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.
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.
This list does not cover local variations of international scripts, such as which diacritics are used.
Armenia – Armenian alphabet Bolivia – Latin script Bosnia and Herzegovina: Republika Srpska – Cyrillic and LatinConstitution of Republika Srpska , Article 7. Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina – Cyrillic and LatinConstitution of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , Part I, Article 6. Bulgaria – Cyrillic (Bulgarian alphabet) Cambodia – Khmer script China, People's Republic of (mainland China) – Simplified ChineseNational People's Congress of China, Hong Kong SAR – Traditional Chinese (de facto), Latin scriptAfter 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 ) 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,Xinjiang Languages and characters, Simplified Chinese Guangxi region – Zhuang Latin alphabet, Simplified Chinese Croatia – Croatian alphabetConstitution of Croatia, Article 12: Ethiopia – Ge'ez script Eritrea – Ge'ez script Georgia – Georgian alphabet Greece – Greek alphabet Hungary – Latin script India: Hindi, 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 script Odia – Odia script Punjabi – Gurmukhi Santali – Ol Chiki script Sindhi – Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari Tamil – Tamil script Telugu – Telugu script Urdu – Urdu alphabet Islamic world: Afghanistan – Perso-Arabic Algeria – Arabic and Tifinagh Azerbaijan – Azeri Latin alphabet Bahrain – Arabic Bangladesh – Bengali alphabet Brunei – Rumi script (Latin) and Jawi script (Arabic) Egypt – Arabic Indonesia – Rumi script (Latin) Iran – Perso-ArabicConstitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The Official Language, Script, Calendar, and Flag of the Country . Iraq – Arabic Jordan – Arabic Kazakhstan – Cyrillic (Kazakh, Russian) and Latin (Kazakh) Kuwait – Arabic Lebanon – Arabic Libya – Arabic Malaysia – Rumi script (Latin); Jawi script (Arabic) is recognized. Maldives – Thaana Oman – Arabic Palestine – Arabic Qatar – Arabic Saudi Arabia – Arabic Tunisia – Arabic Turkey – Latin alphabet United Arab Emirates – Arabic Yemen – Arabic Italy: Venetian (Official script of the Venetian language) Japan – a combination of Kana (Hiragana, Katakana) and Kanji (Shinjitai) Korea (both) – Chosŏn'gŭl/Hangul (Hanja is sometime used in South Korea, not used in North Korea)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. Laos – Lao script Malta – Latin script Moldova – Latin alphabetConstitution of Moldova, Article 13: Mongolia – Mongolian Cyrillic alphabet and Mongolian script Montenegro – Cyrillic (Montenegrin alphabet) Myanmar – Burmese alphabet Nepal Nepali language — Devanagari Nepal Bhasa — Ranjana script Maithili — Tirhuta script and Kaithi Bhojpuri language — Kaithi and Devanagari Tharu — Devanagari Tamang — Tamyig, Devanagari and Tibetan script Bajjika — Tirhuta script, Kaithi and Devanagari Limbu — Limbu script Bantawa — Kirat Rai script and Devanagari Gurung — Khema script, Devanagari and Tibetan script Awadhi — Kaithi, Perso-Arabic script, Devanagari and Latin script Urdu — Urdu alphabet, Roman Urdu and Urdu Braille North Macedonia – Cyrillic (Macedonian alphabet)Constitution of Macedonia, Article 7: Philippines – Latin alphabet (de facto) Russian Federation – Cyrillic (Russian alphabet)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 Serbia – Cyrillic (Serbian alphabet)Constitution of Serbia, Article 10: Singapore English, Malay — Latin script Mandarin – Simplified Chinese Tamil – Tamil script Slovakia – Latin script TaiwanControl by Republic of China – Traditional Chinese Thailand – Thai script Ukraine – Cyrillic (Ukrainian alphabet) United Kingdom – Latin script Vietnam – Latin script (de facto)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. chữ Hán (Chinese characters) and chữ Nôm sometime can be used, most in activities about the traditional cultural in Vietnam (e.g. Vietnamese calligraphy).
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