A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. Such people are termed linguistic minorities. The definition of a minority group can vary, depending on specific context, but generally refers to either a sociological sub-group that does not form either a majority or a plurality of the total population, or a group that, while not necessarily a numerical minority, is disadvantaged or otherwise has...

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. 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. Legislation (or statutory law) is law which has been promulgated (or enacted) by a legislature or other governing body. ... The Constitution of Canada is the supreme law in Canada; the countrys constitution is an amalgam of codified acts and uncodified traditions and conventions. ... Section Twenty-three of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is the section of the Charter that constitutionally guarantees minority language educational rights to French-speaking communities outside Quebec, and, to a lesser extent, English-speaking minorities in Quebec. ... The Charter, signed by Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1981. ...

Some minority languages are simultaneously also official languages, including the Irish language (Gaelic) in the Republic of Ireland. Likewise, some national languages are often considered minority languages, insofar as they are the national language of a stateless nation. An official language is a language that is given a special legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ... This article is about the modern Goidelic language. ... A national language is a language (or language variant, i. ... 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 a nation-state for that nation. ...

Definition in international law

For the purposes of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages: // 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 to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. ...

"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. 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. 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. Note: This page contains phonetic information presented in the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) using Unicode. ... Scottish Gaelic (Gàidhlig) is a member of the Goidelic branch of Celtic languages. ... Welsh redirects here, and this article describes the Welsh language. ... For the Cornish-English dialect, see West Country dialects. ... Breton can refer to: Brittany, as an adjective for this historical province of France The Breton language, a Celtic language spoken by some of the inhabitants of Brittany and Loire-Atlantique A Breton person, part of a Brythonic ethnic group inhabiting the region of Brittany André Breton (1896-1966), French...

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. It has been suggested that ASL Grammar be merged into this article or section. ...

Auxiliary languages have also struggled for recognition, perhaps partly because they are used primarily as second languages and have few native speakers. To date, the auxiliary language Interlingua has been most successful in obtaining official recognition. 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.^[2] An international auxiliary language (sometimes abbreviated as IAL or auxlang) is a language used (or to be used in the future) for communication between people from different nations who do not share a common native language. ... This article is about the auxiliary language created by the International Auxiliary Language Association. ... The Union Mundial Pro Interlingua (World Interlingua Union), or UMI, is a global organization that promotes Interlingua. ... Umi is a town in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. ... UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) is a specialized agency of the United Nations established in 1945. ... “ISO” redirects here. ...

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

In Quebec, an allophone is someone whose first language or language of use is neither English nor French. ... A regional language is a language spoken in a part of a country, be it may be a small area, a federal state or province, or a wider area. ... // 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 to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. ... German-speaking minorities live in many countries and on all six inhabited continents: the countries of the former Soviet Union, Poland, Romania, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Belgium, Italy, the United States, Latin America, Namibia, Israel, and Australia. ... Many countries have a language policy designed to favour or discourage the use of a particular language or set of languages. ... // Language revival is the revival, by governments, political authorities, or enthusiasts, to recover the spoken use of a language that is no longer spoken or is endangered. ... Two sign language Intepreters working as a team for a school. ... This is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. ... English-only movement, called also Official English movement by its supporters, refers to a political movement for the use only of English language in public occasions through the establishing of English as the explicitly only official language in the United States. ...

References

1. ^ Celtic languages. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2001-07
2. ^ Gopsill, F. P. (1990). International languages: A matter for Interlingua. Sheffield, England: British Interlingua Society. ISBN 0-9511695-6-4.