21 February is International Mother Language Day and 22 February is Global Language Advocacy Day.
International Mother Language Day is to bring awareness to linguistic and cultural diversity, and forms part of a broader initiative to promote the preservation and protection of all languages used by peoples of the world.
Theoretically speaking, I have two mother languages: English and Macedonian (a Southern Slavic language).
But let's be more specific here. My native English is in its form as spoken in South Australia, the Australian state with the most regionally distinct form of Australian English. It'll always be 'Lay-go' and not 'Le-go' for me.
My Macedonian was primarily of the Florina/Lerin dialect from modern-day northern Greece, but heavily influenced by Australian English, so it's best described as 'Avstralski Lerinski'. Pretty much all neologisms in this particular dialect are derived from English, unlike the Macedonian still spoken in northern Greece where most new words since at least the 1950s come from Greek. Examples: 'the bus' is 'baso' in Australia but 'leoforioto' in Greece and 'avtobusot' in standardised Macedonian; 'the hospital' is 'spitajleto' in Australia, 'nosokomioto' in Greece and 'bolnicata' in standardised Macedonian.
The Macedonian language in Greece has been marginalised and repressed for the past 100 years to the point that it's hardly being passed down to new generations. Not only is there no official recognition of the language, its existence is constantly denied, so while speakers call the language 'Makedonski', in Greek it's either begrudgingly acknowledged, and then denigrated, as 'the idiom' or 'so-called Macedonian' (so it's not a 'real' language) or just called 'local' (dopia). Organisations such as the Krste Misirkov Macedonian Movement for Mother Language Promotion doing their best to promote and maintain Macedonian in Greece despite constantly being denied official Greek registration. The primary ways the language manages to survive is through folk culture and songs sung at family and some village celebrations, and through communication when people crossing the border into North Macedonia go shopping or use services there.
For more about the state of the Macedonian language in Greece, check out this article highlighting the paradox of banning a language that apparently also officially does not exist.
This is the reason why we have International Mother Language Day – to bring attention to marginalised languages everywhere, and to show that linguistic diversity is something to be celebrated and nurtured, and not feared and sanctioned.
Since 2022, the Global Coalition for Language Rights (GCLR), a group of individuals and organisations working at the intersection of languages and human rights, has marked 22 February as Global Language Advocacy Day. The goal of this group is 'to support global efforts towards increasing access to critical information/services, and equal digital representation beyond language barriers, and creating proactive responses to social, educational, economic and environmental challenges that include not only speakers of mainstream languages, but also Indigenous languages and underrepresented languages.'
This is a cause I support as I have experienced first-hand the marginalisation and denigration of my mother languages in one way or another, in the Balkans, in Australia and in the UK. Much more needs to be done to facilitate everyday communication in the language and alphabet people feel most comfortable using.I hope that today serves as the catalyst for greater awareness of this issue that affects millions around the world.
.%20A%20day%20of%20campaigning%20%E2%99%80%20%E2%80%A6%20or%20a%20day%20to%20buy%20flowers%20%F0%9F%92%90.jpg)
