Cyprus

After the independence from Great Britain in 1960, a mixed Greek-Turkish government was
installed but in 1974 the Greek government carried out a coup detat to unify Cyprus to Greece and
the Turkish army invaded the northern part of the island. Since then Cyprus is divided in 2 parts:
North (turkish etnicity) called Turkish Republic of Cyprus and the South called Republic of Cyprus.
There are two different policies: in the South there is more tolerance toward minority community;
in the North there is integralism. Only the Government of the Republic of Cyprus has obtained
international recognition.
The linguistic/territorial policies of both States is fundamentalist: Greek Cyprus aims at unifying
with Greece while Turkish Cyprus aims at independence and recognition.
Republic of Cyprus: 95% is Greek; the other 5% is divided into small communities: Arab-manorita;
Armenian; Turkish and Jewish. In this part minority communities are tolerated. There are schools
where the teaching is in Turkish, Armenian, Arabian and Jewish.
Turkish Republic of Cyprus: from its foundation in 1983, Turkish government began an ethnic
cleansing toward Greek-cypriots.
60% of population is Turkish, while 40% is Turkish-cypriots. Minority communities are Greeks,
Armenians and Arabs. These 3 languages are going to be lost because Turkish forbids to use them
even if in the court they can speak only if there is an interpreter. The work of the school is going to
fail.
States practicing a schizophrenic policy
They practice a linguistic policy that contradicts the ideological basis of their very history.

Belgium
The population is 10.75 millions: 59% speaks Dutch, 40% French and less than 1% German. Its
divided in two parts: in the North people speaks Flemish; in the South people speaks French. In the
capital, Bruxelles, there is bilingualism. The majority is Flemish, following by francophone and
others minorities like Germans and inmigrants.
Belgium is divided into 3 Regions: Flanders, Wallonia and Bruxelles and in the same time into 4
linguistic areas: French; Flemish; German and Bilingualism (Bruxelles).
In the State there are:

Flemish Council;
Wallonian Council;
French Council;
German Council;
Bruxelles Council.

Every Region deals with territorial problems such as forests, environment, houses, agricultures,
public works
Every Community deals with culture, teaching, libraries, health, language and tourism policies.

Flemish and French communities meet not with problems. In 1830 Belgium obtains independence
from the Netherland on the basis of a common religion (Catholicism).
From the economic point of view, the Walloon regions is highly industrialised and is thus more
powerful. During World War 2 the Germans sustained the development of the Flanders and after
World War 2 their region became more economically important.
Flanders and Wallonia dont recognise linguistic rights to the minority living on their territory but
these rights are accorded to the German-speaking minority living in the eastern border of the French
part so they are forbidden to use their language in the courts and to vote for a candidate of his own
Community.

France
French language began official since the Revolution, before that there were different dialects and
French was used only by intellectual people.
There is a strong identity between language, nation and State. Despite many regional and migration
colonial languages France has always had a fundamentalist attitude.
In 1794: began the linguistic terror: Government promoted to eliminate dialects in favour of
French;
In 1951: Deixonne law introduces the teaching of regional languages (Breton, Basque, Catalan);
In 1972: Pompidou saw that there was no place for regionals languages and cultures in a France that
is going to leave a sign in Europe;
In 1991: Mitterand, before being elected Republic President, saw that minority communities had to
be recognized;
In 1992: French Parliament approved Article 2 the language of the Republic shall be French,
excluding every kind of minorities;
In 1996: the Council of State forbids to sign the EU Charter for minority and regional languages, on
the basis that it is in contrast with article 2 of the French Constitution;
In 1999: France signs the EU Charter for minority and regionals languages but the Constitutional
council declares that article 7 of the Charter is against the principles of unity expressed in the
French Constitution;
In 2008: the national Assembly approves a new article (75.1) of the French Constitution, that
recognizes the regional languages as part of the cultural heritage of France.
Despite the regional languages may be used in road signs and in some schools, they are not allowed
in the public administration and in the judicial Courts.
Here the schizophrenic behaviour derives from the States attitude towards regional minorities that
seem in contrast with the principles of the French Revolution (equality, fraternity, democracy and
freedom).
An important example is Corsica: Corsican should be used (Corsican people are 60%), but in the
courts, in the public administration, in the schools the official language is French.

Only 8% of students learn Corsican, but there are private schools where students can learn
languages such as: Occitan, Corsican, Breton and Alsacian.
[Breton is the only celtic language spoken on the continent, in Britanny. It was introduced during
the V century by people escaping from Cornwall and Wales after the invasion of the Saxons and
frourished during the XII century, producing renowned literature. The speakers are 240,000370,000, but yhe majority of them is over 60.]
[Alsace too is on the border between Germanic and romanic languages and it has long been
disputed between France and Germany and from the XVII century it has changed sovereignity 4
times. After World War 2 France decided to impose French over the local dialects and German, but
the local population continue using both mainly in private.]
States practicing an insufficient policy
Their linguistic policies swing from on consideration of the regional languages and the agreement
on the general principles, but without a real commitment.

Italy
Italy has the largest amount of dialects and minority languages in the EU.
There are many minority languages in the Italian territory:

German or a variety of german: The main variety is that spoken in Alto Adige/ Sud Tirol
(sud-tirolese an austro-bavarian variety) [Bolzano, Trento, Verona e Vicenza] [ a carinzian
dialects in Udine, Veneto] [walser in Valle dAosta and Piemonte];
Friulano: Its spoken in Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, Trieste, Portogruaro areas;
Ladino dolomitico: in Belluno, Trento and Bolzano areas;
Sardo: a romance language coming from latin around X century, but after the 1326 when the
island was conquered by the Aragonian, catalan began the language of Sardinia. In this
island, catalan is spoken in Alghero (63% of the population speaks catalan); sassarese in
Sassari areas (a variety between sardo and Corsican); gallurese in Sassari and Olbia areas;
tabarchino (a variety of ligure); romaniska (a gipsy dialect with sardo, jewesh, albabian and
greek languages);
Franco-provenzale (a romance language) in Valle DAosta, Piemonte and Puglia;
Occitan ( a neolatin language) in Cuneo, Torino and Calabria areas;
Sloveno: In Friuli-Venezia Giulia (Udine, Trieste e Gorizia);
Croato: In Molise (Campobasso);
Greco: In Reggio Calabria and Lecce areas;
Albanian (98.000 people) in Sicily, Calabria, Puglia, Molise, Campania, Basilicata and
Abruzzo.

In the Albertino statute, the article 62 asserted that the official language was Italian, but every
member of Parliament coming from French areas could use this language.
During fascist regime the teaching of minority language was suppressed, but after World War 2,
Valle DAosta, Trentino-Alto Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia became bilingualism so that their
language could obtain the same rights of Italian language.

In 1991, friulano and sardo are know as minority languages to protect;

In 1999, law 482 was approved in order to protect several minority languages (norme in material di
tutela delle minoranze linguistiche storiche).
The protection of these, however, is often left to the autonomous regions or to the local
administrations, without a national plan and investment.
In the 3 Autonomous Regions (Valle dAosta, Friuli and Trentino) in the courts people could use his
second language, while in Sardinia its not possible.
The teaching:

In Alto Adige, (primary, secondary school and university) it is possible to choose the
language of teaching (Italian or german), but the study of the second language is necessary;
In Valle dAosta, bilingualism is possible only in primary school, but not in the secondary
school because there arent French native teacher;
In Friuli Venezia Giulia, Slovenian people living in Trieste and Gorizia areas have Italian
and Slovenian schools;
In Sardinia, there are some school where you can learn Sardinian, but there are a very few.

Romania
Romanian is spoken as mothertongue by more than 26 million people in Romania and Moldova, but
also Serbia, Bulgaria, Russia, Ukraina and Hungary.
There are several linguistic minorities: Hungarian, rom
There are 4 varieties of Romanian:

Dacoromanian (or Romanian) official in Romani and Moldova;

Arumanian, spoken by small communities in Greece, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria;
Meglenoromanian, spoken by small communities in Greece, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Turkey;
Istroromenian, spoken by small communities in Croazia.

The communist regime between 1965 and 1989, didnt recognized minority communities, but after
1991 the Country signed and ratified the EU Charter and recognized linguistic rights to the
Hungarian minority but ethnic segregation is still widely present.
Multiculturalism and segregation has been produced by the education system, because every
minority has is own schools where people could study in his own language.

Russia
The official language is Russian, used, according to official data, by 81.6% of the population.
According to Ethnologue, 103 languages are spoken while the Russian Goverments counts only 79.
After Russian the most spoken are Tatarian, Chechen, Avarian
The protection of minority languages in Russia is very difficult because of the repressive approach
of the past, that has imposed Russian over all other languages.

Nowadays, in 20 of the 21 Republics constituting the Russian Federation 2 languages are official:
Russian and the mothertongue of the local ethnic group.
Moreover it is mandatory to use the Cyrillic alphabet, even for those languages that traditionally
were written with the latin or arab alphabet.
All relations with the administration and the central government has to be in Russian and in order to
acquire the Russian citizenship Russian has to be spoken.

States practicing a good intention policy

They want to protect the minority languages on their territories but are unable to transform this
willingness into political action.

United Kingdom
The official language is English (94% of people is English mothertongue), but other Celtic
languages are recognized:

Cornwall: after the linguistic policy of England, that imposed English as the official
language in 1549, Cornish was decleared extinct in 1777 with the death of its last speaker
(Dolly Pentraeth). From the XIX century several attempts to resuscitate it have occurred and
nowadays it is spoken by nearly 3500 people, despite there is no institutional protection;
Wales: it is spoken by nearly 580.000 people in Welsh (21% of population). In the Middle
Age it obtained great recognition being associated to the King Arthur Cycle and later to the
Methodist Church with the Sundays schools, but with the Industrial revolution it declined
but today it is the strongest Celtic language in the UK, used in the media, in the judicial
courts and in schools. Its promotion and use is ruled by the Welsh Language Commissioner;
Scotland: It was united to the UK in 1707 and since then the use of the local language has
been forbidden up to 1981. Its use has decreased in all the territory. 98% of the Scottish
population speaks English in its Scottish variety, called Scottish English, that has different
lexicon and pronunciation. Scottish Gaelic is allowed in Courts and in the public
administration in the areas where it is spoken, while the use of Scottish at school is still very
limited;
Northern Ireland and the Channel islands: there is no recognition and protection of Irish
Gaelic and Ulsters Scots.
The Channel Islands fall into two separate self-governing bailiwicks, the Bailiwiks of
Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey. Here the Norman language still survives only in the
island of Sark (in the Bailiwick of Guernsey), where it is spoken by nearly 600 old people;
Isle of Man: Manx extinguished in 1974 with the death of its last speaker (Ned Maddrell).
After that, the local government tried to re-vitalise it introducing it in primary school as a
vehicular language. The 2011 census counted 1823 Manx speakers. It is used at the opening
ceremony of the Man Parliament and it is taught in secondary school.

Croazia

After Civil War, Serbian-Croatian language extinguished and for political reason it was transformed
in 4 languages: Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian and Montenegrino, formally different but in reality the
same, exepting regional differences and the alphabet.
The Croatian regime tried to fight Serbian impurity in the language, creating neologism. Today the
situation is different:

Croatian mothertongue (86%);

Serbian mothertongue (4,5%);
Bosnian mothertongue (0,4%);
Italian mothertongue (0,4%);
Hungarian, Albanian, Slovenian mothertongue (0,3%);
Romanian, UKranian.

In the Parliament the only language used is Croatian. In the State Courts is forbidden speaking in
the minority language, while in the local Courts is allowed.
The teaching:
Every community has the right to study in his own language, but not every minority community
could receive these services in the same way (Serbian, Hungarian and Italian have more
opportunities than ukranian and jewish community.

Macedonia
In Macedonia, 61,4% of population is macedonian mothertongue.
There are several minority communities:

Albanian (19,2%);
Gipsy (6,1%);
Turkish (3,9%);
Croatian (1,9%);
Bosnian (1,7%);
Bulgarian and Greek (0,9%);
Romanian, Arabian, Hungarian

In 1946, during the proclamation of the Republic of Jugoslavia, in Macedonia there was a
repressive policy towards minority communities such as greek. Greek people couldnt speak their
own language and the teaching of greek was forbidden. In 1955 this practice was suppressed, but
after 1981 this practice was used against Albanian people.
In 1991, Macedonia became an independent State from Jugoslavia, but Greece doesnt consider
Macedonia as a State but a part of its territory and for this reason Macedonia is called FYROM.
On the other hand, Bulgaria doesnt accept the name Macedonian for its language because it is
considered to be a dialect of Bulgarian language.
In the courts, its allowed the use of minority communities but only Albanian, Gipsy and Turkish,
all the other minorities communities need for an interpreter.
The teaching:

Only Albanian students can benefit of lessons in their own language; Turkish people and other
communities cannot study their own language.
States engaging positively with minority languages
Despite having adopted good actions, a few problems still remain to be solved.

Ukraina
In Ukraina 67,5% of the population is ukranian mothertongue, the others minorities communities
speak Russian (29,6%), Byelorussian, Moldavian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Romanian, Polish ecc
How can we see, the main problem for Ukranian is to protect their national language against
Russian, talked from a strong russian minority community.
Ukranian is the only language used in the Parliament, but the other delegates of minority
communities can use their own mothertongue. Russian people could use their own language in the
courts, public administration.
The teaching:
There are monolingual schools for minorities communities, exepting for the study of ukranian and
Russian. There are also bilingual schools (ukranian-russian; Russian-romanian; ukranian-romanian).

Armenia
The situation in Armenia is different, since when in 1991 this republic has reconquered its
independence after the genocide due to Ottaman Empire. After the war against Azeirbajan,
Armenian army occupied a region where the aremenian population is the majority.
There are only a few minority communities: Azeri, Kurdish, Russian and other nationalities.
In some villages where there are minorities communities the use of their language is authorized.
The teaching:
There are some schools where people could learn in Russian and Kurdish.

Principality of Monaco
The main minority language in Monaco is its native language, Monegasque (a celtic-ligure language
with strong Occitan influences), that is spoken only by 17% of the population. Other minority
communities are Italian, English, German and Spanish. 58% of population speaks in French, which
it is the official language of the Parliament. In the courts and in the public administration, people
speaks in French, but in the primary and secondary schools is necessary the study of the
Monegasque.

States engaging positively but contradictory with minority

Germany

After the reunification of Germany, in 1991, is the second European country with the majority
population (80 millions). 93% of population speak German. German is the Germanic language most
spoken worldwide and in the EU. It is official in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium and
Liechtenstein and it is used and protected in Alto-Adige. German like Italian has many dialects.
German dialects are spoken by the Walser community in Piemonte and Valle dAosta, by the
Mcheni in Trentino and Friuli, and by the Cimbri in Veneto. Moreover, it is spoken in Belgium,
Alsace, the USA (Pensylvania Deutsch) and in Namibia.
The German linguistic policy allows the cultural and social integration of the different ethnic
groups.
In Germany has many dialects and several linguistic minorities on its territory, but their protection
is left to each Land:

Danish: spoken in Schleswig-Holstein, where it is co-offical;

Frisians, spoken in Lower Saxony by nearly 2000 people, without any protection and
Schleswig-Holstein by 50.000 people, where it is co-official. In many school, students can
study frisian only for a few hours per week or only as optional subject;
Sorbians: 100.000 people in Brandeburg and Saxony, where it is recognized as co-official
and is used in primary schools and in the public administration;
Polish: 241.000 people in Brandenburg and Saxony, but it is recognized no right being
considered the language of an immigrant community and not of an ethnic community;
Roms.

Other inmigrant minorities are Turkish, Italian, Greek, Ex-Jugoslavian. Inmigrants are not protected
on the linguistic plan.
In the Schleswig-Holstein districts there are Danish and Frisians minorities. Due to a treaty signed
by Germany and Denmark, in the courts and in the public administration is permitted the use of
Danish and Frisone.
In the schools, Danish minority has a private education system, but Frisian minority has only some
schools or optional course taught in that language.

Ireland
In Ireland, English is spoken by nearly 95% of the population and Irish only by 3%. The other
language spoken by 1% of the population is Scots ( an old Germanic language which derives of the
old English spoken in Northumbria before norman invasion).
This country is an example of romantic bilingualism where the idea of bilingualism is associated
to a national myth even if the majority of the population does not speak Gaelic but tends to
appreciate quite a lot the presence of bilingual road signs and toponyms. The Irish mothertongues
tend to live in the Gaeltacht, on the western coasts of the island.
In the Parliament, rules are written in both languages (English and Irish), but during debates the use
of Irish is sporadic.
In the public administration, its allowed bilingualism.
The teaching:

In the primary schools, courses are in English, but the study of Irish is necessary; only in the
Gaeltacht, the teaching is in Irish and English is taught as a second language. In the secondary
school, Irish is optional. Scots is not taught in Irish schools.
Gibraltar
The official language in Gibraltar is English, used by 83% of the population in everyday life, in the
institutions, schools and courts.
Other languages spoken are:

Spanish: as a second language;

Llanito: a sort of creole with an English and Andalusian Spanish basis, used as a vehicular
language by the citizens, who call themselves Llanitos. It is the third language of the enclave
but it does not have official recognition.

Virtuous States
They have shown a real commitment to the protection of minority languages and in the removal of
every linguistic discrimination.

Spain
Spain is important for two reasons: the first one is related to the importance of the history of this
country and to his geographic characteristics; the second one is related to the fact that Spain after 40
years of dictatorship has been able to reconstruct a democratic society, based on cultural and
political tools unknown to many of its neigbourghs.
In 1140, Castilian became the official language of the Reign of Castilla y Lon.
In 1479, with the unification of the Reign of Castilla and that of Aragona, aragonese died like
gallego in the XV and XVI century.
In 1536, Charles I, proclaimed Castilian the universal language of the policy
Between 1707 and 1716, Catalan lost its fight when Philip V imposed Castilian as the only
language of the Government.
In 1780, with Charles III, Castillina was taught in every school.
During the dictatorship, minorities languages (basque, catalan, aragonese,asturian, Galician) have
been persecuted.
After Francos death in 1975, with the monarchy of Juan Carlos began a work of democratization.
Today, Castilian Spanish or Spanish is the official language of Spain and according to some authors
it is the fourth spoken language in the world and the second as L2.
The Spanish constitution recognizes 1 official language: Castilian and 3 co-official languages:
Gallego, Basque (Euskera), Catalan both in its Eastern (Catal) and Western (Valencia) varieties.
Catalan is spoken by more than 10 million people in Spain, France, Andorra and Sardegna.

In Catalonia, Catalan and Castilian are equally employed in the public administration and in the
courts; in primary and secondary schools the two languages co-exist and there are University
courses in Catalan. Toponyms and road signs are in Catalan.
In Valencia there is the same situation, but the study of Catalan is required by a lesser number of
students.
In the Balearic Islands same situation, but here there are 3 varieties of the language:

Mallorqui in Majorca;
Eivissenc in Ibiza;
Menorqui in Minorca.

On the French Border of Catalonia, there is the Valley of Aran, where 60% of the population speak
Aranese, an Occitan language. Here trilingualism is recognized.
In Galicia, Galician is the mothertongue for nearly 70% of the population and bilingualism is
official, being allowed the use of Galician in school and in the public administration.
In the Basque Country 40% of the population speaks Basque, a pre Indo-European language. Here
bilingualism is recognized and Basque is used in primary and secondary schools and in the public
administration. There is a strong autonomist feeling, which in the past has been transformed in
terrorists actions.
In Navarra, Basque speakers are only 10% of the population and only a partial bilingualism is
recognized, depending on the area of residence.
Other languages spoken in Spain are:

Murcian in the Autonomy Community of Murcia;

Aragonese in the Autonomy Community of Aragona;
Andalusian in Andalusia;
Canarian spoken in the Canarian Islands, which is considered a minority dialect (Canarian
Academy of the language);
Asturian which comprises 4 varieties:asturian-lonese (Autonomy Community of Castilla y
Lon), estramadurian (Estremadura, Castilla y Lon, Cantabria and Astury), cantabric (in the
countries of Cantabry) and gallego.

Luxemburg
The majority of the population (61,5%) is Luxembourgish mothertongue, 2,2% German and 5%
French.
Since 1830, French and German were official but after 1984 also Luxembourgish.
The three languages are official and are used by the population in their relations with the public
administration and in the Courts, while in Parliament and Government Luxembourgish is used, even
if the laws are written in French.
In private life, religion and shows Luxembourgish is used; the media are nearly all in German; the
language used in business is normally French.

The best example of this linguistic equilibrium is the school: in kindergartens Luxemburgish is
used; in the first year German is introduced and in the second semester of the second year spoken
French is introduced and in the third years written French too.
In secondary schools all lessons are in German but history and Maths that are in French.

Switzerland

63% of the population is German mothertongue;

19% French mothertongue;
7% Italian mothertongue;
0,6% Romansch mothertongue (cantone dei Grigioni);
9% speak other languages.

The citizens of Switzerland speak at least 2 languages of which one is nearly always German.
Even if Switzerland is considered a multilingual State, many cantons are monolingual and do not
accept the use of the other official languages in the public administration, as a consequence of the
principles of territoriality, that sanctions the clear territorial separation of languages.
The official documents of the Federation are written in German, French and Italian.
Romansch is official only in the areas where it is spoken and only the most important national
documents are translated into this language.

States without minority languages

They have not signes the EU Charter on the basis that no minority community live on their territory
even if is not always true.

Portugal
The official language is Portuguese, the third European language most widespread outside Europe.
There exist small minority communities speaking Mirandese, Roman and Cal (Rom dialects) and
Barranquenho (spoken in Alentejo).
Mirandese is spoken around Miranda de Douro, and shares the same origin of Asturian. Since 2001
an Anstituto de la Lhngua Mirandesa was created to protect and study the Language.

Citt del Vaticano

The inhabitants are 40% Italian and 60% of other nationalities.
A real Holy Seat citizenship does not exist, only a pseudo citizenship bestowed to people working
in the Holy Seat to carry out specific duties inside the walls.

No official language is recognized but all administrative documents are written in Italian; Latin is
the official language of the Roman Catholic Church (even if translations in other languages are
allowed); German is used by the Swiss Guards.