Linguistic discrimination

Linguistic discrimination is discrimination based on native language, usually in the language policy especially in education of a state that has one or several linguistic minorities.

Critics denounce linguistic discrimination as a violation of linguistic rights. Discrimination against minority language is an aspect of linguistic imperialism.

While linguistic discrimination was common in Europe during the formation of nation states in the 19th century, it has mostly given way to the opposite trends (positive discrimination) of linguistic protectionism and efforts of language revival in the 20th century.

Examples of historical repression of minority languages:
*the Coptic language. At the turn of the 8th century, Caliph Abdel al-Malik bin Marwan decreed that Arabic replace Koine Greek and Coptic as the sole administrative language. Literary Coptic gradually declined such that within a few hundred years, and suffered violent persecutions especially under the Mamluks, leading to its virtual extinction by the 17th century.
*Welsh in 18th to 19th century Wales: Welsh Not
*Basque: Public usage of Basque was prohibited in Spain under Franco, 1939 to 1965. Galician and Catalan have similar histories.
*Kurdish: Kurdish remains is banned in Syria [ [http://web.amnesty.org/wire/March2005/Syria Repression of Kurds in Syria is widespread] , Amnesty International Report, March 2005.] Until August 2002, the Turkish government placed severe restrictions on the use of Kurdish, prohibiting the language in education and broadcast media. [ [http://www.amnestyusa.org/action/special/zana.html Special Focus Cases: Leyla Zana, Prisoner of Conscience] ] [ [http://www.freemuse.org/sw6195.asp Kurdish performers banned, Appeal from International PEN] ] .
*Russification: Under the Russian Empire, the Russian language was made the official language of Finland (Russification of Finland). In the Soviet Union, following the phase of Korenizatsiya ("indigenization") and before Perestroika (late 1930s to late 1980s), Russian was termed as "the language of friendship of nations", to the disadvantage of other languages of the Soviet Union
*suppression of Korean during Japanese rule in Korea, 1910 to 1945.
*Anti-Chinese legislation in Indonesia

References

Literature

*Skutnabb-Kangas et al. (eds.), "Linguistic human rights: overcoming linguistic discrimination", Walter de Gruyter (1995), ISBN 3110148781.
*R. Wodak and D. Corson (eds.), "Language policy and political issues in education", Springer, ISBN 0792347137.

ee also

*Indigenous language
*Minority language
*Official language
*Stolen Generations
*Cultural assimilation
*Cultural genocide