List of language commissions

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A language commission (also language regulator ) is an official, mostly state institute that observes the respective language of one or more countries or regions and thereby adds new words and expressions that are used in everyday life to a list of words used in this language and expressions represents. Another area of ​​work is the modernization of this language, for example through spelling reforms , or the general spelling of the respective language. If dialects exist or have existed in a language, these are also noted as cultural assets of the present or the past. Sometimes new letters are introduced into the existing alphabet (such as the Swedish Academy officially introduced the "w" in Swedish in 2008), or deleted (such as in 1919 in the Soviet Union), or even the entire alphabet restructured (such as in Turkey from the Arabic to the Latin alphabet by order of Kemal Ataturk or as the Kazakh language institute is currently converting from Cyrillic to the Latin alphabet). Or an existing letter is redefined for use (such as, for example, in 2008 the “ ß ” can now officially be used as a capital letter in German ).

As institutes, language regulators are official points of reference when it comes to general questions about the language. They represent the respective language in regions where the language is not spoken. In addition, they issue so-called "language certificates", which are required by immigration authorities or universities in other countries with other languages ​​for permanent residence or for university entrance qualifications. Handling is relatively simple, clear and unambiguous when it comes to a language that only relates to one or more countries. It becomes more difficult when the same language is spoken in many countries. In such a case there is an international cooperation to determine what belongs to the respective language and what can and cannot be understood as the standard language (for example: standard German , standard French ). However, the decisions of a language commission are not necessarily absolutely binding: For example, the new German spelling was and still applies in the officially German-speaking countries of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, but not for German language minorities, such as in Namibia, where German is spoken but is not declared as an official language - and for this reason it cannot be officially introduced there. In addition, the new German spelling was not entirely binding for Switzerland, as Switzerland never used a “ß” before the reform and the use of this letter was not “banned” from the German alphabet.

In principle, almost all languages ​​have a worldwide institute as the representative of the respective language.
There are the following exceptions:

  • The English language , which to this day no institute officially recognized by all English-speaking countries knows. Therefore, no spelling reform or similar is to be expected in English in the foreseeable future, because there is no “binding” authority. For example, English is not declared as an official language in the US constitution. The USA has - at least officially - no official language. However, language certificates such as B. the so-called "TOEFL test" issued, which are also internationally recognized.
  • The Japanese language does not have an official Japanese language institute either, but in fact the Japanese Ministry of Education provides the guidelines for Japanese.
  • Latin also has no language regulator; in any case, Vatican City doesn't have that. One could possibly interpret the Opus Fundatum Latinitas as such an institute.

Competence and question of meaning

The question of how the importance and, above all, the competence of language commissions is to be classified is sometimes highly controversial. A very strong main argument against such commissions is that language is a common good and therefore it is not so easy to determine how one should read and write. Language is not static but dynamic. For example, in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, a referendum resulted in the previous old German spelling being taught and written there, contrary to the decision of the German Spelling Council. The English language has also experienced major linguistic upheavals over many centuries, although this was never recorded, checked or approved by a commission: Entire declensions, pronouns and cases (except for the Saxon genitive) disappeared by themselves over the centuries. Language commissions could thus at most log the "course" and dynamics of a language retrospectively, but never make laws because they lack the competence to do so.

list

List of language authorities for artificial languages

  • Esperanto : Akademio de Esperanto
  • Ido : Uniono por la Linguo Internaciona Ido
  • Klingon : Klingon Language Institute (It should be noted here, however, that the KLI has no regulatory authority, but is merely an - or the only - independent association that has set itself the goal of promoting the spread of the language.)
  • Lojban : Lojban language group

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ústav pro jazyk český Akademie věd ČR, vvi,, accessed on March 3, 2013 (Czech, English)