Written by Hannah Gardner
When you think about what language is spoken in a particular country, a lot of the time you only come up with one. In France they speak French, in Japan Japanese, and in Germany German. However, there are many more languages spoken in each country than the official majority language. Some of these languages are spoken in by immigrants, but many others have been a part of that region for centuries. These languages are often called minority languages.
The term “minority language” doesn’t actually have one meaning; instead, what exactly the term refers to depends on context. In legal terms, for example, a minority language may be an official language recognized by the state that is spoken in a smaller group of the state’s population than the main, or majority language. However, many countries there are several languages spoken by a group of the population that aren’t officially recognized. In a scientific context, these too can be considered minority languages. Some examples of minority languages in Europe are Scottish, Gaelic, Welsh, and Irish in the UK and Catalan, Basque, Galician, and Aranese in Spain.
Many speakers of minority languages have been or are still being persecuted for their use of a minority language. Part of this is due to the fact that many minority languages are spoken by smaller, indigenous populations which are often pressured to conform to the societal standards of the ruling population. Minority languages which became nearly extinct or even died out entirely have been brought back in recent times as part of a conservation effort. Even still, many languages have been lost due to a colonialist mindset, where minority languages are seen as uncouth and primitive.
With modern technology, the preservation and continuation of minority languages can be made easier. While in the past those who wanted to learn a minority language had to travel to the specific region in which it’s spoken, it’s now possible for those language learners to interact with other speakers over the Internet. Minority languages are an important part of the diverse ways in which people communicate and native speakers and learners alike can benefit from increased awareness of these smaller languages which tell the unique and rich history of the populations that speak them.
https://www.degruyter.com/view/journals/mult/38/2/article-p133.xml?language=en
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_the_United_Kingdom
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Languages_of_Spain
https://www.languageonthemove.com/seminar-about-minority-languages/ (image)
The International House 