What is the policy of differentiated legal status?

A policy that recognizes a different legal status for a given language usually aims at allowing the coexistence of multiple linguistic groups inside a state. Typically, the majority has all its linguistic rights secured and sometimes promoted while the minority or minorities are given special protection for their language.

Jurisdictions having such a policy include the following: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, California, China, Croatia, Estonia, European Council, Republic of Macedonia, Guatemala, Latvia, Lithuania Manitoba, Ontario, Netherlands, New Mexico, Paraguay, Quebec, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Wales, and Yukon.