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A national language is a language (or language variant i.e. dialect) which has some connectionde facto or de jurewith a people and perhaps by extension the territory they occupy. The term is used variously. A national language may for instance represent the national identity of a nation or country. National language may alternatively be a designation given to one or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country.

C.M.B. Brann with particular reference to Africa suggests that there are "four quite distinctive meanings" for national language in a polity:1 "Territorial language" (chthonolect sometimes known as chtonolect2) of a particular people "Regional language" (choralect) "Language-in-common or community language" (demolect) used throughout a country "Central language" (politolect) used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value.

The last seems often to be given the title "official language." Contents 1 Official versus national languages 2 Examples 2.1 Andorra 2.2 Greater China 2.3 European Union 2.4 Finland 2.5 India 2.6 Ireland 2.7 Lebanon 2.8 Malta 2.9 Namibia 2.10 Nigeria 2.11 Pakistan 2.12 Philippines 2.13 Singapore 2.14 Syria 2.15 United Kingdom 2.16 United States 2.17 Vietnam 3 See also 4 References Official versus national languages

"National language" and "official language" are best understood as two concepts or legal categories with ranges of meaning that may coincide or may be intentionally separate. Obviously a stateless nation is not in the position to legislate an official language but their language may be considered a national language.

Some languages may be recognized popularly as "national languages" while others may enjoy a high degree of official recognition. Some examples of national languages that are not official languages include 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. Examples Andorra

Andorra's national language is Catalan however the Catalan language is a regional language in Spain (Catalonia Valencian Community Balearic Islands the Catalan-Aragonese borderlands known as La Franja and the Murcian municipality of El Carche) France (Pyrnes Orientales) and in Italy (Alghero). Greater China See also: Standard Chinese and History of Mandarin.

In China plenty of spoken variants exist in different parts of the country. In ancient times several local dialects were chosen as the official spoken language such as the dialects from Hangzhou Nanjing etc.

After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911 the Kuomintang (Chinese nationalists) founded the Republic of China (ROC). In order to promote a sense of national unity and enhance the efficiency of communications within the nation the ROC decided to designate a national language. The Beijing dialect of Mandarin and Guangzhou dialect of Cantonese were the most popular options. Ultimately the Beijing dialect was chosen as the national language and given the name in Chinese (Pinyin: Guy lit. national language commonly known as "Standard Chinese" 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 the 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 pronunciation due to its prestigious status in the preceding Qing Dynasty. Elements from other dialects exist in the standard language. After the Chinese Civil War in 1949 the Chinese Communist Party established the People's Republic of China (PRC) in mainland China. The Kuomintang regime of the Republic of China retreated to the island of Taiwan and maintained the same policy. Similarly the People's Republic of China which administers mainland China continued the effort and renamed the national language largely based on the Beijing dialect as (Pinyin: ptnghu lit. common speech).3 European Union Sign in the entrance of the European Parliament building in Brussels written in the 23 official languages used in the European Union as of 2007. The European Union has a list of 23 official languages: Bulgarian Czech Danish Dutch English Estonian Finnish French German Greek Hungarian Irish Italian Latvian Lithuanian Maltese Polish Portuguese Romanian Slovak Slovene Spanish and Swedish. Finland This section needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2009) Finland has two national languages: namely the Finnish language and the Swedish language according to the Constitution of Finland.45 The Language Act details the use of them by public authorities.6 However there is an aboriginal nation Sami and another group Romani that have their languages mentioned as legal to be maintained and developed by such groups. The Sami have partial right to use Sami languages in official situations according to other laws. The Swedish language (6% of the people) is a valid language everywhere in Finland whereas the Finnish language (92% of the people) is most widely used but the latter is not legally valid everywhere.5 Despite the large difference in the numbers of users Swedish is not officially classified as a minority language but equal to Finnish. Finnish is legally in many cases banned in land Islandscitation needed. In specific cases Finnish in particular may be forbidden in other regions not only in Finland but in Sweden and Norway toocitation needed. Most often bilingual Finns are counted as Swedescitation needed. Leading politicians have during the 2000s begun to proclaim that in order to have the identity of a Finn one must possess Swedish skills.citation needed Both national languages are compulsory subjects in school (except for children with a third language as mother tongue) and a language test is a prerequisite for governmental offices where a university degree is required. India Main article: Languages of India Neither the Constitution of India nor Indian law specifies a National language. India specifies Hindi and English as official languages of the India de jure. Article 343 of the constitution specifies that the official language of the India is Hindi in Devanagari script. Article 354 states that a state of India may officially adopt one or more languages in use in the state or Hindi/English as the language or languages to be used for all or any of the official purposes of that state.7 Section 8 of The Official Languages Act of 1963 (as amended in 1967) empowers the Union Government to make rules regarding the languages which may be used for the Official purposes of the Union for transaction of business in Parliament and for communication between the Union Government and the states.8 Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053 titled "Rules 1976 (As Amended 1987)" specifies that communications from a Central (Union) Government office to a State or a Union Territory in shall save in exceptional cases (Region "A") or shall ordinarily (Region "B") be in Hindi and if any communication is issued to any of them in English it shall be accompanied by a Hindi translation thereof. 9 Section 3 of G.S.R. 1053 titled "Rules 1976 states Communications from a Central Government office to State or Union Territory in Region "C" or to any office (not being a Central Government office) or person in such State shall be in English. Region C (South India) covers Tamil Nadu Kerala Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh 10 Ireland Irish (Gaeilge) a Celtic language is recognized as the primary constitutional language of the Republic of Ireland; notwithstanding that English is the de facto language of the State as a result of centuries of English rule. Irish (sometimes known in English as Gaelic) is the main community and household language of 3% of the population.11 However 42% of the population of the Republic of Ireland claimed to have the ability to speak Irish in the 2006 national census.12 Of these 538283 (32.5%) speak Irish on a daily basis (taking into account both native speakers and those inside the education system) 97089 (5.9%) weekly 581574 (35.1%) less often and 412846 (24.9%) never. 26998 (1.6%) respondents did not state how often they spoke Irish. The Irish Government is officially committed to the development of a bilingual society where as many people as possible can use Irish and English with equal ease and facility.13 In Northern Ireland the Irish language has little legal standing. However many people can speak the language in certain areas of Northern Ireland especially in the 'Gaeltacht Quarter' of West Belfast. The dialect of the language usually used in Northern Ireland is Ulster Irish also known as Donegal Irish. In addition many Gaelscoileanna have been established over the last twenty years or so across the region. These Gaelscoileanna (Irish language schools) have helped to massively promote the language across the region in recent years. Lebanon In Lebanon the Arabic language is the "official national" language.14 Malta The Maltese language is recognised as official as well together with English. Maltese is recognised as "national" in Chapter 1 of the Laws of Malta. Namibia Although English is the only nationwide official language in Namibia there are also 20 National languages which are each spoken by more or less sizeable portions of the population and are considered Namibia's cultural heritage. All national languages have the rights of a minority language and may even serve as a lingua franca in certain regions. Among Namibia's national languages are German Afrikaans Oshiwambo Otjiherero Portuguese as well as the languages of the Himba Nama San Kavango and Damara. Nigeria Besides official English Nigeria recognizes three 'majority' or national languages. These are the big three Hausa Igbo and Yoruba each with some 20 million speakers or more.15 Pakistan Article 251(1) of the 1973 Constitution of Pakistan titled National language specifies: "The National language of Pakistan is Urdu and arrangements shall be made for its being used for official and other purposes within fifteen years from the commencing day."16National Language Authority is an organization established to make these arrangements since 1979. Philippines The 1973 Philippine constitution designated Pilipino (a Tagalog-based language) and English as official languages "until otherwise provided by law" and mandated development and formal adoption of a common national language to be known as Filipino. The 1987 constitution designated the Filipino language which is based on Tagalog with the inclusion of terms from all recognized languages of the Philippines as the national language. It also designated both Filipino and English as the official languages for purposes of communication and instruction and designated the regional languages as auxiliary official languages in the regions to serve as auxiliary media of instruction therein. 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. As of 2008 leaders from the Ilocos region and other Ilocano-dominated provinces are considering the possible declaration of Ilocano language as an official language in their provinces along with the national language to foster the continuity of their language and heritage. 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. As of the 2000 census they make up only about 14% of the total population of 4.55 million.17 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 and Tamil.18 Syria In Syria the Arabic language is the official language.19 United Kingdom The English language is the de facto official language of the United Kingdom and is spoken monolingually by an estimated 95% of the British population.20 United States In the United States English is the national language only in an informal sense by numbers and by historical and contemporary association. The United States Constitution does not explicitly declare any official language although the constitution is written in English as is all federal legislation. On February 11 2009 Representative Steve King (R-IA.) introduced House Bill H.R.997 to declare English as the official language of the United States. On May 5 2009 Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) introduced Senate Bill S.991 as a companion bill. On February 26 2009 Representative Steve King (R-IA.) introduced House Bill H.R.1229 a bill 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.. On May 6 2009 Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) introduced Bill S.992 as a companion bill. As of October 2009update the last major actions on these bills were:21 Bill Last Major Action Date H.R.997 Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution Civil Rights and Civil Liberties July 23 2009 S.991 Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs May 6 2009 H.R.1229 Referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution Civil Rights and Civil Liberties August 19 2009 S.992 Referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs May 6 2009 Previous incarnations of these bills were co-written and supported by California millionaire Ron Unz. Vietnam In Vietnam the Vietnamese language is the national language. See also Ethnolect Indigenous language Language policy Regional language Standard language Official language Working language References Brann C.M.B. 1994. "The National Language Question: Concepts and Terminology." Logos University of Namibia Windhoek Vol 14: 125-134 Wolff H. Ekkehard "African Languages: An Introduction Ch./Art: Language and Society p. 321 pub. Cambride University Press 2000 General Information of the People's Republic of China (PRC): Languages chinatoday.com http://www.chinatoday.com/general/a.htm#LANGU retrieved 2008-04-17  Finland - Constitution http://www.servat.unibe.ch/icl/fi00000.html  Section 17. International Constitutional Law website. a b Alfredson Bb; Annerstedt L (Nov 1994) "Sweden: People" ( Scholar search) Journal of advanced nursing (CIA World Factbook) 20 (5): 96474 ISSN 0309-2402 PMID 7745191 https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/fi.html#People dead link Language Act : Unofficial Translation. Ministry of Justice. (PDF) Retrieved 2009-11-06. Official Language relatedPart 17 of the Constitution of India Government of India http://rajbhasha.nic.in/consteng.htm retrieved 2007-11-15  Official Languages Act of 1963 as amended 1967 Government of India 1963 http://rajbhasha.nic.in/dolacteng.htm retrieved 2007-11-15  "Hindi is not a National Language related" The Times Of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Theres-no-national-language-in-India-Gujarat-High-Court/articleshow/5496231.cms  Rules 1976 (As Amended 1987) Government of India http://rajbhasha.nic.in/dolruleseng.htm retrieved 2007-11-15  Government of Ireland Statement on the Irish Language 2006PDF (919 KB). Retrieved on 21 January 2008 "Census 2006 Principal Demographic Results" (PDF). Central Statistics Office. http://www.cso.ie/census/documents/Final%20Principal%20Demographic%20Results%202006.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-19.  "Statement on the Irish Language 2006" (PDF). Government of Ireland. http://www.pobail.ie/en/IrishLanguage/StatementontheIrishLanguage2006/file7802en.pdf. Retrieved 2007-06-19.  Constitution of Lebanon Adopted on: 21 September 1990. Constitutional Documents Article 55 Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria : 1999. "PART XII (contd); Miscellaneous; Chapter 4. General" The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan August 14 1973 http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/part12.ch4.html retrieved 2008-04-22  "World Factbook Singapore". CIA. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/sn.html. Retrieved 2007-09-10.  "Languages of singapore". Ethonologue. http://www.ethnologue.com/showcountry.aspnameSG. Retrieved 2007-09-10.  Syria - Constitution Adopted on: 13 March 1973. Constitutional Documents In the United Kingdom English is established by de facto usage. In Wales the Bwrdd yr Iaith Gymraeg is legally tasked with ensuring that "in the conduct of public business and the administration of justice the English and Welsh languages should be treated on a basis of equality". Welsh Language Act 1993 Office of Public Sector Information http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts1993/Ukpga19930038en2.htm retrieved 3 September 2007  Brd na Gidhlig is tasked with "securing the status of the Gaelic language as an official language of Scotland commanding equal respect to the English language" Gaelic Language (Scotland) Act 2005 Office of Public Sector Information http://www.opsi.gov.uk/legislation/scotland/acts2005/asp20050007en1 retrieved 9 March 2007  The library of Congress : Thomas. v d eNationalism By type Anti-nationalist  Banal  Business  Civic  Corporate  Cultural  Diasporic  Economic  Ethnic  Expansionist  Irredentist  Left-wing  Liberal  Pan-nationalist  Postnationalist  National-Anarchist  National Bolshevist  National conservatist  National liberalist  National mysticist  National Socialist  National syndicalist  Neo-nationalist  Religious  Romantic  Revanchist  Territorial  Transnationalist By manifestation Anthem  Language  Music  Symbol  Treasure v d eEthnicity related concepts clan  ethnic group  ethno-linguistic group  ethno-religious group  indigenous peoples  meta-ethnicity  minority group  nation  nationality  panethnicity  population  race  tribe ethnology Anthropology  Ethnobotany  Ethnogeology  Ethnography  Ethnolinguistics  Ethnomathematics  Ethnopoetics  Ethnotaxonomy  Ethnomusicology ethnic groups by region Africa (Arab League)  America (indigenous  Canada  United States  Central America  South America)  Asia (Central Asia  East Asia  Northern Asia  South Asia  Southeast Asia  West Asia)  Australia (indigenous)  Europe  Oceania (indigenous  European) identity and ethnogenesis cross-race effect  cultural assimilation  cultural identity  demonym  endonym  ethnic flag  folk religion  imagined communities  lineage-bonded society  mores  nation-building  nation state  national language  national myth  origin myth  pantribal sodalities  tribal name  tribalism multiethnic society consociationalism  diaspora politics  dominant minority  ethnic interest group  ethnocracy  ethnopluralism  indigenous rights  minority rights  multinational state ideology and ethnic conflict cultural genocide  ethnic cleansing  ethnic nationalism  ethnic stereotype  ethnocentrism  ethnocide  genocide  indigenism  separatist movements  xenophobia