Regional language

Regional language is a linguistic and language-political term.

Use in linguistics

For the term "regional language" - as well as for that of the minority language - a generally accepted, precise linguistic definition has not yet established itself . Often there is no precise differentiation between regional and minority languages.

In Europe, the term regional language most closely defines a stateless, autochthonous spaced or expanded language that has a minimum of standardization . This applies, for example, to Cymric in Great Britain and Basque in Spain and France as the spacing languages and to Galician in Spain as an extension language. In contrast, according to this definition, in the absence of effective standardization, Alsatian would not be a regional language, but rather an external dialect of German (or rather a foreign dialect for French).

Mostly, with regional language a non-standard form of language ( language variety ) denotes which of the standard variety Although comes close to, but has regional dyeings. Often it is a transitional form between a dialect and a standard variety, cf. also Regiolekt . If it is only a single location, e.g. B. a village or valley, the term local language is also used, especially if there is also a language of the region that includes this place. The term autochthonous language is also used for regional languages.

Political and legal term

The use of the term regional language in the political and legal field draws on the knowledge of linguistics, but aims at language policy measures. In Europe, the 1992 Euro Europe drawn European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages the concept of a regional language in the law introduced. The Switzerland ratified the Language Charter in 1997, the Federal Republic of Germany in 1998 and Austria in 2001. In total, so far ratified the charter of 26 states of Europe. 21 Council of Europe countries, including the EU countries France , Belgium , Italy and Portugal have not taken this step.

The charter does not specify which of the protected languages is a minority language and which is a regional language. In some cases, the states expressly designate a language as a regional language in their mandatory reports to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe. The Federal Republic of Germany expressly distinguishes Low German as a regional language from the minority languages Danish , Frisian , Sorbian and Romani . The difference can be indirectly deduced from the fact whether the speaker group forms a recognized national minority .

In other countries, for example, the Lower Saxon dialects in the Netherlands ( Nedersaksisch ), Asturian , Catalan , Basque , Galician , Scottish or Welsh are protected.

literature

Alfred Lameli: Regional language in everyday life. In: National Atlas of the Federal Republic of Germany. Edited by Leibniz Institute for Regional Geography, Volume 12: Life in Germany. Elsevier, Munich 2006, ISBN 3-8274-0968-3 , p. 162 f.

Web links

Wiktionary: regional language - explanations of meanings, word origins, synonyms, translations

Individual evidence

↑ ^a ^b Hans-Ingo Radatz: Regional language and minority language , in: World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish. Handbook for the Study of Hispanic Studies (Romance Languages and their Didactics), edited by Sandra Herling et al., 2013, p. 71
^ ^A ^b ^c Hans-Ingo Radatz: Regional language and minority language , in: World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish. Handbook for the Study of Hispanic Studies (Romance Languages and their Didactics), edited by Sandra Herling et al., 2013, p. 77
↑ Hans-Ingo Radatz, regional language and minority language , in: Herling, Sandra / Patzelt, Carolin (eds.): World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish, manual for the study of Hispanic studies, Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag (2013 ), Pp. 71-94.
↑ Signatures and status of ratification of treaty 148th European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (status: March 26, 2018)
↑ Federal Ministry of the Interior: Sixth report of the Federal Republic of Germany in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 1 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , 2017, p. 22 and so on.

[Radatz_71-1] Hans-Ingo Radatz: Regional language and minority language , in: World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish. Handbook for the Study of Hispanic Studies (Romance Languages and their Didactics), edited by Sandra Herling et al., 2013, p. 71

[Radatz_77-2] A ^b ^c Hans-Ingo Radatz: Regional language and minority language , in: World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish. Handbook for the Study of Hispanic Studies (Romance Languages and their Didactics), edited by Sandra Herling et al., 2013, p. 77

[3] Hans-Ingo Radatz, regional language and minority language , in: Herling, Sandra / Patzelt, Carolin (eds.): World language Spanish: Variation, sociolinguistics and geographical distribution of Spanish, manual for the study of Hispanic studies, Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag (2013 ), Pp. 71-94.

[4] Signatures and status of ratification of treaty 148th European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (status: March 26, 2018)

[5] Federal Ministry of the Interior: Sixth report of the Federal Republic of Germany in accordance with Article 15 paragraph 1 of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages , 2017, p. 22 and so on.