a threat and as indicative of the non-integration of these communities. Both of these perceived threats are based on the notion of the exclusion of the majority language speakers. Often this is added to by political systems by not providing support (such as education and policing) in these languages.

Signed languages are often not recognized as true natural languages even though they are supported by extensive research. In the United States, for example, American Sign Language is the most used minority language yet almost the only minority language which lacks official government recognition. American Sign Language (or ASL Ameslan is the dominant Sign language of the Deaf community in the United States, in the English-speaking parts

Auxiliary languages have also struggled for recognition, perhaps partly because they are used primarily as second languages and have few native speakers. An international auxiliary language (sometimes abbreviated as IAL or auxlang) or interlanguage is a Language meant for communication between people from To date, the auxiliary language Interlingua has been most successful in obtaining official recognition. Interlingua is an International auxiliary language (IAL developed between 1937 and 1951 by the International Auxiliary Language Association (IALA For example, the Interlingua organization Union Mundial pro Interlingua (UMI) has consultative status with UNESCO and has been influential in the work of the International Organization for Standardization. The Union Mundial Pro Interlingua (World Interlingua Union or UMI, is a global organization that promotes Interlingua, an International auxiliary Umi may refer to Umi, "sea" in Japanese language Umi Fukuoka, a town in Japan 'Umi-a-Liloa United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization ( UNESCO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established on November 16 ^[2]

See also

• Allophone (Quebec)
• Regional language
• European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages
• German as a minority language
• Language policy
• Language revival
• Sign Language
• Indigenous language
• English-only movement

References

1. ^ Celtic languages. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07
2. ^ Gopsill, F. In Quebec, an allophone is a resident usually an immigrant whose Mother tongue or Home language is neither English nor French 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 The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages ( ECRML) is a European Treaty (CETS 148 adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe German -speaking minorities ( Ethnic Germans) live in many countries and on all six inhabited Continents the countries of the former Soviet Union Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular Language or set of languages Language revitalization is the attempt by interested parties including individuals cultural or community groups governments or political authorities to recover the spoken use of a A sign language (also signed language) is a Language which instead of acoustically conveyed Sound patterns uses visually transmitted sign patterns An indigenous language or autochthonous language is a Language that is native to a region and spoken by Indigenous peoples but has been reduced English-only movement, called also Official English movement by its supporters refers to a Political movement for the use only of the English language P. (1990). International languages: A matter for Interlingua. Sheffield, England: British Interlingua Society. ISBN 0-9511695-6-4.

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