What is a minority language?

A minority language is a language spoken by minority of the people in a given geographic unit.

As with majority language, just what constitutes "minority" is not well-defined.

Minority languages are occasionally marginalised within countries for a number of reasons. These reasons include the following:

1. the small number of speakers
2. the (rapid) decline in the number of speakers
3. the (occasional) consideration of the language as uncultured, primitive, or simple dialects when compared to the dominant language

Some states view the resurgence of minority languages as a threat:

1. to the political establishment, e.g. in the case of Celtic languages (separatism)
2. to the cultural hegemony, e.g. immigrant minority languages (non-integration)