Language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory
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A minority language is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities. With a total number of 196 sovereign states recognized internationally (as of 2019)[1] and an estimated number of roughly 5,000 to 7,000 languages spoken worldwide,[2] the vast majority of languages are minority languages in every country in which they are spoken. Some minority languages are simultaneously also official languages, such as Irish in Ireland or the numerous indigenous languages of Bolivia. Likewise, some national languages are often considered minority languages, insofar as they are the national language of a stateless nation.
^ONU members
^"Ethnologue statistics". Summary by world area | Ethnologue. SIL. Archived from the original on 8 January 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2015.
A minoritylanguage is a language spoken by a minority of the population of a territory. Such people are termed linguistic minorities or language minorities...
The European Charter for Regional or MinorityLanguages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe...
recognised as an official minoritylanguage in the Netherlands under the European Charter for Regional or MinorityLanguages, although it had been recognised...
Vorarlberg; and several minoritylanguages. German is the national official language and constitutes a lingua franca and de facto first language: most Austrians...
National Minorities, Law on Use of Languages and Scripts of National Minorities and Law on Education in Language and Script of National Minorities. Relevant...
of the European Charter for Regional or MinorityLanguages, "regional or minoritylanguages" means languages that are: traditionally used within a given...
the official Romanian language, multiple other languages are spoken in Romania. Laws regarding the rights of minoritylanguages are in place, and some...
Albanian language is the dominant language in Kosovo, equal status is given to Serbian and special status is given to other minoritylanguages. The legislative...
like "minoritylanguages" or "vernaculars" for some of them. The label "dialect" may be understood erroneously to imply that the native languages spoken...
in English, as Slovenian. Two minoritylanguages, namely Hungarian and Italian, are recognised as co-official languages and accordingly protected in their...
statuses for the German language or one of its dialects. While these may cover minority rights, support of certain language facilities (schools, media...
In 1999, the MinorityLanguage Committee of Sweden formally declared five official minoritylanguages: Finnish, Sámi languages, Romani, Yiddish, and Meänkieli...
Slavic languages (of which Serbian is a part). Besides Serbian, which is the official language in the whole country, there are five minoritylanguages in...
and ethnic minorities and on the regional languages, 16 languages have been recognized as minoritylanguages; 1 regional language, 10 languages belonging...
The languages spoken in Hungary include Hungarian, recognized minoritylanguages, and other languages. Minoritylanguages are spoken in a number of autochthonous...
(Kurmanji), Zazaki, and Arabic, and a number of less common minoritylanguages. Four minoritylanguages are officially recognized in the Republic of Turkey by...
regional and minoritylanguages in Europe encompass four categories: The language of a community in one single country, where the language community is...
The two main official languages of Finland are Finnish and Swedish. There are also several official minoritylanguages: three variants of Sami, as well...
recognized minority or regional language that is not considered separately from Standard German in statistics. Recognized minoritylanguages have official...
provision enshrining French as the language of the Republic, the government continues to recognise regional and minoritylanguages to a limited extent (i.e. without...
number of languages used in Ireland. Since the late 18th century, English has been the predominant first language, displacing Irish. A large minority claims...
9% speaking only one language. Italian is widely spoken throughout Albania. Greek, the language of the Greek national minority is focused in southern...
alphabet. Legally recognized minoritylanguages are Albanian, Bosnian, and Croatian. As of 2017, Albanian is an official language of the municipalities of...
Minoritylanguages are spoken in a number of autochthonous settlements in Austria. These are: Croatian and Romany in Burgenland, Czech and Slovak in Vienna...
or that have status as a national language, regional language, or minoritylanguage. Official language A language designated as having a unique legal...
Kingdom of Belgium has three official languages: Dutch, French, and German. A number of non-official, minoritylanguages and dialects are spoken as well. As...
status of the five national minoritylanguages — Finnish, Meänkieli, Romani, Sámi languages and Yiddish — and Swedish Sign Language. For most of its history...
several other languages have also begun to be studied and used. Kurmanji, spoken by the Yazidi minority, is the largest minoritylanguage of Armenia. Other...
standard languages (Standard Modern Greek and Standard Turkish) are used. According to the European Charter for Regional or MinorityLanguages of the Council...
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