"evropuli qartia saqarTvelo "European Charter for Regional or ...

language of a national minority 329 (a term of the Framework Convention
and OSCE recommendations) are often equated; moreover, minority
language is similarly shortened 330
.
Such terminological confusion resulted in numerous mistakes in
Georgian (as well as other) context.
Cf.: The term of the "European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages" – "minority language", as a rule, refers to a language of a
331
historical minority , while the term of The Hague and Oslo
recommendations – "minority language" generally refers to a language
of a non-historical minority 332
.
Thus, we may draw up a conclusion that in accordance with the
333
Charter’s aim the term "regional or minority language" means a
language of one category expressed in three variants:
1. a regional language denotes a language of autochthonous population
of a given region of a state, spoken by the majority of the citizens of
334
the very region (explanation 18 of the Charter) ;
328 Which rather refers to the language of new (non-historical) minorities in a state, or in
general, to that of both types of minorities.
329 Cf., for instance: Article 10 of the “Framework Convention”: "The Parties undertake
to recognise that every person belonging to a national minority has the right to use freely
and without interference his or her minority language, in private and in public, orally and
in writing".
330 For instance, the terms “regional or minority language” and “minority language” are
equated by T. Wicherkiewicz and his co-authors (p. 29, etc.); on terminological confusions
see, also, below.
331 Cf.: It is not only the territory within which that language is dominant or spoken by
the majority, since many languages have become minority languages even in the areas
where they have their traditional territorial base. The synonymous phrase “minority languages”
herein refers to a language of autochthonous population that has become minority
in the region (explanation 33). Also, see: T. Putkaradze, Origins and Prospects of
Georgian Literary Language, Tbilisi, 2006, p. 39-40.
332 It may sometimes include also language of historical minorities.
333 Promoting the linguistic-cultural individuality of a historical ethnic minority.
334 The qualification otherwise could be stated as follows: a language of an ethnic minority
historically residing in a given state, spoken by the majority of population in a
particular region of the country; or: a language of autochthonous minority spoken by
majority of a particular region’s population.
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