Linguistic rights manifest as legislation (the passing of a law), subsequently becoming a statute to be enforced. Language legislation delimiting official usage can by grouped into official, institutionalizing, standardizing, and liberal language legislation, based on its function: Official legislation makes languages official in the domains of legislation, justice, public administration, and education, [commonly according to territoriality and personality]. Various combinations of both principles are also used.... Institutionalizing legislation covers the unofficial domains of labour, communications, culture, commerce, and business.... In relation to legislation, a causal effect of linguistic rights is
language policy. The field of
language planning falls under language policy. There are three types of language planning: status planning (uses of language), acquisition planning (users of language), and corpus planning (language itself). It states that states should provide individuals belonging to minority groups with sufficient opportunities for education in their mother tongue, or instruction with their mother tongue as the medium of instruction. However, this Declaration is non-binding. A third document adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1989, which makes provisions for linguistic rights is the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In this convention, Articles 29 and 30 declare respect for the child's own cultural identity, language and values, even when those are different from the country of residence, and the right for the child to use his or her own language, in spite of the child's minority or immigrant status.
Regional platform Africa Linguistic rights in Africa have only come into focus in recent years. In 1963, the
Organisation of African Unity (OAU) was formed to help defend the fundamental human rights of all Africans. It adopted in 1981 the
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, which aims to promote and protect fundamental human rights, including language rights, in Africa. In 2004, fifteen member states ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights Establishing the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. The Court is a regional, legal platform that monitors and promotes the AU states' compliance with the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights. It is currently pending a merger with the
Court of Justice of the African Union. In 2001 the President of the Republic of Mali, in conjunction with the OAU, set up the foundation for the
African Academy of Languages (ACALAN) to "work for the promotion and harmonisation of languages in Africa". Along with the inauguration of the Interim Governing Board of the ACALAN, the
African Union declared 2006 as the
Year of African Languages (YOAL). In 2002, the OAU was disbanded and replaced by the African Union (AU). The AU adopted the Constitutive Act previously drawn up by the OAU in 2000. In Article 25, it is stated that the working languages of the Union and its institutions are Arabic, English, French and Portuguese, and if possible, all African languages. The AU also recognizes the national languages of each of its member institutions as stated in their national constitutions. In 2003, the AU adopted a protocol amending the Act such that working languages shall be renamed as official languages, and would encompass Spanish, Kiswahili and "any other African language" in addition to the four aforementioned languages. However, this Amendment has yet to be put into force, and the AU continues to use only the four working languages for its publications.
Europe The
Council of Europe adopted the
European Convention on Human Rights in 1950, which makes some reference to linguistic rights. In Article 5.2, reasons for arrest and charges have to be communicated in a language understood by the person. Secondly, Article 6.3 grants an interpreter for free in a court, if the language used cannot be spoken or understood. The Council for Local and Regional Authorities, part of the Council of Europe, formulated the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1992. This Charter grants recognition, protection, and promotion to regional and/or minority languages in European states, though explicitly not immigrant languages, in domains of "education, judicial authorities, administrative and public services, media, cultural activities, and socio-economic life" in Article 6. Article 6 also aims to protect persons from discrimination based on language. Another document adopted by the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly in 1998 is the Recommendation 1383 on Linguistic Diversification. It encourages a wider variety of languages taught in Council of Europe member states in Article 5. It also recommends
language education to include languages of non-native groups in Article 8.
Language rights in different countries Australia Zuckermann et al. (2014) proposed the enactment of "
Native Tongue Title", an ex gratia compensation scheme for the loss of indigenous languages in Australia: "Although some Australian states have enacted ex gratia compensation schemes for the victims of the
Stolen Generations policies, the victims of
linguicide (language killing) are largely overlooked ... Existing grant schemes to support Aboriginal languages ... should be complemented with compensation schemes, which are based on a claim of
right. The proposed compensation scheme for the loss of Aboriginal languages should support the effort to reclaim and revive the lost languages. On October 11, 2017, the
New South Wales (NSW) parliament passed a legislation that recognises and revives indigenous languages for the first time in Australia's history. "The NSW Government will appoint independent panel of Aboriginal language experts" and "establish languages centres".
Austria Under the Austrian Constitutional Law (1867), Article 8(2) grants the right to maintenance and development of nationality and language to all ethnic minorities, equal rights to all languages used within the regions in domains of education, administration and public life, as well as the right to education in their own language for ethnic communities, without the necessity of acquiring a second language used in the province.
Canada The
Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982) grants positive linguistic rights, by guaranteeing state responsibility to the French and English language communities. Section 23 declares three types of rights for Canadian citizens speaking French or English as their mother tongue and are minorities in a region. The first accords right of access to instruction in the medium of the mother tongue. The second assures educational facilities for minority languages. The third endows French and English language minorities the right to maintain and develop their own educational facilities. This control can take the form of "exclusive decision-making authority over the expenditure of funds, the appointment and direction of the administration, instructional programs, the recruitment of teachers and personnel, and the making of agreements for education and services". All of these rights apply to primary and secondary education, sustained on public funds, and depend on the numbers and circumstances.
China Standard Chinese is
promoted, which has been seen as damaging to the
varieties of Chinese by some of the speakers of those languages.
Efforts to protect the varieties of Chinese have been made.
Croatia Croatian language is stated to be the official language of Croatia in Article 3 of the
Croatian constitution. The same Article of Constitution stipulates that in some of local units, with the Croatian language and
Latin script, in official use may be introduced another language or another writing script under the conditions prescribed by law. The only example of the use of minority language at the regional level currently is
Istria County where official languages are Croatian and
Italian. In eastern Croatia, in
Joint Council of Municipalities, at local (municipal) level is introduced
Serbian and its
Cyrillic script as a co-official language. Each municipality, where a certain minority has more than one third of the population, can if it wants to introduce a minority language in official use. The only currently excluded minority language in the country is
Romani, a non-territorial language, although the reservation is said to be in a process of withdrawal.
Finland Finland has one of the most overt linguistic rights frameworks. In addition, the Sámi, as an indigenous group, the Roma, and other language communities have the right to maintain and develop their own language. The deaf community is also granted the right to sign language and interpretation or translation. The linguistic rights of the Sámi, the deaf community, and immigrants is further described in separate acts for each group. Regulations regarding the rights of linguistic minorities in Finland, insist on the forming of a district for the first 9 years of comprehensive school education in each language, in municipalities with both Finnish- and Swedish-speaking children, as long as there is a minimum of 13 students from the language community of that mother tongue.
India The constitution of India was first drafted on January 26, 1950. It is estimated that there are about 1500 languages in India. Article 343–345 declared that the official languages of India for communication with centre will be Hindi and English. There are 22 official languages identified by constitution. Article 345 states that "the Legislature of a state may by law adopt any one or more of the languages in use in the State or Hindi as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that State: Provided that, until the Legislature of the State otherwise provides by law, the English language shall continue to be used for those official purposes within the State for which it was being used immediately before the commencement of this Constitution".
Ireland Language rights in
Ireland are recognised in the
Constitution of Ireland and in the Official Languages Act.
Irish is the national and first official language according to the Constitution (with English being a second official language). The Constitution permits the public to conduct its business – and every part of its business – with the state solely through Irish. On 14 July 2003, the
President of Ireland signed the
Official Languages Act 2003 into law and the provisions of the Act were gradually brought into force over a three-year period. The Act sets out the duties of public bodies regarding the provision of services in Irish and the rights of the public to avail of those services. The use of Irish on the country's traffic signs is the most visible illustration of the state's policy regarding the official languages. It is a statutory requirement that placenames on signs be in both Irish and English except in the
Gaeltacht, where signs are in Irish only.
Mexico Language rights were recognized in Mexico in 2003 with the
General Law of Linguistic Rights for the Indigenous Peoples which established a framework for the conservation, nurturing and development of indigenous languages. It recognizes the countries Many indigenous languages as coofficial National languages, and obligates government to offer all public services in indigenous languages. As of 2014 the goal of offering most public services in indigenous languages has not been met.
Pakistan Pakistan uses English (
Pakistani English) and
Urdu as official languages. Although Urdu serves as the national language and lingua franca and is understood by most of the population, it is natively spoken by only 8% of the population. English is not natively used as a first language, but, for official purposes, about 49% of the population is able to communicate in some form of English. However, major regional languages like
Punjabi (spoken by the majority of the population),
Sindhi,
Pashto,
Saraiki,
Hindko,
Balochi,
Brahui and
Shina have no official status at the federal level.
Philippines Article XIV, Sections 6–9 of the 1987 Philippine constitution mandate the following: :*SECTION 6. The national language of the Philippines is Filipino. As it evolves, it shall be further developed and enriched on the basis of existing Philippine and other languages. ::Subject to provisions of law and as the Congress may deem appropriate, the Government shall take steps to initiate and sustain the use of Filipino as a medium of official communication and as language of instruction in the educational system. :*SECTION 7. For purposes of communication and instruction, the official languages of the Philippines are Filipino and, until otherwise provided by law, English. ::The regional languages are the auxiliary official languages in the regions and shall serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. ::Spanish and Arabic shall be promoted on a voluntary and optional basis. :*SECTION 8. This Constitution shall be promulgated in Filipino and English and shall be translated into major regional languages, Arabic, and Spanish. :*SECTION 9. The Congress shall establish a national language commission composed of representatives of various regions and disciplines which shall undertake, coordinate, and promote researches for the development, propagation, and preservation of Filipino and other languages.
Spain The Spanish language is the stated to be the official language of Spain in Article 3 of the Spanish constitution, being the learning of this language compulsory by this same article. However, the constitution makes provisions for other languages of Spain to be official in their respective communities. An example would be the use of the Basque language in the
Basque Autonomous Community (BAC).
Sweden In ratifying the
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, Sweden declared five national minority languages:
Saami,
Finnish,
Meänkieli,
Romani, and
Yiddish. Romani and Yiddish are non-territorial minority languages in Sweden and thus their speakers were granted more limited rights than speakers of the other three. After a decade of political debate, Sweden declared Swedish the main language of Sweden with its 2009 Language Act.
United States Language rights in the
United States are usually derived from the
Fourteenth Amendment, with its Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses, because they forbid racial and ethnic discrimination, allowing language minorities to use this Amendment to claim their language rights. One example of use of the Due Process Clauses is the
Meyer v. Nebraska case which held that a 1919 Nebraska law restricting foreign-language education violated the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Two other cases of major importance to linguistic rights were the
Yu Cong Eng v. Trinidad case, which overturned a language-restrictive legislation in the
Philippines, declaring that piece of legislation to be "violative of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses of the Philippine Autonomy Act of Congress", In 1978, a law was passed allowing for Basque to be used in administration side by side with Spanish in the Basque autonomous communities. However, following the death of Franco, many Basque nationalists demanded that the Basque language be recognized.
Nepal The
Newars of
Nepal have been struggling to save their
Nepal Bhasa language, culture and identity since the 1920s. Nepal Bhasa was suppressed during the
Rana (1846–1951) and
Panchayat (1960–1990) regimes leading to language decline. The Ranas forbade writing in Nepal Bhasa and authors were jailed or exiled. Beginning in 1965, the Panchayat system eased out regional languages from the radio and educational institutions, and protestors were put in prison. After the reinstatement of democracy in 1990, restrictions on publishing were relaxed; but attempts to gain usage in local state entities side by side with
Nepali failed. On 1 June 1999, the Supreme Court forbade
Kathmandu Metropolitan City from giving official recognition to Nepal Bhasa, and
Rajbiraj Municipality and
Dhanusa District Development Committee from recognizing
Maithili. The Interim Constitution of Nepal 2007 recognizes all the languages spoken as mother tongues in Nepal as the national languages of Nepal. It says that Nepali in
Devanagari script shall be the language of official business, however, the use of mother tongues in local bodies or offices shall not be considered a barrier. The use of national languages in local government bodies has not happened in practice, and discouragement in their use and discrimination in allocation of resources persist. Some analysts have stated that one of the chief causes of the Maoist insurgency, or the
Nepalese Civil War (1996–2006), was the denial of language rights and marginalization of ethnic groups.
Sri Lanka The start of the conflict regarding languages in
Sri Lanka goes as far back as the rule of the British. During the colonial period, English had a special and powerful position in Sri Lanka. The British ruled in Sri Lanka from the late eighteenth century to 1948. English was the official language of administration then. Just before the departure of the British, a "swabhasha" (your own language) movement was launched in a bid to phase out English slowly, replacing it with
Sinhala or
Tamil. However, shortly after the departure of the British the campaign, for various political reasons, evolved from advocating Sinhala and Tamil replacing English to just Sinhala replacing English. In 1956, the first election after independence, the opposition won and the official language was declared to be Sinhala. The Tamil people were unhappy, feeling that they were greatly disadvantaged. Because Sinhala was now the official language, it made it easier for the people whose mother tongue was Sinhala to enter into government sector and also provided them with an unfair advantage in the education system. Tamils who also did not understand Sinhala felt greatly inconvenienced as they had to depend on others to translate official documents for them. Both the Tamil and Sinhala-speaking people felt that language was crucial to their identity. The Sinhala people associated the language with their rich heritage. They were also afraid that, given that there were only 9 million speakers of the language at that time, if Sinhala was not the only official language it would eventually be slowly lost.
Quebec, Canada In
Quebec, the Charter of the French Language (Bill 101) declares French as the province’s official language, impacting government, commerce, and education. It aims to promote French while protecting indigenous languages. However, it has sparked controversy, particularly among
anglophones and businesses, over restrictions on English usage, leading to amendments and legal challenges since its introduction in 1977. The most recent modification is Bill 96 (2022), which strengthens the role of French in various sectors. ==See also==