Minority languages of Austria
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Minority languages are spoken in a number of autochthonous settlements in Austria. These are:
- Croatian and Romany in Burgenland,
- Czech and Slovak in Vienna,
- Hungarian in Burgenland and Vienna, and
- Slovene in Carinthia and Styria.[1]
The Austrian Federal Constitution calls for the respect and promotion of ethnic groups resident in Austria and a special set of rights for Austrian Croats, Czechs, Hungarians, Romani, Slovaks and Slovenes was established under the terms of the Ethnic Group Act (German: Volksgruppengesetz) 1976.[2] The rights of Croats and Slovenes are also set forth in the Austrian State Treaty.[2] Austria signed the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages on 5 November 1992 and application of the charter became effective under international law on 1 October 2001.[1]
In the view of the representatives of the speakers of minority languages, however, the federal laws concerning regional or minority languages, as well as the Austrian application of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, remain too restrictive.[3]