[Corpora-List] Re: Minor(ity) Language

[Briony Williams]

Nicholas Sanders wrote:
> No very particular reason, except that the term seems to have a quasi- 
> official meaning.
> 
> On 9 Mar 2006, at 13:11, Somers, Harold wrote:
>> Well there ARE a lot of minority languages in London. We use the term
>> "ethnic minority" so why shouldn't the language(s) that they speak be
>> "minority language(s)"?

Actually, there *is* a possible reason for not using the word "minority" in 
relation to either the people group or the language.  In the case of Urdu, 
Arabic, Mandarin, etc. as spoken in London, these are certainly minority 
languages within the context of the UK, but not within a global context. 
However, in the case of Gaelic, Cornish, etc., these are likewise minority 
languages within the UK, but also minority languages within a global context 
- there is no political entity in which they constitute a dominant language.

The distinction is an important and useful one, and so it may be better to 
refer to the first group by a separate term (such as "immigrant languages", 
perhaps).

Regards

Briony Williams