Official script

An official script is a writing system that is specifically designated to be official in the constitutions or other applicable laws of countries, states, and other jurisdictions. Akin to an official language, an official script is much rarer. It is used primarily where an official language is in practice written with two or more scripts. As, in these languages, use of script often has cultural or political connotations, proclamation of an official script is sometimes criticized as having a goal of influencing culture or politics or both. Desired effects also may include easing education, communication and some other aspects of life.

The letters of the Indic official scripts of the Indian Republic used by the official languages of India –
(top row: Kannada/Telugu, Tamil, Gujarati;
middle row: Meitei, Devanagari, Eastern Nagari;
bottom row: Odia, Malayalam, Gurmukhi)
These are the examples of the official scripts.

List of official scripts

Below is a partial list of official scripts used in different countries. Those in italics are states that have limited international recognition.

• Azerbaijan – Azeri Latin alphabet
• Bangladesh – Bengali script
• Brunei – Rumi script (Latin) and Jawi script (Arabic)
• Bosnia and Herzegovina:
  • Republika Srpska – Cyrillic and Latin^[1]
  • Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Cyrillic and Latin^[2]
• Bulgaria – Cyrillic (Bulgarian alphabet)
• Cambodia – Khmer script
• China, People's Republic of (mainland China) – Simplified Chinese^[3]
  • Hong Kong SAR – Traditional Chinese (de facto), Latin script^[4]
  • Macau SAR – Traditional Chinese (de facto), Latin script
  • Inner Mongolia region – Mongolian alphabet, Simplified Chinese
  • Tibet region – Tibetan alphabet, Simplified Chinese
  • Xinjiang region – Uyghur Ereb Yéziqi,^[5] Simplified Chinese
  • Guangxi region – Zhuang Latin alphabet, Simplified Chinese
• Croatia – Croatian alphabet^[6]
• Ethiopia – Ge'ez script
• Eritrea – Ge'ez script
• Georgia – Georgian alphabet^{[citation needed]}
• Greece - Greek alphabet
• India:
  • Hindi,^[7] Marathi, Konkani, Nepali, Maithili, Boro, Sanskrit, Dogri – Devanagari
  • Assamese – Assamese alphabet
  • Bengali – Bengali alphabet
  • Gujarati – Gujarati script
  • Kannada – Kannada script
  • Kashmiri – Perso-Arabic script
  • Malayalam – Malayalam script
  • Meitei – Meitei Mayek script
  • Odia – Odia script
  • Punjabi – Gurmukhi
  • Santali – Ol Chiki script
  • Sindhi – Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari
  • Tamil – Tamil script
  • Telugu – Telugu script
  • Urdu – Perso-Arabic script
• Indonesia – Rumi script (Latin)
• Iran – Perso-Arabic alphabet^[8]
• Japan – mixed of Kana (Hiragana, Katakana) and Kanji (Shinjitai)
• Kazakhstan – Cyrillic (Kazakh, Russian) and Latin (Kazakh)
• Korea (both) – Chosŏn'gŭl/Hangul^[9] (Hanja is sometime used in South Korea, not used in North Korea)^[10]
• Laos – Lao script
• Malaysia – Rumi script (Latin); Jawi script (Arabic) is recognized.^[11]
• Maldives – Thaana
• Moldova – Latin alphabet^[12]
• Mongolia – Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet and Mongolian script^[13]
• Montenegro – Cyrillic and Gaj's Latin script^[14]
• Myanmar – Burmese alphabet
• Nepal
  • Nepali language — Devanagari
  • Nepal Bhasa — Ranjana script
  • Maithili — Tirhuta and Kaithi
  • Bhojpuri — Kaithi and Devanagari
  • Magar — Magar Akkha and Devanagari
  • Tharu — Devanagari
  • Tamang — Tamyig, Devanagari and Tibetan script
  • Bajjika — Tirhuta, Kaithi and Devanagari
  • Limbu — Limbu script
  • Bantawa — Kirat Rai script and Devanagari
  • Gurung — Khema script, Devanagari and Tibetan script
  • Awadhi — Kaithi, Perso-Arabic, Devanagari and Latin-Roman
  • Urdu — Perso-Arabic, Roman Urdu and Urdu Braille
• North Macedonia – Cyrillic (Macedonian alphabet)^[15]
• Philippines – Latin alphabet (de facto)
• Russian Federation – Cyrillic (Russian alphabet)^[16]
• Serbia – Cyrillic (Serbian Cyrillic script)^[17]
• Singapore
  • English, Malay — Latin script
  • Mandarin – Simplified Chinese
  • Tamil – Tamil script
• Taiwan^[18] – Traditional Chinese
• Thailand – Thai script
• Turkey – Latin alphabet
• Ukraine – Cyrillic (Ukrainian alphabet)
• Vietnam – Latin script (de facto)^[19]

Historical

• In the USSR, numerous languages were latinized during the 1920s–1930s. In the late 1930s the Latinization campaign was canceled and all newly romanized languages were converted to Cyrillic.

See also

• Official language
• Spelling reform

References

1. Constitution of Republika Srpska, Article 7.
2. Constitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Part I, Article 6.
3. National People's Congress of China, "The law of national all-purpose language and character in the People's Republic of China".
4. After the announcement of Simplified Chinese in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau didn't follow the change, making Traditional Chinese the de facto official script. (Hong Kong and Macau were still colonies at that time, and their current constitutions don't state whether Tradition Chinese or Simplified Chinese is to be used. Both places continued to use Traditional Chinese after handover.see List of languages written in Chinese characters and derivatives of Chinese characters )
5. Xinjiang Languages and characters, "Uyghur Language and characters".^{[permanent dead link]}
6. Constitution of Croatia, Article 12: . Croatian Parliament. Archived from the original on 9 September 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011. The Croatian language and the Latin script shall be in official use in the Republic of Croatia.
7. . socialjustice.nic.in. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
8. Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Official Language, Script, Calendar, and Flag of the Country.
9. Alton, David; Chidley, Rob (2013). Building Bridges: Is There Hope for North Korea?. Oxford: Lion Books. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-7459-5598-8.
10. Article 14 of the Framework Act on Korean Language prefers hangul but also allows hanja in parentheses, in cases prescribed by South Korean Presidential Decree.
11. . Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. The script of the national language shall be the Rumi script: provided that this shall not prohibit the use of the Malay script, more commonly known as the Jawi script, of the national language.
12. Constitution of Moldova, Article 13: . Official Website of the President of Moldavia. Archived from the original on 29 August 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011. (1) The national language of the Republic of Moldova is Moldovan, and its writing is based on the Latin alphabet.
13. . UB Post (in Chinese). 21 June 2011. Archived from the original on 1 November 2011. Retrieved 11 July 2010.
14. "Vlada Crne Gore". vlada.me. Retrieved 25 February 2016.
15. Constitution of Macedonia, Article 7: . Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 August 2011. The Macedonian language, written using its Cyrillic alphabet, is the official language in the Republic of Macedonia.
16. In Russian, the designation of Cyrillic as an official script (2001) has the consequence that the official languages of national Republics of Russia have to be written in the Cyrillic script in all official institutions and education. The passing of the law was met with particular resistance and criticism in the Republic of Tatarstan, as it replaced the Turkish Latin alphabet which the local government tried to promote in education after the dissolution of USSR.see List of languages in Russia
17. Constitution of Serbia, Article 10: . Government of Serbia. Archived from the original on 2 May 2013. Retrieved 26 August 2011. Serbian language and Cyrillic script shall be in official use in the Republic of Serbia.
18. Control by Republic of China
19. Chapter I - Decree 5 - Section 3 of the current Constitution (2013) states that Vietnamese language is the National language of Vietnam, but nothing states the Vietnamese Latin Alphabet (called as chữ Quốc ngữ) is the official script de jure.[1] chữ Hán (Chinese characters) and chữ Nôm sometime can be used, most in activities about the traditional cultural in Vietnam (e.g. Vietnamese calligraphy).