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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. It is often mistaken for a dialect. Political federalism is a political philosophy in which a group of members are bound together (Latin: foedus, covenant) with a governing representative head. ...
A state is a political association with effective dominion over a geographic area. ...
A province is a territorial unit, almost always a country subdivision. ...
A dialect (from the Greek word διάλεκτος, dialektos) is a variety of a language characteristic of a particular group of the languages speakers. ...
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:
- 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. An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ...
Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of...
Wu (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ...
Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江è‹; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ...
Zhejiang (also spelled Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Cantonese is a major dialect group or language of the Chinese language, a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ...
Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Min (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; POJ: Bân hong-giân; BUC: Mìng huÅng-ngiòng) is a general term for a group of dialects of the Chinese language spoken in the southeastern Chinese province of Fujian as well as by migrants from this province in Guangdong (around Chaozhou-Swatou...
(Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Fu-chien; Postal map spelling: Fukien, Foukien; local transliteration Hokkien from Min Nan Hok-kià n) is one of the provinces on the southeast coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Location of Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is a subregion of Asia. ...
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: An official language is a language that is given a unique legal status in the countries, states, and other territories. ...
- Walloon, a regional language of France and Belgium, belongs to the same family of Oïl languages as French.
- Limburgs, a regional language in Germany, The Netherlands and Belgium has over 2,5 million speakers and is closely related to Luxembourgisch, Rhinelandic and Ripuaric.
- Scots, a regional language of Scotland and Ireland, belongs to the same family of West Germanic languages as English.
- Frisian, a regional language of The Netherlands and Germany, belongs to the same language family as Dutch and German
- 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 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.
- Aranese in Spain.
In other cases, a regional language may be very different from the state's main language or official language. For example: Walloon (Walon) is a regional Romance language spoken as a second language by some in Wallonia (Belgium). ...
The langue doïl language family in linguistics comprises Romance languages originating in territories now occupied by northern France, part of Belgium and the Channel Islands. ...
Limburgish, or Limburgian or Limburgic (Dutch: Limburgs, German: Limburgisch, French: Limbourgeois) is a group of Franconian varieties, spoken in the Limburg and Selfkant regions, near the common Dutch/Flemish(Belgium)/German border. ...
Motto: Je Maintiendrai (Dutch: Ik zal handhaven, English: I Shall Uphold) Anthem: Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Capital Amsterdam1 Largest city Amsterdam Official language(s) Dutch2 Government Parliamentary democracy Constitutional monarchy - Queen Beatrix - Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende Independence Eighty Years War - Declared July 26, 1581 - Recognised January 30, 1648 (by Spain...
Rhinelandic is a term for linguistic varieties in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands, including the Limburgish language. ...
Scots refers to the Anglic varieties spoken in parts of Scotland. ...
Motto (Latin) No one provokes me with impunity Cha togar mfhearg gun dioladh (Scottish Gaelic)1 Wha daur meddle wi me?(Scots)1 Anthem (Multiple unofficial anthems) Scotlands location in Europe Capital Edinburgh Largest city Glasgow Official languages English, Gaelic, Scots Government Constitutional monarchy - Queen Queen Elizabeth II...
The Germanic languages in Europe are divided into North (blue) and West Germanic (green and orange) Languages Low Saxon-Low Franconian (Dutch) High German (standard German, Schwyzerdütsch) Insular Anglo-Frisian (English, Scots) Continental Anglo-Frisian (Frisian) East North Germanic (Danish, Bokmål Norwegian, Swedish) West North Germanic (Nynorsk Norwegian...
The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...
Frisian is a Germanic group of closely related languages, spoken by about half a million members of Frisian ethnic groups living on the southern fringes of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. ...
Motto: Je Maintiendrai (Dutch: Ik zal handhaven, English: I Shall Uphold) Anthem: Wilhelmus van Nassouwe Capital Amsterdam1 Largest city Amsterdam Official language(s) Dutch2 Government Parliamentary democracy Constitutional monarchy - Queen Beatrix - Prime minister Jan Peter Balkenende Independence Eighty Years War - Declared July 26, 1581 - Recognised January 30, 1648 (by Spain...
The Vyronian language (võro kiil) is a language belonging to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric languages. ...
Approximate geographical distribution of areas where indigenous Finno-Ugric languages are spoken. ...
Chinese (written) language (pinyin: zhōngwén) written in Chinese characters The Chinese language (汉语/漢語, 华语/華語, or 中文; Pinyin: Hànyǔ, Huáyǔ, or Zhōngwén) is a member of the Sino-Tibetan family of languages. ...
Standard Mandarin – also known as Standard Chinese or Standard spoken Chinese – is the official Chinese spoken language used by the Peoples Republic of China, the Republic of China (Taiwan), and Singapore. ...
Various styles of Chinese calligraphy. ...
Mandarin (Traditional Chinese: ; Simplified Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally speech of officials), or Beifanghua (Simplified Chinese: ; Traditional Chinese: ; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Northern Dialect(s)), is a category of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern and south-western China. ...
Wu (Chinese: ; pinyin: ; Chinese: ; pinyin: ) is one of the major divisions of the Chinese language. ...
Jiangsu (Simplified Chinese: 江è‹; Traditional Chinese: 江蘇; Hanyu Pinyin: ; Wade-Giles: Chiang-su; Postal System Pinyin: Kiangsu) is a province of the Peoples Republic of China, located along the east coast of the country. ...
Zhejiang (also spelled Chehkiang or Chekiang) is an eastern coastal province of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ...
Guangdong, often spelt as Kwangtung, is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
Hakka (Simplified Chinese: 客家è¯, Traditional Chinese: 客家話, Pronunciation in Hakka: Hak-ka-fa/-va, Pinyin: KèjiÄhuà ) is a spoken variation of the Chinese language spoken predominantly in southern China by the Hakka ethnic group and descendants in diaspora throughout East and Southeast Asia and around the world. ...
Aranese (Aranès or Aranais) is a dialect of Gascon (which is part of the Occitan language group of the Romance languages), spoken in Spain, where it is an official language. ...
Basque (native name: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. ...
The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ...
The Romance languages, a major branch of the Indo-European language family, comprise all languages that descended from Latin, the language of the Roman Empire. ...
This article or section should be merged with List of Sorbian languages The Sorbian languages are members of the West Slavic branch of languages spoken in eastern Germany. ...
Countries where a West Slavic language is the national language Countries where an East Slavic language is the national language Countries where a South Slavic language is the national language The Slavic languages (also called Slavonic languages), a group of closely related languages of the Slavic peoples and a subgroup...
The Indo-European languages comprise a family of several hundred related languages and dialects [1], including most of the major languages of Europe, as well as many spoken in the Indian subcontinent (South Asia), the Iranian plateau (Southwest Asia), and Central Asia. ...
This article does not cite its references or sources. ...
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: - Catalan, the official language of Andorra, is a regional language in Spain, France and Italy.
- German, the official language of Austria, Belgium, Germany, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg and Switzerland, is a regional language of Italy 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 Macao (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.
Catalan IPA: (català IPA: or []) is a Romance language, the national language of Andorra, and a co-official language in the Spanish autonomous communities of Balearic Islands, Catalonia and Valencia (in the latter with the name of Valencian), and in the city of LAlguer in the Italian island of...
Approximate geographical distribution of areas where indigenous Finno-Ugric languages are spoken. ...
This article is on all of the Yue dialects. ...
A Special administrative region (SAR) is an administrative division of the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). ...
Guangdong (Simplified Chinese: 广东; Traditional Chinese: 廣東; pinyin: Guǎngdōng; Wade-Giles: Kuang-tung; Kwangtung in older transliteration; Cantonese: gwong2 dung1), is a province on the south coast of the Peoples Republic of China. ...
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