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This article analyzes the legal protection of languages from the point of view of "regional majority languages/' t hat is, languages of populations who, though a majority in their historic territory (where they may nevertheless be experiencing some form of assimilation), are minorities at the national level (French in Quebec, Catalan in Catalonia, andmany languages in the pre-1991 Soviet Union). Only the protection of aboriginal linguistic minorities seems to have been considered so far at the international level.
The article proposes some sociolinguistic principles related to the legal protection of languages that can be gatheredfrom the Canadian experience, the present Situation of aboriginal languages and Quebec's experience of language planning. Some recent foreign experiences of legal language planning are also taken into account (mainly Spain and the countries of the former US S R). Comments are also made on a draft Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights that is currently circulating. The new linguistic Situation arisingfrom the suppression ofbarriers tofree trade is briefly considered äs in some cases language can be considered äs a nontariff barrier tofree trade: minority languages would be most vulnerable to such legal interpretations.
The opinion on
