A national language is a language (or language variant, e.g. dialect) that has some connection—de facto or de jure—with a nation. The term is applied quite differently in various contexts. One or more languages spoken as first languages in the territory of a country may be referred to informally or designated in legislation as national languages of the country. National languages are mentioned in over 150 world constitutions.
C.M.B. Brann, with particular reference to India, suggests that there are "four quite distinctive meanings" for national language in a polity:Brann, C.M.B. 1994. "The National Language Question: Concepts and Terminology." Logos [University of Namibia, Windhoek] Vol 14: 125–134 "Territorial language" (chthonolect, sometimes known as chtonolectWolff, H. Ekkehard "African Languages: An Introduction" Ch./Art: Language and Society p. 321 pub. Cambridge University Press 2000) of a particular people "Regional language" (choralect)
"Language-in-common or community language" (demolect) used throughout a country "Central language" (politolect) used by government and perhaps having a symbolic value. The last is usually given the title of official language. In some cases (e.g., the Philippines), several languages are designated as official and a national language is separately designated.
Official versus national languages
"National language" and "official language" are best understood as two concepts or legal categories with ranges of meaning that may coincide, or may be intentionally separate. Stateless nations are not in the position to legislate an official language, but their languages may be sufficiently distinct and well-preserved to be national languages. Some languages may be recognized popularly as "national languages", while others may enjoy official recognition in use or promotion.
In many African countries, some or all indigenous African languages are officially used, promoted, or expressly allowed to be promoted (usually taught in schools and written in important publications) as semi-official languages whether by long-term legislation or short-term, case-by-case executive (government) measures. To be official, spoken and written languages may enjoy government or federalised use, major tax-funded promotion or at least full tolerance as to their teaching and employers' recognition in public education, standing on equal footing with the official language(s). Further, they may enjoy recognition as a language used in compulsory schooling and treasury money may be spent to teach or encourage adults in learning a language which is a minority language in a particular area to restore its understanding and spread its moral stories, rhymes, poems, phrases, songs, and other literary heritage which will promote social cohesion (where other languages remain) or will promote nationalist differentiation where another, non-indigenous language is deprecated.20 Year Strategy for the Irish Language http://www.plean2028.ie/en/node/14
National languages
Bangladesh
Bengali, the sole official language of Bangladesh, is also the de jure and de facto national language of the country. Establishing Bengali as a national language was one of the key reasons for the independence of Bangladesh.
Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina de jure has three national languages - Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian - which are de facto varieties of one language, Serbo-Croatian. It is officially defined under the three names, corresponding to the country's constituent nations. The Latin and Cyrillic alphabets both have official and equal status.
Bulgaria Bulgarian is the sole official language in Bulgaria.Constitution of the Republic Bulgaria, article 3
Canada
Canada's official languages since the Official Languages Act of 1969 are English (Canadian English) and French (Canadian French). Depending on one's views of what constitutes a "nation", these two languages may be considered two equal national languages of the nation of Canada, or the national languages of two nations within one state, English Canada and French Canada.
Quebec nationalists consider Quebec French, the province's official language, the language of the Quebec nation. French is a recognized minority in Ontario, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador. Acadian French, the national language of Acadians, is an official language of New Brunswick (and recognized minority in Quebec, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island). Newfoundland English dialects differ substantially from other Canadian English ones.
English and French are official in Canada's three territories; two legislate a variety of Indigenous languages in addition. Nunavut and the Northwest Territories (N.W.T.) have as official languages Inuktitut and Inuinnaqtun, with N.W.T. also have a further seven more (totalling eleven official languages): Cree, Dënesųłiné, Gwich’in, Inuvialuktun, North and South Slavey and Tłı̨chǫ. As these official languages are legislated at a territorial (sub-federal) level, they can be construed as national languages.
Besides these, there are many Indigenous languages of Canada, which are the national languages of one or more First Nations, Inuit or Métis peoples; a number of First Nations and Inuit homelands at the Indigenous government level legislate their language as an official language of the Nation, such as the Nisg̱a’a language by Nisg̱a’a and Inuvialuktun by Inuvialuit. Notably the Cree language is spoken (with variations) from Alberta to Labrador, Anishinaabemowin is spoken across central Canada, and Inuktitut is spoken across the Arctic, northern Quebec and Labrador.
China
There are many languages spoken across China, with most people speaking one of several varieties of Chinese. During successive imperial dynasties, the spoken language of the capital city served as the official spoken language and was used across the country by government officials who traveled to communicate with one another. Dialects used for this purpose in different eras included those of Xi'an, Luoyang, Nanjing, Beijing, and other historical capital cities.
After the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, the Kuomintang (Chinese nationalists) founded the Republic of China. In order to promote a sense of national unity and enhance the efficiency of communications within the nation, the government decided to designate a national language. The Beijing dialect of Mandarin and Guangzhou dialect of Cantonese were each proposed as the basis for a national language for China. In the beginning, there were attempts to introduce elements from other Chinese varieties into the national language in addition to those from the Beijing dialect; this was reflected in the first official dictionary of the national language, given the name (Pinyin: , literally "national language"). But this artificial language had no native speakers and was difficult to learn, so it was abandoned in 1924. Ultimately, the Beijing dialect was chosen as the national language and it continued to be referred to as in Chinese in the Republic of China. Since then, the Beijing dialect has become the main standard for pronunciation, due to its prestigious status during the preceding Qing dynasty.
Still, elements from other dialects do exist in the standard language, which is now defined as reflecting the pronunciation of Beijing, the grammatical patterns of Mandarin dialects spoken in the northern parts of China, and the vocabulary of modern vernacular Chinese literature. The People's Republic of China renamed the national language (Pinyin: Pǔtōnghuà, literally "common speech"), without otherwise changing the definition of the standard national language.
Croatia The Croatian language is the official language of Croatia. "The Croatian language and the Latin script shall be in official use in the Republic of Croatia" in Article 12 of the Croatian Constitution.
Czech Republic The Czech language is the national language of the Czech Republic.
Ethiopia
Amharic was the national language in Ethiopian Empire. The country is composed of at least 80 different ethnic nationalities. Its people altogether speak over 80 different languages. Amharic, Oromo, Tigrinya, Somali, and Afar are the official working languages of Ethiopia. But courts, and legislations work in Amharic and the constitution of the country is written in Amharic in an official capacity. And in day-to-day basis, Amharic is used to issue driving licenses and report tax income, making it not a national language but official language of the government.
Finland
Finland has two national languages: the Finnish language and the Swedish language. The Constitution of Finland guarantees the right to use Finnish and Swedish in courts and other state institutions., Section 17. International Constitutional Law website. Despite the large difference in the numbers of users, Swedish is not officially classified as a minority language but equal to Finnish. Both national languages are compulsory subjects in school (except for children with a third language as mother tongue) and a language test is a prerequisite for governmental offices where a university degree is required. The constitution also grants the Sami and the Roma peoples the right to maintain and develop their languages: The Sami have partial right to use Sami languages in official situations according to other laws.Decree on the Sami Parliament FINLEX. Access date: 3 July.
Hungary
Hungarian is the official language in Hungary.Fundamental Law of Hungary, article H India
India has no national language. Hindi and English are the official languages in India, according to Article 343(1) of the Constitution of India. Gujarat High Court has stated that there is no official record or order declaring Hindi as the national language of the country.
The Union Government uses Hindi and English as official languages, such as for parliamentary proceedings and texts of federal laws. Communications between the Union Government and state governments are in Hindi with Region A and Region B states and in English with Region C states. State governments use their own native languages in official communications. They may adopt one or more of the 21 languages listed in the Indian constitution's eighth schedule—Assamese, Bengali, Bodo, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Kashmiri, Konkani, Maithili, Malayalam, Marathi, Meitei, Nepali, Odia, Punjabi, Sanskrit, Santali, Sindhi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. The Supreme Court of India uses English as its sole official language; high courts in some states use other languages spoken in the state in addition to English. and English and Hindi are used for official purposes by the union government and in the parliament
The Supreme Court of India uses English in its proceedings and objects to attempts to make Hindi official in legal proceedings.
Indonesia
The official and national language of Indonesia is Indonesian, a language derived from Malay language. Indonesia has more than 700 living languages, making it the second most linguistically diverse country after neighboring Papua New Guinea. These 700+ languages, however, are without official status, and some are in danger of extinction. The largest local language is Javanese.
Ireland
Irish is recognised by the Constitution of Ireland as the national language and first official language of Ireland, with English designated a second official language.Article 8, Bunreacht na hÉireann. Despite this, Irish English is the primary language spoken in Ireland; government and parliamentary business is principally carried on in English.
Israel