National and official languages

NATIONAL and official languages are two different constructs, though, oftentimes, a national language will likely have official status. I shall attempt to discuss these constructs without particularly referring to the Philippine experience in national and official languages. Let us first begin discussing what an official language is. At the administrative level of a country or territory (or even within a country or territory), an official language, first and foremost, serves as the language of administration and government, and then of commerce, education and science and technology. The national government usually makes this designation though regional, provincial and other local units may make their own pronouncements on what the relevant official languages could possibly be. The effect this will have is that transactions with, in and between the government, businesses, and schools, at least in written form, will be in the designated official language. Hence why another convenient label for the official language is a “working language,” as how the Association of Southeast Asian Nations refer to English, as per their 2007 Charter. Clearly, English was chosen by the Asean for its neutrality. That is expected because how can one of the most multilingual regions of the world ever choose one of its languages without disgruntling those who do not speak the chosen language?

The practice of designating an official language is not uncommon worldwide, and almost all countries would have one. Or even more, in multilingual contexts. In these situations, it is often convenient to designate a primary official language to use for communication between one geographic location in the country and another. For communicative situations in the here and now (e.g., face-to-face meetings, casual conversations), which could not always afford an interpreter, a selection of a primary official language is useful. If there is more than one official language, written documents could eventually be rendered in the other languages a little later. It is worth noting that the United States does not have an official language. English is not an official language in the whole of the United States, though some individual states have declared it official.

A national language has an altogether different role. First and foremost, a national language is the undisputed carrier of national identity. In an ideal situation, every citizen of a country must be able to feel and say the national language carries their identity as a citizen of that country. And an even more ideal situation is that citizens will also feel and say the national language is a carrier of their own identity. It has to be noted here that not all countries have chosen to select a national language. None of the G7 economies (informally called the rich countries’ club) has de jure selected a national language, and only some of them have de jure official languages.

In possibly all instances, when a country gives a national language status — a symbolic privilege, if I may — to one language or several, that language or those languages will also have official status, as I have mentioned earlier. The selection of a national language is not always easy. And even in the selection of official languages, it does not always have to be one or even close to one. India, with more than 780 languages, has no national language but has 23 official languages, which include English. Countries that have determined a national language usually see language as part of the formula for nationalism. I observe this happens in post-colonial situations where the newly-independent country is seeking validation and expression of nationhood and imagines language is one such validation and expression. But I often wonder: Why must there be a need to reduce what is sometimes a diverse, multicultural national identity into a single national language?

Ariane Macalinga Borlongan is one of the leading scholars on English in the Philippines. He is the youngest to earn a doctorate in linguistics in the country, at age 23 from De La Salle University, and has had several teaching and research positions in Germany, Malaysia, Poland, Singapore and Taiwan. He is at present Associate Professor of Sociolinguistics at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, Japan.