MINELRES: New Publication: ECMI WP#26 on Status of Minority Languages in Georgia

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Original sender: William McKinney <mckinney@ecmi.de>


Wheatley, Jonathan. The status of minority languages in Georgia and the
relevance of models from other European States. ECMI Working Paper #26. 
http://www.ecmi.de/download/working_paper_26.pdf

This working paper provides a feasibility study on the possibility of
granting languages other than Georgian and Abkhazian, most notably
Armenian and Azeri, some kind of administrative status within the
Georgian legal framework. The question is particularly pertinent in
light of Georgia's recent ratification of the Council of Europe
Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities and the
planned ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority
Languages. The first section examines how the existing status quo in
which Georgian is the only official language in all parts of Georgia
outside Abkhazia affects the working of the courts, the local organs of
state administration, the media and the education system in Javakheti.
The second part of the paper examines how the issue of minority
languages is handled in Romania and Croatia. The author argues that both
models promote bilingualism and encourage integration, thus serving as
valuable models for the Georgian government to examine as it elaborates
legislation on minority
languages.

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