FACTOID # 60: Japan's water has a very high dissolved oxygen concentration - but not enough to prevent drowning in the bath.
 
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Encyclopedia > State language

An official language is a language that is given a privileged legal status in a state, or other legally-defined territory. A state is an organized political community, occupying a territory, and possessing internal and external sovereignty, that enforces a monopoly on the use of force. ... A legal entity is a legal construct through which the law allows a group of natural persons to act as if it were an individual for certain purposes. ...


It is primarily the language of the constitution, hence states with no codified constitution have no official language[citation needed]. Most typically, the official language will be in line with the language used by the principal nation or ethnic group within the state. The law in many states requires that government documents be produced in other languages as well. In law, codification is the process of collecting and restating the law of a jurisdiction in certain areas, usually by subject. ... One of the most influential doctrines in history is that all humans are divided into groups called nations. ...


Officially recognized minority languages are often mistaken for official languages. However, a language officially recognized by a state, taught in schools, and used in official communication is not necessarily an official language. For example, Ladin and Ambreian in Italy and Mirandese in Portugal are only officially-recognized minority languages, not official languages in the strict sense. A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a country. ... Ladin (Ladino in Italian, Ladin in Ladin, Ladinisch in German) is a Rhaetian language spoken in the Dolomite mountains in Italy, between the regions of Trentino-Alto Adige and Veneto. ... The Mirandese language (Lhéngua Mirandesa in Mirandese; Língua Mirandesa or Mirandês in Portuguese) is spoken in northeastern Portugal. ...


Official languages are sometimes not the same as the medium of instruction and so, the two are not interchangeable. Medium of instruction is the language that is used in teaching. ...


Approximately half of the world's states have official languages. Some have only one official language, such as Albania, France, or Lithuania, despite the fact that in all these countries there are other indigenous languages spoken as well. Some have more than one official language, such as Afghanistan, Belarus, Belgium, Bolivia, Canada, Eritrea, Finland, India, Israel, Pakistan, Paraguay, South Africa, and Switzerland. This is a language that is native to a region and spoken by indigenous peoples. ...


In some states, such as Italy, Palau, Philippines, Russia and Spain, there is an official language for the state, but minority languages are used in some important regions. Some states, such as Sweden, Tuvalu, the United Kingdom, and the United States have no official language, although in most such cases there is a single de facto main language, as well as a range of government regulations and practices on which languages are expected to be used in various circumstances. De facto is a Latin expression that means in fact or in practice. It is commonly used as opposed to de jure (meaning by law) when referring to matters of law or governance or technique (such as standards), that are found in the common experience as created or developed without...


The official languages of some former colonies, typically French or English, are neither the national languages nor the most widely spoken language. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...


In contrast, Irish is the national language of the Republic of Ireland and its first official language, although it is spoken by less than a third of its people. English, which is spoken by nearly everyone, is described as the 'second official' language by Article 8 of the Constitution of Ireland. Irish is an official (treaty) language of the European Union and will become a full working language on 1 January 2007. The Constitution of Ireland is the founding legal document of the state known today as the Republic of Ireland. ... January 1 is the first day of the calendar year in both the Julian and Gregorian calendars. ... 2007 (MMVII) will be a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar. ...


In some states, the issue of which language is to be used and in which context is a major political issue; see List of countries where language is a political issue. This is a list of countries where language is a political issue. ...


See also


  Results from FactBites:
 
State Language Law (2653 words)
(1) In the Republic of Latvia, the state language shall be the Latvian language.
The use of the state language in education is prescribed by the laws regulating education.
In cases when a foreign language is used along with the state language, the text in the state language shall be placed in the foreground and shall not be smaller in size or less complete in content than the text in the foreign language.
Latvian language - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia (1607 words)
Latvian (latviešu valoda), sometimes referred to as Lettish, is the official state language of the Republic of Latvia.
The Eastern Baltic languages split from the Western Baltic ones (or, perhaps, from the hypothetic proto-Baltic language) between 400 and 600.
The closest ties the Baltic languages have are with the Slavic and Germanic languages.
  More results at FactBites »


 

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