Official language
This article deals with official languages in the official sense. For "official language" as a style designation for typical official language, see Administrative language.
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The official language is the language of a country or state which is regulated in a binding manner in language law and which applies to the government and all state agencies among themselves and vis-à-vis the citizens. The official language is used to draft administrative acts and standards, to provide information to citizens, and to conduct and record negotiations. It is also the language in which pleadings in court and applications must be submitted.
Within a country or territory, there may be several official languages at the same time. States with several official languages often use a separate working language for internal communication for reasons of simplification. Official languages and working languages are also common in international authorities such as the UN and the European Patent Office.
Terms
The official language is, in the strict sense, the language in which authorities and governments communicate.
While German is the sole official language in Germany, there are also countries with several official languages. Switzerland, for example, has four official languages: French, Italian, German and Graubünden Romansh.
In Germany and Austria, other languages are recognised as official regional languages in addition to the official language German (see Official languages within Germany, Minority languages in Austria).
Comparable terms, but not always synonymous with "official language", are.
- Language of the court, the language admissible in court
- language of negotiation, the language in which, for example, a parliament holds its meetings
- School language, the language used in school lessons
- State language, the "official language of a state" (Duden), e.g. German is the state language of Austria according to the Austrian constitution.
However, when a language dominates in a country, it is often at the same time the official language, the language of the courts, the language of negotiations and the language of school. Colloquially, the word "official language" also stands for the typical administrative language whose style and vocabulary are characteristic of offices and authorities. In this sense, one also speaks of "official German", "Behördendeutsch" or "Beamtendeutsch".
Establishment of an official language
Official languages do not always reflect the actual mother tongues of the inhabitants of a country.
In nation states, the traditional language of a nationwide speech community is regularly the official language (see also nation). Languages spoken by indigenous national minorities are occasionally recognised as local official languages (for example Hawaiian in Hawaii for about 1000 speakers). The languages that immigrants bring with them to their destination countries are generally not official languages in the country of immigration (if they are, this can be a factor favouring immigration; see, for example, Germans in Switzerland).
Only in a few cases (Switzerland with four, South Africa with eleven and Bolivia with 36 official languages) are "all" national languages also official languages. In most states, on the other hand, notwithstanding the presence of other indigenous languages, only one language is considered an official language, which is justified by the need for state unity and the additional administrative burden (training of all officials and printing of all forms in several languages), but can also lead to a devaluation of speakers of non-official languages and, in the longer term, to the extinction of minority languages. The recognition of a language as an official language usually has a language-preserving effect.
A compromise is to give a minority language the status of an official language at regional level. Examples are the German language in South Tyrol and the Sorbian language in Lusatia. In individual states, such as Norway and Switzerland, official languages are also established at the municipal level.
As far as sign languages are concerned, New Zealand sign language is the only one that has been defined as an official language for the whole country. In Austria, too, a sign language has taken on the function of an official language and can at least be used in court.
