Minority Languages in Dictatorships: A New Measure of Group Recognition

What explains minority language recognition in dictatorships? In this paper, we argue minority language groups in authoritarian regimes are more likely to have their languages recognized when their interests are represented by a party in the legislature. Moreover, the level of recognition is greater. We test this argument using original group-level and time-variant measures of minority party in legislature and minority language policies for all Asian dictatorships from 1980 to 2000. The results are robust even when we shift the analysis to the country-level globally and account for possible spurious correlations.

何以解释独裁政体中的少数民族语言认受问题？本文提出，威权政体下的少数民族语言群体，若其利益由立法机构内的政党代为表达，则其语言更有可能获得官方认受，且认受程度更高。本文采用1980年至2000年间所有亚洲独裁政体的立法机构少数民族政党、以及少数民族语言政策的原创群体层面与时变测度指标，对上述论点展开实证检验。即便将分析拓展至全球国家层面并控制潜在的虚假关联，研究结果依然稳健。