Support from the European Commission for measures to promote and safeguard regional or minority languages and cultures

The Euromosaic study

In 1992, wishing to take stock of the situation of the various language communities in Europe, The Commission initiated a study on minority language groups in the European Union. The purpose of the study, entitled "Euromosaic", was to find out about the different regional and minority languages in existence and to establish their potential for production and reproduction, and the difficulties they encounter in doing so.

The study was based on the various social and institutional aspects whereby a language group emerges and reproduces itself. It comprised a series of surveys on the use of the language among a sample of eight language groups. On the basis of these surveys, seven variables affecting the production and reproduction of a language were identified. A score was then calculated for each language group found in the Member States by applying scale analysis on the basis of the data collected. In this way, it was possible to compare the results and identify five main language clusters.

The main variables influencing this process were found to be family, education and community. The motivating forces involved language prestige or the value of a language for social mobility and cultural reproduction.

The same scientific team compiled over 50 individual reports, covering each of the regional or minority language communities identified. Each report was based on the major bibliographical sources and information supplied by a language correspondent and a number of key witnesses, who were asked by the team to improve the provisional and interim reports for their own language group.

Following the 1999 enlargement, Euromosaic compiled further individual reports on the regional and minority language groups of Austria, Finland and Sweden.

In September 2004 the extended study covering the ten new Member States of the European Union was performed. The team of experts and scientists who performed the study also drafted a comparative summary, providing a general overview of the situation obtaining in the new Member States and a point of comparison with that obtaining in the fifteen pre-enlargement Member States.

All the individual reports of each language community are available via the drop-down menu. Reports outlining the general language context of each new Member State can also be consulted via this menu.

A general report based on the study was published by the Commission in 1996 under the title: "Euromosaic: The production and reproduction of the minority language groups in the European Union", and is available from the Office for Official Publications of the European Communities (ISBN 92-827-5512-6).

To find out more about the different language communities, please consult the Euromosaic Internet site.