This is a list of countries where language is a political issue. It is NOT a list of countries with more than one official language, or more than one language community.
Many countries in the world have more than one official language. This may simply reflect the existence of well defined groups speaking different languages, often including minority groups near borders, and in many such cases the use of multiple languages is unproblematic. However in some cases the issue of which language is to be used in what contexts is a major political issue, with the rights of particular language groups a constant source of political friction. Only these latter cases are listed here.
Assessments of gravity
The list attempts to give an idea of the gravity of the problem, but this is inevitably a subjective judgement and liable to change. The ratings are:
- Serious - language is a major organizing principle of the country's politics, and language disputes persistently threaten the unity of the country and/or involve violent protest or terrorist action
- Moderate - language disputes regularly arise, but are currently contained
- Minor - language issues are the concern of a small minority of the population (though those people may take them intensely seriously)
List of countries
Note that only the languages in dispute are listed here; several of these countries have additional language communities. Languages are listed in alphabetic order for each country.
- Belarus (Russian and Belarusian): moderate in past, now serious
- Belgium (Dutch and French): moderate to serious
- Canada (English and French, mostly confined to Quebec): moderate, serious in past.
- Finland (see Toinen kotimainen kieli): minor
- France (Languages of France): minor
- Greece (varieties of Modern Greek): solved after 1975
- India (English and Hindi, Hindi and local language in some states): serious to minor
- Ireland (English and Irish): moderate
- Latvia (Latvian and Russian): minor to moderate
- Moldova (Russian, Moldovan, and Romanian): serious
- New Zealand (English and Maori): moderate
- Norway (Written language only, bokmål and nynorsk): moderate to minor
- Philippines (Tagalog and 160 other regional languages and English, colonial language): moderate. (English and Spanish: serious in past, now minor). See Languages of the Philippines
- Spain (Basque, Catalan, Galician and Spanish): serious. Basque, Catalan and Galician are co-official in certain regions.
- Switzerland (issues between French and German in some cantons): minor
- Taiwan (Chinese dialects: Mandarin, Taiwanese, and to some extent Hakka): moderate
- United Kingdom (English, Scottish Gaelic, Scots in Scotland and Ulster, Cornish, Welsh, Irish Gaelic): minor; moderate in Welsh-language case
- Ukraine (Russian and Ukrainian): moderate to serious
- United States (English and Spanish, English and Hawaiian in Hawaii, English and various Native American languages on Indian reservations): minor (see Spanish in the United States)
See also