A 'national language' is a
language (or
language variant, i.e.
dialect) which represents the
national identity of a
nation or
country. A national language is used for
political and
legal discourse.
Some countries have more than one national language, such as Canada which uses both French and English. A national language declared as such by
legislation is the same as an
Official language. It is different for that reason from the national predominant language, which is a national language only through ''
de facto'' use or by historical association with a particular
nation.
Official versus national languages
The national languages of
stateless nations are often not
official languages in any country. Some have no government recognition, while others may enjoy a high degree of official recognition. Some examples of national languages that are not official languages include
Aromanian,
Cherokee, and
Navajo (and other living
Native American languages).
Certain languages may enjoy government recognition or even status as
official languages in some countries while not in others.
China
:''See also:
Standard Mandarin and
History of Standard Mandarin.''
In
China, plenty of
spoken variants have been existing in different parts of the country. In the ancient time, several local dialects were chosen as the official spoken language, such as dialects from
Hangzhou,
Nanjing, etc.
After the
Xinhai Revolution in 1911 , the Chinese Nationalist party -
Kuomintang founded the
Republic of China. In order to promote a sense of national unity and enhance the efficiency of communications within the nation, the Government decided to designate a national language. The
Beijing dialect of
Mandarin and
Guangzhou dialect of
Cantonese were the most popular options, and the Beijing dialect was chosen to be the national language, given the name " 国语" in
Chinese (
Pinyin: Guóyǔ, ''lit.'' national language, commonly known as "Standard Mandarin" in English). In the beginning there were attempts to introduce elements from other Chinese spoken variants into the national language, in addition to those existing in Beijing dialect. But this was deemed too difficult, and was abandoned in 1924 . Since then the Beijing dialect became the major source of standard national pronunciations, due to its prestigious status in the preceding
Qing Dynasty. Elements from other dialects continue to exist in the standard language.
After the
Chinese Civil War in 1949 , the
Chinese communist party established the
People's Republic of China in
mainland China. The
nationalist regime of the
Republic of China retreated to the island of
Taiwan and maintained the same policy. On the other hand, the People's Republic of China, which administers
mainland China, continued the effort, and renamed the national language that is largely based on the Beijing dialect as "普通話" (Pinyin: pǔtōnghuà, ''lit.'' common speech) in Chinese.
India
India has a list of 23
official languages. Out of the
28 states and 7 union territories, 10 states and 3 union territories have
Hindi as the principal official language but not as the national language.
Republic of Ireland
Irish ''(Gaeilge)'', a
Celtic language, is recognized as the primary constitutional language of Ireland; notwithstanding that English is the ''de facto'' language of the nation. Irish is spoken by about 1% of its population as a first language in restricted geographical locations. However, according to the
2002 Census of Population, 42% of the population of Ireland have the ability to speak Irish. The Irish government is committed to the development of a bilingual society, where as many people as possible can use Irish and English with equal ease
and facility.
[1]
Malta
In
Malta, the
Maltese language is the national language. This is recognised as official as well together with English. In Malta most of the people speak the Maltese language and it is recognised as "national" in Chapter 1 of the
Laws of Malta.
Philippines
The
Filipino language, which is based on
Tagalog and other existing
Filipino languages, is designated by the
1987 Constitution of the Philippines as the national language. The constitution designates both Filipino and English as official languages. More than 170
languages are spoken in the
Philippines and almost all of them belong to the
Borneo-Philippines languages group of the
Austronesian language family.
Singapore
In
Singapore, the
Malay language is the national and official language, since it is the native language of
Malay Singaporeans, who were the original inhabitants of the land but are now a minority due to mass ethnic Chinese immigration and who now make up only 12.4% of the total population of 4.24 million. Three other languages enjoy official language status, including
English, which is the language of business and governance and the medium of instruction in public schools;
Mandarin Chinese, which is spoken by the majority (75%) of the population, and
Tamil(some 10%).
United States
In the USA,
English is the national language only in an informal sense, by numbers and by historical and contemporary association. The
US Constitution does not explicitly declare any
Official language, although the constitution is written in English, as is all federal legislation.
On
May 8,
2007,
Senator James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) introduced
Senate Bill S.1335, which would declare
English as the official language of the government of the United States. The bill would require that the U.S. government conduct its official activities in English, repeal
Federal bilingual voting requirements, and require
naturalization ceremonies to be conducted solely in the English language. The bill contains a provision preventing it from pre-empting any law of any
U.S. state.
[2]
Previous incarnations of this bill were co-written and supported by
Ron Unz, a
California millionaire. He, along with his organization (
U.S. English), has been pushing for the "
English-Only" cause for many years.
As of
May 2007, several bills relating to English as a national language are pending in the
U.S.House of Representatives.
[3][4][5]
See also
★
Ethnolect
★
Indigenous language
★
Language policy
★
Regional language
References
1. Statement on the Irish Language 2006
2. Senate Bill S.1335: S. I. Hayakawa Official English Language Act of 2007 James M. Inhofe
3. House Bill H. R. 768: To provide that Executive Order 13166 shall have no force or effect, and to prohibit the use of funds for certain purposes. Steve King
4. House Bill H. R. 769: To amend title 4, United States Code, to declare English as the official language of the Government of the United States, and for other purposes. Peter T. King
5. House Bill H. R. 997: English Language Unity Act of 2007 Peter T. King
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