Official Language Of State Research Articles

Postal Address Identification and Sorting

In this fast-moving world, a normal man can take considerable time to find a postal card in a bunch of postcards with significant issues like unclear handwriting, having trouble recognizing some uncommon or ambiguous names. Also, in postal offices or industries, it negatively impacts the efficiency of the postal system. I am making a system for Indian postal automation based on recognizing pin-code on the postcard. In India, there are multiple languages were speak. Indian postcards are mainly written in three languages the state's official language, English, and Devanagari language. In India, more than 50% of people write Pincode digits in either English or Devanagari language, so I am making such a system that sorts both English and Devanagari language postcards. Moreover, the system is mature enough to recognize handwritten as well as printed digits. As a result, the system gets an accuracy of 92.59% on the English language postcards, 90% accuracy on the Devanagari language postcards e and the digit recognition model gives accuracy 99.23% Devanagari numerals and 99.43% accuracy on English numerals.

The language planning policy in Ireland and Irish-language books: A hundred year perspective

An element of a nation’s state policy is to support the use of a particular language or languages while prohibiting the use of other languages or their varieties in certain situations – usually formal. This is in the realm of language planning of which there are two basic types. Corpus planning involves establishing a standard language and promoting it among the language users. Status planning supports the use of a particular language through granting it the status of official language or auxiliary language in a given state or region, most often in the spheres of education, administration, services and media. This article discusses the Irish-language book in the context of language planning in Ireland. Particular observations are made from a perspective of a hundred years after most of Ireland seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to form an autonomous state (1922), which required the establishment of new national policies.

Supplement to Scientific Comments of the First Sentence of Article 4 of the Satversme of the Republic of Latvia “The Official State Language in the Republic of Latvia is the Latvian Language”: Abstract

The Latvian language is an essential element of constitutional identity of the Republic of Latvia, without which the Latvian constitutional system and the system of Constitution cannot be imagined, as such. Since 2021, the Official Language Day on 15 October has been celebrated. According to the President of Latvia Egils Levits the Official Language Day may serve as another opportunity to spread awareness and promote the use of the Latvian language as one of the main constitutional values of our state and nation. The Official Language Day is a meaningful contribution to the future tradition of celebrating the official language across society. The current study focuses on the issue of the official language in Latvia and its importance from the perspective of constitutional law. The experience of the Republic of Latvia is divided into two periods. The first – covers the period 1918–1940, when it was interrupted by the Soviet occupation. Consequently, after the restoration of independence in 1990, the second period can be defined: 1990–currently. If during the pre-war period the Latvian language was only enshrined in law, during the second period the official language has been enshrined in the Constitution (Satversme). The official language of the Latvian Constitution is specified in Section 4. The given article is designed to supplement the scientific comments of Section 4, which was issued in 2014. Keywords: Constitution (Satversme), Latvian language, official language, language policy, national minorities.

Präferenzen, Interesse(n) und Gründe von SchülerInnen für das Erlernen von (Fremd-)Sprachen. Eine Pilotstudie an Kärntner Schulen

Recently, multilingualism and linguistic diversity have become one of the most important educational concerns in Austria. For many Austrian schoolchildren, the official state language German is not their first language and this fact is a challenge for many schools across the country. In this respect, schools in the federal province of Carinthia are of particular interest as Carinthia lies in the trilingual Alps-Adriatic region. Therefore, the current study investigates language diversity at Carinthian schools by asking schoolchildren which foreign languages they would be interested in learning and for what reason. Thereby, this study wants to highlight linguistic plurality in schools and plead for a greater variety of and openness for (foreign) languages taught and spoken at school.

Кодификация на пунктуационните норми в правописните речници и ръководствата по правопис, издадени през двайсетте години на ХХ в. / The Codification of Punctuation Norms in Spelling Dictionaries and Spelling Guides Published in the 1920s

The article traces the codification of punctuation rules in spelling dictionaries and spelling guides from the beginning of the 20th century in a changed language situation where Standard Bulgarian already functioned as an official state language. The new situation necessitated the establishment of uniform orthography by codifying the spelling and punctuation norms based on the literary practice. The author studies the rules for the use of punctuation marks and analyzes the state of the codification at the beginning of the 20th century as compared with contemporary codification. The paper confirms the hypothesis about the continuity in the codification of the Standard Bulgarian language in a historical perspective. Keywords: punctuation marks; punctuation norms; codification; spelling dictionaries; spelling guides

“You don't ask me to speak Mandarin, okay?”: Ideologies of language and race among Chinese Singaporeans

Mandarin holds an artificial but official heritage language status for Chinese Singaporeans. Despite state efforts to regiment the racial and linguistic harmony of its Chinese population, Singapore has witnessed drastic linguistic-ideological shifts regarding Mandarin and other Sinitic varieties. Situating our analysis both diachronically and synchronically, we examine how the increased interactions between Chinese Singaporeans and non-local Chinese have led to confrontations that challenge a discourse of ‘shared’ Chineseness. Through two viral videos that capture such disputes, we demonstrate how language is racialized to discursively and semiotically discriminate against a subset of an aggregate of people with ‘shared’ linguistic and cultural norms.

Preserving Indian Languages and Ancient Scripts through Language Documentation and Digital Archiving

Unity in diversity is one of the most distinctive features of Indian civilization. From Jammu & Kashmir to Kanyakumari, every region portrays different customs, cultural traditions, and mother tongues. India is a country of multiple languages and ancient scripts. According to the 2011 census report, 1950 mother tongues were spoken/in use in India. Under Article 344 of the Indian Constitution, only 15 languages ​​were initially recognized as the official language. The 21st Constitution Amendment gave Sindhi the official language status. Based on the 71st Constitution Amendment, the Nepali, Konkani, and Manipuri languages were also included in the above list. Later, by the 92nd Constitution Amendment Act, 2003, four new languages ​​Bodo, Dogri, Maithili, and Santhali, were included in the Eighth Schedule of the Constitution. Thus, now 22 languages ​​have been given the status of official language in the Indian Constitution. The total number of people speaking these 22 languages ​​in India is 90%. Apart from these 22 languages, English is also the official language and is also the official language of Mizoram, Nagaland, and Meghalaya. In all, 60 languages ​​are being taught in schools in India.
 There was an excellent response to the call for papers for Special Issue on Language Documentation and Archiving of DESIDOC Journal of Library and Information Technology (DJLIT). A total of about 13 Papers were received for the special issue. Based on the review and relevancy of the particular theme, seven papers have been selected for publication in the special issue on Language Documentation and Archiving.

Немецкий язык в международном культурном пространстве

The author considers the factors, which determine interest to the German language in different regions of the world. The object of research is the role of the German language in international sociocultural contacts and the humanitarian sphere development, in the world educational space formation. The subject matter is practical experience of mastering the German language, linguistic achievements and problems of specific nations in this area. The author considers practical application of the German language in the language policy of several countries, studies intercultural interaction difficulties, analyses international research projects in ethno-social dynamics. The goal of the research determined the tasks: to present a socio-anthropological approach to the consideration of the language situation in the countries, to comment on the institutional aspects of the German language dissemination, to substantiate the multilingualism significance as a tool of intercultural education. The chronological framework of the study covers the first decades of the XXI century. At the same time, if we consider the problem in a historical aspect, we will inevitably turn to the earlier periods. A systematic approach allows us to establish a logical relationship and interdependence of these periods, traces changes in the status of the official language in Germany. This issue is not only linguistic, but also historical and cultural. The author analyzes the problems of the ethnolinguistic situation associated with the study of the German language in a number of countries: among them, the United Kingdom, in which other languages (but English) have a lesser degree of social prestige and are being squeezed out of the language space. The French Republic, along with the Federal Republic of Germany, as the leader of Europe, has always been on the axis of European construction. The country continues the policy of promoting internationalization of the French language. At the same time, Francophonie is a movement for cultural diversity. The Kingdom of Belgium and the Swiss Confederation are related to Germany in institutional architecture. It is necessary to study the situation in these ethnically heterogeneous and multilingual federal states, where German is one of the official languages. The author appeals to the history of Spain and the Republic of Korea because the citizens of these countries participated in the reconstruction of Germany after the Second World War. Issues related to the individual linguistic rights implementation determine national and political processes, educational and cultural policies. Learning several languages forms the idea that a multilingual society is the standard model of communication.

Why Write Statutes Which Some People Cannot Read?

Bilingual statutes pose a practical and philosophical problem. Many members of the community whose actions are regulated by such statutes will be unable to read them. Why, then, write statutes in language that will be incomprehensible to many? Answering this question helps to ventilate important philosophical and practical issues about legislative drafting and to reveal the nature and purpose of legislation. In this paper, I will consider the various potential justifications for bilingual legislation, concluding that the justification offered in Canada's Official Languages Act, championed by Pierre Elliott Trudeau, is the most persuasive. First, I consider a knowing the law justification: perhaps bilingual statutes are produced to that speakers of both national languages can understand the laws to which they are subject. However, if the members of a community cannot understand a given language they will not be able to understand laws written in that language. Moreover, in systems of bilingual legislation, knowledge of both official languages might be a pre-requisite to understanding the law. Second, I consider a better law justification: perhaps the discipline of producing multiple language versions of legislation may itself be a justification for bilingual legislation – bilingual legislation might simply be better than unilingual legislation. Whether this is true, however, is difficult to measure and, in any event, if some members of the community cannot understand statutes then it is hard to say bilingual law is better law. Third, I consider whether bilingual statutes simply reflect the balance of political power in a given jurisdiction at a given time. But this justification tends to collapse into the knowing the law justification and, moreover, struggles to explain the passion with which minority groups put their claims for official language status. Lastly, I consider a dignitarian justification: perhaps producing bilingual legislation is a mark of respect for speakers of all the official languages of a jurisdiction. Canada’s Official Languages Act puts the point very neatly. According to s. 2 the purpose of the Act is to ensure respect for English and French as the official languages of Canada and equality of status and equal rights and privileges as to their use in all federal institutions... Even if individuals do not read the laws; even if bilingual laws are not better laws; even if bilingual laws cannot be understood and perforce could not be better laws; bilingual legislation can nonetheless serve an important dignitarian function by providing a potent symbol of respect for a country’s official language communities. This is the most persuasive of the justifications for bilingual legislation.

Linguistic Fragmentation at the Micro-Level: Economic Returns to Speaking the Right Language(s) in a Multilinguistic Society

This paper investigates the economic returns to language skills and bilingualism in Kazakhstan, a multi-ethnic country that started switching its official state language from Russian to Kazakh in 1997. Using newly assembled data for four major cities in 1996 and 2010, we find heterogenous wage premia and penalties for speaking Kazakh across cities and over time. We relate the wage patterns to (i) changing demographic environments, (ii) changing gaps in school resources between schools with Russian vs. Kazakh language of instruction, and (iii) changing labour market segmentation. While wage differences narrowed in line with a balancing language policy in some cities, others experienced a rise in labour market segmentation. Regionally emerging wage penalties for Kazakh fluency might impede the formation of a bilingual society, as politically desired.

An Investigation into the Attitudes and Practices of Nigerian Students towards the Use of English Language and Their Native Languages in a Culturally Diverse Society

The study investigated the attitudes and practices of Nigerian students towards the use languages (English and native) in a culturally diverse society as the native languages are endangered because the English language is taking over the world linguistic environment as a lingua franca. Ten students who speak different Nigerian native languages were selected randomly from an international university (pseudonym) in Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC). A qualitative research method was adopted for the study using multiple sources of data collection, which include unstructured interview, personal stories, field notes and informal chats. The findings indicated that they acquired their native languages from birth at home, while they learn additional languages in their environment. They have positive attitudes towards the native languages, indicated by the value accorded them while English enjoys its official position. It was found out that the native languages were used for solidarity, prayers, identity and heritage preservation, whereas English language pertains the status of official language. In summary, Nigerian students studying in a culturally diverse context aim at preserving their language, culture, and identity by using it in their daily lives while they prefer using English language only for official purposes.

Constitutional and legal regulation of the use of languages in multinational federations: Lessons from Belgium and India

In the article, the key characteristics of the status of official languages, linguistic rights and guarantees in multinational federations are discussed. Unlike many nation-states where the constitutions proclaim a regime of monolingualism, multinational federations are always multilinguistic. The practice of federalism has developed various approaches to the choice and constitutional stipulation of the status of state (or official) languages of federations and their interrelation with official languages of sub-federal entities and other languages of ethnic groups living within the country. As material for a more in-depth analysis, the author has chosen two multinational federations — Belgium and India. These two federations use different constitutional models for regulating the use of languages which have evolved in different social, cultural, and historical contexts. Despite this, the experiences of these federations (even taking into consideration the significant differences between them) illustrate certain common features. In particular, the author, using comparative methodology, comes to the conclusion that if a state population is deeply divided along linguistic-territorial lines, it is likely that the initial attempt of a constitutional legislator to establish a monolinguistic constitutional regime would fail and lead to a deeper polarization and political conflicts. By analyzing the use of the English language in India and Belgium as well as its constitutional status, the author discusses the role of a politically neutral lingua franca as a medium in a multinational state. The author examines not only legal regulation concerning languages, but also the processes of the development of mechanisms of legal regulation and the social, political, and historical contexts of development.

El Aprendizaje y Servicio (Aps) en la enseñanza del alemán: una propuesta innovadora para la Escuela Oficial de Idiomas

In this article we show how the innovative methodology Service Learning (S-L) can be adapted to language teaching. We present an innovative proposal designed for German level B2.2 to be implemented in a partnership relationship between the students of the 5th year of the State Official Language School of Chiclana and the German association Forum germano-gaditano based in El Puerto de Santa Maria (Cadiz) in order to bring the Spanish culture closer to German speakers through the Centro de Interpretacion del Vino y la Sal in Chiclana de la Frontera (Cadiz).

Languages Canada: The Paradoxes of Linguistic Inclusivity – Colonial/ Founding, Aboriginal and Immigrant language rights

AbstractThis article approaches the question of inclusivity in contemporary Canadian society through the lens of official language policy. Although Canada has well-developed bilingual policies for English and French at the federal and provincial levels, the only jurisdictions which (at the time of writing) afford official language status to Aboriginal languages in addition to English and French are the Northwest Territories (nine First Nations and Inuit languages) and Nunavut (the Inuit language/s). The article situates the development of these territorial language policies within the contexts of Canadian history, the emergence of language policy more generally in Western societies, and the human rights revolution, and offers a tentative evaluation of them in terms of inclusivity, noting the paradox that inclusive recognition of the territories’ indigenous languages has not been extended to the immigrant languages, whose speakers partly outnumber the smaller Aboriginal-language communities, as well as the daunting problems faced in turning official recognition into practical implementation.

Value Dominants of Basque Mentality in the Contemporary Media in Spain

The article discusses and interprets the Basque mentality values and their evidence in the contemporary political discourse and media. An important task of communication science and medialinguistics is the study of pragma-linguistic properties of media texts and their impact on the audience. The contemporary Spanish media feature an impressive range of sources representing and interpreting the multicultural and multi-ethnic situation in Spain, as well as ongoing socio-political and socio-economic changes. Together with the Spanish language being the official state language, the Catalan, the Galician and the Basque have been established co-official languages by the Spanish Constitution. Basque Autonomous Community, or the Basque Country, is one of the most prosperous and steadily developing Autonomous Communities of Spain, which affects the socio-political situation in the region and the discourse of political parties. A vast majority of Basque people are bilingual. The hypothesis of this study states that the contemporary reality of the Basque Country finds its reflection in value dominants of the discourse of political parties of the Basque Country. This discourse is objectified by the Mass Media rhetoric, studying which the authors determine and discuss the value dominants of Basque linguistic culture, their linguo-pragmatic features and their use in the media language, as well as their lexical, semantic, morphological and syntactic features. All this builds up the topicality of the research into pragma-linguistic parameters of media texts and mechanisms of their impact on the audience. The authors infer that the media rhetoric includes onomastic dominants (naming units of Spanish Basque Country and French Basque Country and their paraphrases, of Spain, Basque people, and the Basque language), and keywords of the Basque mentality introduced into a Spanish text in Basque. Moreover, being integral components of the discourse of political parties in the Basque Country, these linguistic means acquire and realize their cultural and symbolic potential, and reflect the mentality, values, and traditions of Basques in the modern Basque and Spanish media.

Language Policy in University Education: the Case of Khakassia and Tyva

The paper deals with interface of macro- and micro-language policies in the language education of the southern Siberian republics of Tuvan and Khakassia, which includes Russian, foreign languages and indigenous languages, Tuvan and Khakass, which have the status of republican official languages. A comparative study of non-linguistic educational programs at various levels in Khakass State University and Tuva State University made it possible to evaluate the linguistic “weight” of undergraduate curricula and reveal a more obvious linguistic orientation in Tuvan State University. The undisputed leader among the foreign languages studied at two universities is English, German is the second. Sociolinguistic surveys of students of different ethnicity allowed establishing the levels of self-assessment of their language competence in foreign and native languages. Almost a third of respondents rate the quality of foreign language skills as unsatisfactory, which is associated with low level of school language education and minimal prospects for studying and working abroad. Self-assessment of the level of proficiency in ethnic languages is significantly higher — with only 18 % of Khakass respondents not speaking their native language. However, the Tuvinian and Khakass languages included in the Atlas of Endangered Languages of UNESCO are practically not represented in the programs of university non-linguistic education. The introduction of mandatory USE in Russian and foreign languages, became a new challenge and threat to republican state languages and strengthens the role of micro-language planning and its agents at different levels

Estatutos jurídicos e processos de nacionalização de línguas no Brasil

A Constituição Brasileira de 1988 inaugura uma nova cena nas políticas linguísticas da história constitucional do país, ao registrar, pela primeira vez, a existência de uma língua oficial para servir de instrumento de suporte da organização estatal e reforçar a sua condição de nação soberana perante a comunidade internacional. A decisão política de elevar a língua portuguesa à condição de idioma oficial não foi seguida de um processo de planejamento legislativo e do desenvolvimento de uma teoria política dos direitos linguísticos com a finalidade de definir os lugares jurídicos das demais línguas constitutivas da realidade multilíngue nacional. Assim, além de termos no país a existência de línguas sem estatuto jurídico algum, ou seja, línguas sem nenhuma proteção jurídica por parte do Estado, encontramos também, no conjunto daqueles idiomas que lograram êxito em conseguir o amparo estatal, um cenário bastante confuso e, por vezes, inibidor do desenvolvimento de políticas mais robustas de nacionalização das nossas línguas. Objetivamos elucidar as circunstâncias que levaram a esse panorama de extrema fragilidade nas diretrizes de classificação dos estatutos jurídicos dos idiomas e, em seguida, apresentaremos alguns dos principais processos de nacionalização de línguas adotados pelo Brasil após a promulgação da “Constituição Cidadã”.

Modern Russian Literary Language as the State Official Language of the Russian Federation

The RF Federal Law «On official language of the Russian Federation» establishes the status of the modern Russian literary language as the state official language due to its inherent multi-functionality and normativity, which permits the language to be used throughout the country in various communication contexts. This paper sets out to differentiate such concepts as the «modern Russian literary language», «official language» and «functional and stylistic varieties of the literary language». We emphasize the need to restrain the penetration of changes into the official language. The observance of literary norms is assumed to be the main instrument of maintaining the language stability.

Sociolinguistic aspects of effective communication of a foreign specialist at a production department

The problem of integrating migrants into the host society is particularly relevant in relation to the production team since it occurs within the framework of a professional productive activity. A non-native speaker of the official state language faces various difficulties which can largely affect the results of his/her work and the effectiveness of production communication in general. The aim of the study was to establish sociolinguistic parameters, ensuring the efficient communication of a foreign specialist at a production department. The main methods used were surveys and interviews organized at the same time. The “qualitative method” of an in-depth interview was used as one of the approaches practiced within the framework of the so-called “grounded theory”. The authors suggest that effective communication can be provided for the foreign people by creating (on the basis of single universities in the region) linguoeconomic schools for migrants (non-natives), linking their future with the region, organization of specialized training. These workshops are proposed to include different types of classes, taking into account the future specialty and a field of study, for example, business meeting is operational, organizational, planning, controlling, and it is recommended to use a variety of educational technologies. Thus, the efficiency of migrants’ adaptation (non-natives) in the host society and the production team is largely dependent on joint systematic sequential activities of the state regional agencies, relevant professionals, and media.

An Analysis of Prepositional Errors Committed by Undergraduate ESL Learners of Pakistan

Second Language Acquisition (SLA) phenomena are very important for social, practical and academic reasons. About 6000 languages are spoken in the world and almost all of them have been learned by second languages by some portion of their speaker. There are four most commonly-used languages and English is one of them that is acquired as L1 by 427 million people and as L2 by 950 million speakers. In Pakistan, English has become most important language for communication and also a symbol of prestige in the society. It has turned into a great asset for Pakistani students; they learn it as their second language from basic to advance level. Moreover, English enjoys the status of official language in Pakistan. However, Pakistani learners face many difficulties and problems in using English in their writings and during speaking. Committing errors in the use of prepositions is one of such difficulties. This research examines the misuse of English prepositions by Pakistani undergraduate ESL learners. The purpose of the study is to find out whether male learners commit more prepositional errors or female. Other than this, following study also focuses on the types of prepositional errors found in tests of MCQs and word deletion. For this purpose, thirty (30) students of Government college university of Faisalabad (fifteen participants from each gender) were selected randomly for quantitative research. The data was collected through two tests; first test was based on gap filling exercise and second was based on MCQs. These tests were then analyzed through tables and graphics by using Microsoft excel software. Researcher used Hot Potatoes as a tool for making test and used statistical methods to find the frequencies and percentage of errors. The study found out various types of prepositional errors in both type of tests. Resultantly, the ratio of errors committed by female ESL learners was higher than male ESL learners. Keywords : Prepositions, gender analysis, error analysis, influence of L1 on L2 DOI : 10.7176/JLLL/53-02