List of language regulators
This is a list of bodies that regulate standard languages, often called language academies. Language academies are motivated by, or closely associated with, linguistic purism and prestige, and typically publish prescriptive dictionaries,[1] which purport to officiate and prescribe the meaning of words and pronunciations. A language regulator may also have a more descriptive approach, however, while maintaining and promoting (but not imposing) a standard spelling. Many language academies are private institutions, although some are governmental bodies in different states, or enjoy some form of government-sanctioned status in one or more countries. There may also be multiple language academies attempting to regulate and codify the same language, sometimes based in different countries and sometimes influenced by political factors (see also: pluricentric language).
Many world languages have one or more language academies. However, the degree of control that the academies exert over these languages does not render the latter controlled natural languages in the sense that the various kinds of "simple English" (e.g. Basic English, Simplified Technical English) or George Orwell's fictional Newspeak are. They instead remain natural languages to a considerable extent and are thus not formal languages such as Attempto Controlled English. They have a degree of standardization that allows them to function as standard languages (e.g. standard French). The English language has never had a formal regulator anywhere, outside of private productions such as the Oxford Dictionary.
Natural languages[]
| Language | Territory | Regulator(s) |
|---|---|---|
| Amis |  Republic of China
|
Council of Indigenous Peoples |
| Afrikaans |  South Africa Namibia
|
Die Taalkommissie (The Language Commission) |
| Akan |  Ghana
|
Akan Orthography Committee (AOC) |
| Albanian |  Albania Kosovo
|
Academy of Sciences of Albania, Tirana |
| Arabic |  Arab League
|
Academy of the Arabic Language (مجمع اللغة العربية) Arabic Language International Council |
 Algeria
|
Supreme Council of the Arabic language in Algeria (المجلس الأعلى للغة العربية بالجزائر) | |
 Egypt
|
Academy of the Arabic Language in Cairo (مجمع اللغة العربية بالقاهرة) | |
 Iraq
|
Iraqi Academy of Sciences (المجمع العلمي العراقي) | |
 Jordan
|
Jordan Academy of Arabic (مجمع اللغة العربية الأردني) | |
 Libya
|
||
 Morocco
|
||
 Saudi Arabia
|
||
 Somalia
|
||
 Sudan
|
||
 Syria
|
Academy of the Arabic Language in Damascus (مجمع اللغة العربية بدمشق) | |
 Tunisia
|
Beit Al-Hikma Foundation (مؤسسة بيت الحكمة) | |
 Israel Palestine
|
Academy of the Arabic Language in Israel (مجمع اللغة العربية) | |
| Aragonese |  Aragon
|
Academia de l'Aragonés (Academy of the Aragonese) |
| Armenian |  Armenia
|
Armenian National Academy of Sciences (Հայաստան) |
| Assamese |  India
|
Asam Sahitya Sabha (অসম সাহিত্য সভা) |
| Asturian |  Asturias
|
Academy of the Asturian Language (Academia de la Llingua Asturiana) |
| Azerbaijani |  Azerbaijan Iran
|
Azerbaijan National Academy of Sciences (Azərbaycan Milli Elmlər Akademiyası) |
| Basque |  Basque Country Navarre French Basque Country
|
Euskaltzaindia, often translated as Royal Academy of the Basque language |
| Belarusian |  Belarus
|
The Jakub Kolas and Janka Kupala Institute of Language and Literature[2] at the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus |
| Bengali (Bangla) |  Bangladesh
|
Bangla Academy (বাংলা একাডেমি) |
| India
|
Paschimbanga Bangla Akademi (পশ্চিমবঙ্গ বাংলা আকাদেমি) | |
| Berber | Morocco
|
Royal Institute of Amazight Culture |
| Algeria
|
Haut-Conseil à l'amazighité | |
| Algerian Academy of Amazigh Language | ||
| Central Bikol |  Philippines
|
Academia Bicolana defunct |
| Bosnian |  Bosnia and Herzegovina Sandžak
|
University of Sarajevo |
| Bulgarian |  Bulgaria
|
Institute for Bulgarian Language at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences |
| Burmese |  Myanmar
|
Myanmar Language Commission |
| Catalan |  Catalonia
|
Institute for Catalan Studies (Institut d'Estudis Catalans) |
 Valencian Community
|
Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua (Valencian Language Academy) | |
| Cebuano | Philippines
|
Visayan Academy of Arts and Letters (Akademyang Bisaya) |
| Cherokee |  Cherokee Nation
|
Council of the Cherokee Nation (ᏣᎳᎩᎯ ᎠᏰᎵ)[3] |
| Standard Chinese |  China
|
(国家语言文字工作委员会) |
| Republic of China
|
National Languages Committee (國語推行委員會) | |
 Singapore
|
Promote Mandarin Council (讲华语运动理事会) | |
 Malaysia
|
Chinese Language Standardisation Council of Malaysia (马来西亚华语规范理事会) | |
| Cornish |  Cornwall
|
Cornish Language Partnership (Keskowethyans an Taves Kernewek) |
| Croatian |  Croatia
|
Institute of Croatian Language and Linguistics (Institut za hrvatski jezik i jezikoslovlje) |
| Bosnia and Herzegovina
| ||
| Czech |  Czech Republic
|
Institute of the Czech Language (of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic) (Ústav pro jazyk český (Akademie věd České republiky)) |
| Danish |  Denmark
|
Dansk Sprognævn (Danish Language Council) |
| Dalecarlian |  Dalarna County
|
|
| Divehi |  Maldives
|
Dhivehi Academy |
| Dutch |  Netherlands Belgium Suriname
|
Nederlandse Taalunie (Dutch Language Union) |
| Dzongkha |  Bhutan
|
Dzongkha Development Commission (རྫོང་ཁ་གོང་འཕེལ་ལྷན་ཚོགས) |
| English | None official, but the Oxford English Dictionary is the principal historical dictionary of the English language. | |
| Estonian |  Estonia
|
Emakeele Seltsi keeletoimkond (Language Board at the Mother Tongue Society) sets rules and standards, authoritative advice is given by the Institute of the Estonian Language (Eesti Keele Instituut) |
| Faroese |  Faroe Islands
|
(Málráðið) |
| Filipino | Philippines
|
Commission on the Filipino Language (Komisyon sa Wikang Filipino) |
| Finnish |  Finland
|
Institute for the Languages of Finland |
| French | France
|
Académie française Délégation générale à la langue française et aux langues de France |
| Belgium
|
Académie royale de langue et de littérature françaises de Belgique (Royal Academy of French Language and Literature of Belgium) | |
 Quebec
|
Office québécois de la langue française (Québec Office of the French Language) | |
| Galician |  Galicia
|
Royal Galician Academy (Real Academia Galega) |
| German |  Germany Austria Switzerland South Tyrol Belgium Liechtenstein Namibia
|
Council for German Orthography (Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung) |
| Greenlandic |  Greenland
|
(Oqaasileriffik) |
| Greek |  Greece Cyprus
|
Center for the Greek Language (Κέντρον Ελληνικής Γλώσσας) |
| Guarani |  Paraguay
|
Guarani Language Academy (Guarani Ñe’ ẽ Rerekuapavẽ) |
| Gujarati | India
|
Gujarat Sahitya Akademi (ગુજરાત સાહિત્ય અકાદમી) |
| Hakka | Republic of China
|
Hakka Affairs Council (客家委員會) |
| Haitian Creole |  Haiti
|
Akademi Kreyòl Ayisyen (Haitian Creole Academy) |
| Hebrew | Israel
|
Academy of the Hebrew Language (האקדמיה ללשון העברית) |
| Hindi | India
|
Central Hindi Directorate (केन्द्रीय हिन्दी निदेशालय) |
| Hmar | India
|
[citation needed] |
| Hungarian |  Hungary
|
Research Institute for Linguistics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (Magyar Tudományos Akadémia Nyelvtudományi Intézete) |
| Icelandic |  Iceland
|
Árni Magnússon Institute for Icelandic Studies |
| Igbo |  Nigeria
|
Society for Promoting Igbo Language and Culture |
| Indonesian |  Indonesia
|
Language and Book Development Agency (Badan Pengembangan Bahasa dan Perbukuan) |
| Irish |  Ireland Northern Ireland
|
Foras na Gaeilge (Irish Institute) |
| Italian |  Italy San Marino Switzerland Vatican City
|
Accademia della Crusca (Academy of the bran) |
| Japanese |  Japan
|
National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics (国立国語研究所) |
| Kabiye |  Togo
|
Kabɩyɛ Akademii (Académie kabiyè) |
| Kannada | Karnataka
|
Various academies and Government of Karnataka |
| Kashubian |  Poland
|
Commission of the Kashubian Language [1] |
| Kazakh |  Kazakhstan
|
Ministry of Culture of Kazakhstan |
| Khmer |  Cambodia
|
Royal Academy of Cambodia (រាជបណ្ឌិត្យសភាកម្ពុជា) |
| Korean |  South Korea
|
National Institute of the Korean Language (국립국어원/國立國語院) |
 North Korea
|
The Language Research Institute, Academy of Social Science (사회과학원 어학연구소) | |
| China
|
China Korean Language Regulatory Commission (중국조선어규범위원회/中国朝鲜语规范委员会) | |
| Kven |  Norway
|
Kainun institutti – kvensk institutt |
| Kurdish |  Kurdistan
|
Kurdish Academy (ئەکادیمیای کوردی) |
| Kyrgyz |  Kyrgyzstan
|
National Committee for State Language under the President of the Kyrgyz Republic (Кыргыз Республикасынын Президентине караштуу Мамлекеттик тил боюнча улуттук комиссия) |
| Lao |  Laos
|
Educational Science Research Institute, Ministry of Education and Sports (ສະຖາບັນຄົ້ນຄວ້າວິທະຍາສາດການສືກສາ ກະຊວງສຶກສາທິການ ແລະ ກີລາ) Institute of Social Sciences, Faculty of Arts, National University of Laos (ສະຖາບັນວິທະຍາສາດສັງຄົມ ຄະນະອັກສອນສາດ ມະຫາວິທະຍາໄລແຫ່ງຊາດລາວ) |
| Latin |  Holy See
|
Pontifical Academy for Latin (Pontificia Academia Latinitatis) (ecclesiastical Latin)[4] |
| International Code of Botanical Nomenclature (of the International Association for Plant Taxonomy: botanical Latin) | ||
| International Code of Zoological Nomenclature (of the International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature: zoological Latin) | ||
| Latvian |  Latvia
|
Latvian State Language Center (Valsts Valodas Centrs) |
| Lithuanian |  Lithuania
|
Commission of the Lithuanian Language (Valstybinė lietuvių kalbos komisija) |
| Lusoga |  Uganda
|
Lusoga Language Authority (LULA) |
| Luxembourgish |  Luxembourg
|
(Conseil fir d'Letzebuerger Sprooch) |
| Macedonian |  North Macedonia
|
at the Macedonian Academy of Sciences and Arts |
| Malagasy |  Madagascar
|
at the (http://www.tenymalagasy.gov.mg/) |
| Malay | Malaysia
|
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka (The Institute of Language and Literature) |
 Brunei
|
Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka Brunei (Language and Literature Bureau) | |
| Singapore
|
Majlis Bahasa Melayu Singapura (Malay Language Council, Singapore) | |
| Malayalam | India
|
Kerala Sahitya Akademi (കേരള സാഹിത്യ അക്കാദമി) |
| Maltese |  Malta
|
National Council for the Maltese Language (www.kunsilltalmalti.gov.mt) |
| Manx |  Isle of Man
|
Coonceil ny Gaelgey |
| Māori |  New Zealand
|
Māori Language Commission |
| Marathi | India
|
Maharashtra Sahitya Parishad (महाराष्ट्र साहित्य परिषद) |
| Mirandese |  Portugal
|
Anstituto de la Lhéngua Mirandesa (Institute of the Mirandese Language) |
| Mixtec |  Mexico
|
Academy of the Mixtec Language (Ve'e Tu'un Sávi) |
| Khalkha Mongolian |  Mongolia
|
Council of the official state language (Төрийн хэлний зөвлөл). Decisions have to be confirmed by the Mongolian government.[5] |
| Chakhar Mongolian | China
|
Council for Language and Literature Work |
| Nepali |  Nepal
|
Nepal Academy (नेपाल प्रज्ञा–प्रतिष्ठान) |
| Norwegian (Riksmål/Bokmål) | Norway
|
Norwegian Academy |
| Norwegian Bokmål Norwegian Nynorsk |
Norwegian Language Council | |
| Occitan |  Occitania France Spain Monaco Italy
|
Conselh de la Lenga Occitana (Occitan Language Council),[6]
|
| Odia | India
|
Odisha Sahitya Akademi (ଓଡ଼ିଶା ସାହିତ୍ୟ ଏକାଡେମୀ) |
| Pashto |  Afghanistan
|
Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan |
 Pakistan
|
Pashto Academy | |
| Persian | Iran
|
Academy of Persian Language and Literature (فرهنگستان زبان و ادب فارسی) |
| Afghanistan
|
Academy of Sciences of Afghanistan | |
 Tajikistan Uzbekistan
|
Rudaki Institute of Language and Literature | |
| Paiwan | Republic of China
|
Council of Indigenous Peoples |
| Polish | Poland
|
Polish Language Council (Rada Języka Polskiego), of the Polish Academy of Sciences |
| Portuguese | Portugal
|
Academia das Ciências de Lisboa, Classe de Letras |
 Brazil
|
Academia Brasileira de Letras (Brazilian Literary Academy) | |
| Galicia
|
Galician Academy of the Portuguese Language (Academia Galega da Lingua Portuguesa) | |
| Quechua |  Peru
|
High Academy of the Quechua Language (Qheswa simi hamut'ana kuraq suntur) |
| Rohingya |  Arakan (Rakhine State)
|
Rohingya Language Academy (
|