Editing Romance languages (section)

== Modern status ==
{{Main|Romance-speaking Europe|Latin America|Latin Union}}{{More citations needed section|date=March 2022}}[[File:Romance 20c en.png|thumb|upright=1.36|European extent of Romance languages in the 20th century]]
[[File:2024 Updated Total Speakers.jpg|thumb|434x434px|Proportion of speakers in the top 5 Romance languages, as of 2024]]
The Romance language [[List of languages by number of native speakers|most widely spoken natively]] today is [[Spanish language|Spanish]], followed by [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]], [[French language|French]], [[Italian language|Italian]] and [[Romanian language|Romanian]], which together cover a vast territory in Europe and beyond, and work as [[official language|official]] and [[national language]]s in dozens of countries.{{sfn|Alkire|Rosen|2010|pp=1–4}}
In Europe, at least one Romance language is official in [[France]], [[Portugal]], [[Spain]], [[Italy]], [[Switzerland]], [[Belgium]], [[Luxembourg]],{{refn|The (Luxembourgish) Law of 24 February 1984 on the language regime<ref>
{{Cite web|title=Loi du 24 février 1984 sur le régime des langues|url=https://legilux.public.lu/eli/etat/leg/loi/1984/02/24/n1/jo|website=legilux.public.lu|archive-date=2023-09-18|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230918210227/https://legilux.public.lu/eli/etat/leg/loi/1984/02/24/n1/jo|url-status=live|access-date=2025-01-18|date=1984-02-24|lang=fr}}</ref> designates Luxembourgish as the national language and French and German as official languages for legislation and administration.}} [[Romania]], [[Moldova]], [[Monaco]], [[Andorra]], [[San Marino]] and [[Vatican City]]. In these countries, French, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Romanian, [[Romansh language|Romansh]] and [[Catalan language|Catalan]] have constitutional official status.

French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, and Romanian are also official languages of the [[European Union]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://european-union.europa.eu/principles-countries-history/languages_en |title=Languages |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=European Union |access-date=9 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Spanish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Catalan were the official languages of the defunct [[Latin Union]];<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.unilat.org/ |title=Unión Latina |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=UNIÓN LATINA |access-date=9 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> and French and Spanish are two of the six official languages of the [[United Nations]].<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.un.org/en/our-work/official-languages|title=Official Languages |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= |publisher=United Nations |access-date=9 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref> Outside Europe, [[French language|French]], [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish language|Spanish]] are spoken and enjoy official status in various countries that emerged from the respective [[colonial empire]]s.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.uottawa.ca/clmc/internationalperspective/cameroon |title=Cameroon |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=Compendium of Language Management in Canada (CLMC) |publisher=uOttawa |access-date= 9 November 2023 |quote=}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.planalto.gov.br/ccivil_03/constituicao/ConstituicaoCompilado.htm |title=CONSTITUIÇÃO DA REPÚBLICA FEDERATIVA DO BRASIL DE 1988 |author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website= gov.br|publisher= |access-date= 9 November 2023|quote=Art. 13. A língua portuguesa é o idioma oficial da República Federativa do Brasil.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://lenguasdecolombia.caroycuervo.gov.co/contenido/Espanol-de-Colombia/Articulo/contenido/162& |title=¿Por qué hablamos español en Colombia? |last= Chacón|first= Marcela Hernández |date= |website= Portal de Lenguas de Colombia|publisher= Instituto Caro y Cuervo|access-date=9 November 2023|quote=}}</ref>

With almost 500 million speakers worldwide, [[List of countries and territories where Spanish is an official language|Spanish is an official language]]<!-- The altervative to this piped link is to include all of the citations on that page into this paragraph --> in [[Spain]] and in nine countries of [[South America]], home to about half that continent's population; in six countries of [[Central America]] (all except [[Belize]]); and in [[Mexico]]. In the [[Caribbean]], it is official in [[Cuba]], the [[Dominican Republic]], and [[Puerto Rico]]. In all these countries, [[Spanish language in the Americas|American Spanish]] is the vernacular language of the majority of the population, giving Spanish the most native speakers of any Romance language. In Africa it is one of the official languages of [[Equatorial Guinea]] and the [[Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic|SADR]], a partially recognized state. Spanish was one of the official languages in the Philippines in Southeast Asia until 1973. In the 1987 constitution, Spanish was removed as an official language (replaced by English), and was listed as an optional/voluntary language along with Arabic. It is currently spoken by a minority and taught in the school curriculum.

Portuguese, in its original homeland, [[Portugal]], is spoken by almost  the entire population of 10 million. As the official language of [[Brazil]], it is spoken by more than 200 million people, as well as in neighboring parts of [[Brasiguayos|eastern Paraguay]] and [[Riverense Portuñol language|northern Uruguay]]. This accounts for slightly more than half the population of South America, making Portuguese the most spoken [[official language|official Romance language]] in a single country.

Portuguese is the official language of six African countries ([[Angola]], [[Cape Verde]], [[Guinea-Bissau]], [[Mozambique]], [[Equatorial Guinea]], and [[São Tomé and Príncipe]]), and is spoken as a native language by perhaps 16 million residents of that continent.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.worlddata.info/languages/portuguese.php |title= Portuguese speaking countries|author=<!--Not stated--> |date= |website=WorldData.info |publisher= |access-date= 22 November 2023|quote=}}</ref>{{rs?|certain=yes|reason=Self-published source. See Special:PermanentLink/1244711437#worlddata.info|date=September 2024}} In Asia, Portuguese is co-official with other languages in [[East Timor]] and [[Macau]], while most Portuguese-speakers in Asia—some 400,000<ref>See [[Portuguese language in Asia|Portuguese in Asia and Oceania]].</ref>—are in [[Japan#Demographics|Japan]] due to [[Dekasegi|return immigration]] of [[Japanese Brazilian]]s. In North America 1,000,000 people speak Portuguese as their home language, mainly immigrants from Brazil, Portugal, and other Portuguese-speaking countries and their descendants.<ref>See [[list of countries where Portuguese is an official language]].</ref>
In Oceania, Portuguese is the second most spoken Romance language, after French, due mainly to the number of speakers in [[East Timor]]. Its closest relative, Galician, has co-official status in the [[autonomous communities in Spain|autonomous community]] of [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]] in [[Spain]], together with Spanish.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Monteagudo |first=Henrique |date=2024-03-08 |title=Commentary: Language Policy in Galicia, 1980-2020. An Overview |url=https://www.ecmi.de/JEMIE/index.php/journal/article/view/96 |journal=Journal on Ethnopolitics and Minority Issues in Europe |language=en |volume=23 |issue=1 |pages=2 |doi=10.53779/XPLM3788 |issn=1617-5247|doi-access=free }}</ref>

Outside Europe, French is spoken natively most in the Canadian province of [[Quebec]], and in parts of [[New Brunswick]] and [[Ontario]]. Canada is [[official bilingualism in Canada|officially bilingual]], with French and English being the official languages and government services in French theoretically mandated to be provided nationwide. In parts of the Caribbean, such as [[Haiti]], French has official status, but most people speak [[Creole language|creoles]] such as [[Haitian Creole]] as their native language. French also has official status in much of Africa, with relatively few native speakers but larger numbers of second language speakers.

Although [[Italy]] also had some colonial possessions before [[World War II]], its language did not remain official after the end of the colonial domination. As a result, [[Italian language|Italian]] outside Italy and Switzerland is now spoken only as a minority language by immigrant communities in [[North America|North]] and [[South America]] and [[Australia]]. In some former Italian colonies in Africa—namely [[Libya]], [[Eritrea]] and [[Somalia]]—it is spoken by a few educated people in commerce and government.{{Citation needed|date=March 2022}}

[[Romania]] did not establish a colonial empire. The native range of Romanian includes not only the [[Moldova|Republic of Moldova]], where it is the dominant language and spoken by a majority of the population, but neighboring areas in Serbia ([[Vojvodina]] and the [[Bor District]]), Bulgaria, Hungary, and Ukraine ([[Bukovina]], [[Budjak]]) and in some villages between the [[Dniester]] and [[Bug River|Bug]] rivers.<ref>I.S. Nistor, "Istoria românilor din Transnistria" (The history of Romanians from Transnistria), București, 1995</ref> As with Italian, Romanian is spoken outside of its ethnic range by immigrant communities. In Europe, Romanian-speakers form about two percent of the population in [[Italy]], [[Spain]], and [[Portugal]]. Romanian is also spoken in [[Israel]] by Romanian Jews,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Reports of about 300,000 Jews who left the country after WW2 |url=http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060831192934/http://www.eurojewcong.org/ejc/news.php?id_article=110 |archive-date=2006-08-31 |access-date=2010-11-06 |publisher=Eurojewcong.org}}</ref> where it is the native language of five percent of the population,<ref>[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ron 1993 Statistical Abstract] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130619225520/http://www.ethnologue.com/language/ron |date=2013-06-19 }} of Israel reports 250,000 speakers of Romanian in Israel, while the 1995 census puts the total figure of the Israeli population at 5,548,523</ref> and is spoken by many more as a secondary language. The [[Aromanian language]] is spoken today by [[Aromanians]] in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo, and Greece.<ref>Djuvara Neagu, "La Diaspora aroumaine aux XVIIIe et XIXe siècles " In: Les Aroumains, Paris : Publications Langues'O, 1989 (Cahiers du Centre d'étude des civilisations d'Europe centrale et du Sud-Est; 8). pp. 95–125.</ref>
[[Flavio Biondo]] was the first scholar to have observed (in 1435) linguistic affinities between the Romanian and [[Italian language|Italian]] languages, as well as their common Latin origin.<ref>Maiden, Martin (2010). "Italian's long-lost sister: the Romanian language and why Italianists should know about it". The Italianist. 30 (sup2): 29–43. doi:10.1080/02614340.2010.11917476. S2CID 149202032.</ref>

The total of 880 million native speakers of Romance languages (ca. 2020) are divided as follows:<ref name="ethnologue1">{{Cite web |date=2022 |title=Ethnologue |url=http://www.ethnologue.org/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=size |publisher=SIL Haley |access-date=2022-02-25 |archive-date=2019-05-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190511214408/http://www.ethnologue.org/ethno_docs/distribution.asp?by=size |url-status=dead}}</ref>
* [[Spanish language|Spanish]] 54% (475 million, plus 75 million L2 for 550 million in the [[Hispanophone]]s)
* [[Portuguese language|Portuguese]] 26% (230 million, plus 30 million L2 for 260 million in the [[Lusophone]]s)
* [[French language|French]] 9% (80 million, plus 230 million L2 for 310 million in the [[Francophone]]s)
* [[Italian language|Italian]] 7% (65 million, plus 3 million L2)
* [[Romanian language|Romanian]] 3% (24 million)
* [[Catalan language|Catalan]] 0.5% (4 million, plus 5 million L2)
* Others 3% (26 million, nearly all bilingual in one of the national languages)

Catalan is the official language of [[Andorra]]. In Spain, it is co-official with Spanish in [[Catalonia]], the [[Valencian Community]] (under the name [[Valencian language|Valencian]]), and the [[Balearic Islands]], and it is recognized, but not official, in an area of [[Aragon]] known as [[La Franja]]. In addition, it is spoken by many residents of [[Alghero]], on the island of [[Sardinia]], and it is co-official in that city.{{sfn|Ledgeway|Maiden|2016|p=393}} [[Galician language|Galician]], with more than three million speakers, is official together with Spanish in [[Galicia (Spain)|Galicia]], and has legal recognition in neighbouring territories in [[Castilla y León]]. A few other languages have official recognition on a regional or otherwise limited level; for instance, [[Asturian language|Asturian]] and [[Aragonese language|Aragonese]] in Spain; [[Mirandese language|Mirandese]] in Portugal; [[Friulan language|Friulian]], [[Sardinian language|Sardinian]] and [[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]] in Italy; and [[Romansh language|Romansh]] in Switzerland.{{Citation needed paragraph|date=March 2022}}

The remaining Romance languages survive mostly as spoken languages for informal contact. National governments have historically viewed linguistic diversity as an economic, administrative or military liability, as well as a potential source of [[separatism|separatist]] movements; therefore, they have generally fought to eliminate it, by extensively promoting the use of the official language, restricting the use of the other languages in the media, recognizing them as mere "dialects", or even persecuting them. As a result, all of these languages are considered endangered to varying degrees according to the UNESCO [[Red Book of Endangered Languages]], ranging from "vulnerable" (e.g. [[Sicilian language|Sicilian]] and [[Venetian language|Venetian]]) to "severely endangered" ([[Franco-Provençal language|Franco-Provençal]], most of the [[Occitan language|Occitan]] varieties). Since the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, increased sensitivity to the rights of minorities has allowed some of these languages to start recovering their prestige and lost rights. Yet it is unclear whether these political changes will be enough to reverse the decline of minority Romance languages.{{Citation needed paragraph|date=March 2022}}