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Languages of Europe

There are over 250 languages indigenous to Europe, and most belong to the Indo-European language family. Out of a total European population of 744 million as of 2018, some 94% are native speakers of an Indo-European language. The three largest phyla of the Indo-European language family in Europe are Romance, Germanic, and Slavic; they have more than 200 million speakers each, and together account for close to 90% of Europeans.

Smaller phyla of Indo-European found in Europe include Hellenic (Greek, c. 13 million), Baltic (c.  7 million), Albanian (c.  7.5 million), Celtic (c.  4 million), and Armenian (c.  4 million). Indo-Aryan, though a large subfamily of Indo-European, has a relatively small number of languages in Europe, and a small number of speakers (Romani, c. 1.5 million). However, a number of Indo-Aryan languages not native to Europe are spoken in Europe today.

Of the approximately 45 million Europeans speaking non-Indo-European languages, most speak languages within either the Uralic or Turkic families. Still smaller groups — such as Basque (language isolate), Semitic languages (Maltese, c. 0.5 million), and various languages of the Caucasus — account for less than 1% of the European population among them. Immigration has added sizeable communities of speakers of African and Asian languages, amounting to about 4% of the population, with Arabic being the most widely spoken of them.

Five languages have more than 50 million native speakers in Europe: Russian, English, French, Italian, and German. Russian is the most-spoken native language in Europe, and English has the largest number of speakers in total, including some 200 million speakers of English as a second or foreign language. (See English language in Europe.)

Indo-European languages
The Indo-European language family is descended from Proto-Indo-European, which is believed to have been spoken thousands of years ago. Early speakers of Indo-European daughter languages most likely expanded into Europe with the incipient Bronze Age, around 4,000 years ago (Bell-Beaker culture).

Germanic

The Germanic languages make up the predominant language family in Western, Northern and Central Europe. It is estimated that over 500 million Europeans are speakers of Germanic languages, the largest groups being German (c. 95 million), English (c.  400 million), Dutch (c.  24 million), Swedish (c.  10 million), Danish (c.  6 million), Norwegian (c.  5 million) and Limburgish (c. 1.3 million).

There are two extant major sub-divisions: West Germanic and North Germanic. A third group, East Germanic, is now extinct; the only known surviving East Germanic texts are written in the Gothic language. West Germanic is divided into Anglo-Frisian (including English), Low German, Low Franconian (including Dutch) and High German (including Standard German).

Anglo-Frisian
The Anglo-Frisian language family is now mostly represented by English (Anglic), descended from the Old English language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons:

The Frisian languages are spoken by about 400,000 Frisians, who live on the southern coast of the North Sea in the Netherlands and Germany. These languages include West Frisian, East Frisian (of which the only surviving dialect is Saterlandic) and North Frisian.
 * English, the main language of the United Kingdom and the most widespread language in the Republic of Ireland, also spoken as a second or third language by many Europeans.
 * Scots, spoken in Scotland and Ulster, recognized by some as a language and by others as a dialect of English. (Not to be confused with Scots-Gaelic of the Celtic language family.)

Dutch
Dutch is spoken throughout the Netherlands, the northern half of Belgium, as well as the Nord-Pas de Calais region of France. The traditional dialects of the Lower Rhine region of Germany are linguistically more closely related to Dutch than to modern German. In Belgian and French contexts, Dutch is sometimes referred to as Flemish. Dutch dialects are numerous and varied.

German
German is spoken throughout Germany, Austria, Liechtenstein, much of Switzerland (including the northeast areas bordering on Germany and Austria), northern Italy (South Tyrol), Luxembourg, the East Cantons of Belgium and the Alsace and Lorraine regions of France.

There are several groups of German dialects:

 * High German includes several dialect families:
 * Standard German
 * Central German dialects, spoken in central Germany and including Luxembourgish
 * High Franconian, a family of transitional dialects between Central and Upper High German
 * Upper German, including Bavarian and Swiss German
 * Yiddish is a Jewish language developed in Germany and Eastern Europe. It shares many features of High German dialects and Hebrew.

Low German
Low German is spoken in various regions throughout Northern Germany and the northern and eastern parts of the Netherlands. It is an official language in Germany. It may be separated into West Low German and East Low German.

North Germanic (Scandinavian)
The North Germanic languages are spoken in Nordic countries and include Swedish (Sweden and parts of Finland), Danish (Denmark), Norwegian (Norway), Icelandic (Iceland), Faroese (Faroe Islands), and Elfdalian (in a small part of central Sweden).

English has a long history of contact with Scandinavian languages, given the immigration of Scandinavians early in the history of Britain, and shares various features with the Scandinavian languages. Even so, especially Dutch and Swedish, but also Danish and Norwegian, have strong vocabulary connections to the German language.

Limburgish
Limburgish (also called Limburgan, Limburgian, or Limburgic) Is a West Germanic language spoken in the province of Limburg in the Netherlands, Belgium and neighboring regions of Germany. It is distinct from German and Dutch, but originates from areas near where both are spoken.

Romance

Roughly 215 million Europeans (primarily in Southern and Western Europe) are native speakers of Romance languages, the largest groups including:

French (c. 72 million), Italian (c. 65 million), Spanish (c. 40 million), Romanian (c. 24 million), Portuguese (c. 10 million), Catalan (c. 7 million), Sicilian (c. 5 million, also subsumed under Italian), Venetian (c. 4 million), Galician (c. 2 million), Sardinian (c. 1 million), This includes all of the varieties of Sardinian, written with any orthography (the LSC, used for all of Sardinian, or the Logudorese, Nugorese and Campidanese orthographies, only used for some dialects of it) but does not include Gallurese and Sassarese, that even though they have sometimes been included in a supposed Sardinian "macro-language" are actually considered by all Sardinian linguists two different transitional languages between Sardinian and Corsican (or, in the case of Gallurese, are sometimes classified as a variant of Corsican). For Gallurese: ATTI DEL II CONVEGNO INTERNAZIONALE DI STUDI Ciurrata di la Linga Gadduresa, 2014, for Sassarese: ). They are legally considered two different languages by the Sardinian Regional Government too . Occitan (c. 500,000), besides numerous smaller communities.

The Romance languages evolved from varieties of Vulgar Latin spoken in the various parts of the Roman Empire in Late Antiquity. Latin was itself part of the (otherwise extinct) Italic branch of Indo-European. Romance languages are divided phylogenetically into Italo-Western, Eastern Romance (including Romanian) and Sardinian. The Romance-speaking area of Europe is occasionally referred to as Latin Europe.

Italo-Western can be further broken down into the Italo-Dalmatian languages (sometimes grouped with Eastern Romance), including the Tuscan-derived Italian and numerous local Romance languages in Italy as well as Dalmatian, and the Western Romance languages. The Western Romance languages in turn separate into the Gallo-Romance languages, including Langues d'oïl such as French, the Francoprovencalic languages Arpitan and Faetar, the Rhaeto-Romance languages, and the Gallo-Italic languages; the Occitano-Romance languages, grouped with either Gallo-Romance or East Iberian, including Occitanic languages such as Occitan and Gardiol, and Catalan; Aragonese, grouped in with either Occitano-Romance or West Iberian, and finally the West Iberian languages, including the Astur-Leonese languages, the Galician-Portuguese languages, and the Castilian languages.

Slavic

Slavic languages are spoken in large areas of Southern, Central and Eastern Europe. An estimated 315 million people speak of Slavic languages, the largest groups being Russian (c. 110 million in European Russia and adjacent parts of Eastern Europe, Russian forming the largest linguistic community in Europe), Polish (c. 40.6 million ), Ukrainian (c. 33 million ), Serbo-Croatian (c. 21 million), Czech (c. 12 million ), Bulgarian (c. 7.7 million ), Slovak (c. 5 million ), Belarusian (c. 3.7 million ), Slovene (c. 2.3 million ) and Macedonian (c. 1.3 million).

Phylogenetically, Slavic is divided into three subgroups:

 * West Slavic includes Polish, Polabian, Czech, Knaanic, Slovak, Lower Sorbian, Upper Sorbian, Silesian and Kashubian.
 * East Slavic includes Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Ruthenian, and Rusyn.
 * South Slavic includes Slovene and Serbo-Croatian in the southwest and Bulgarian, Macedonian and Church Slavonic (a liturgical language) in the southeast, each with numerous distinctive dialects. South Slavic languages constitute a dialect continuum where standard Slovene, Macedonian and Bulgarian are each based on a distinct dialect, whereas pluricentric Serbo-Croatian boasts four mutually intelligible national standard varieties all based on a single dialect, Shtokavian.

Others

 * Greek (c. 13 million) is the official language of Greece and Cyprus, and there are Greek-speaking enclaves in Albania, Bulgaria, Italy, North Macedonia, Romania, Georgia, Ukraine, Lebanon, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and Turkey, and in Greek communities around the world. Dialects of modern Greek that originate from Attic Greek (through Koine and then Medieval Greek) are Cappadocian, Pontic, Cretan, Cypriot, Katharevousa, and Yevanic.
 * Italiot Greek is, debatably, a Doric dialect of Greek. It is spoken in southern Italy only, in the southern Calabria region (as Grecanic)    and in the Salento region (as Griko). It was studied by the German linguist Gerhard Rohlfs during the 1930s and 1950s.
 * Tsakonian is a Doric dialect of the Greek language spoken in the lower Arcadia region of the Peloponnese around the village of Leonidio

 * The Baltic languages are spoken in Lithuania (Lithuanian (c. 3 million), Samogitian) and Latvia (Latvian (c.  2 million), Latgalian). Samogitian and Latgalian used to be considered dialects of Lithuanian and Latvian respectively.
 * There are also several extinct Baltic languages, including: Curonian, Galindian,  Jatvingian,  Old Prussian, Selonian, Semigallian, and Sudovian.
 * Albanian (c. 7.5 million) has two major dialects, Tosk Albanian and Gheg Albanian. It is spoken in Albania and Kosovo, neighboring North Macedonia, Serbia, Italy, and Montenegro. It is also widely spoken in the Albanian diaspora.
 * Armenian (c. 7 million) has two major forms, Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian. It is spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (Samtskhe-Javakheti) and Abkhazia, also Russia, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, and Cyprus. It is also widely spoken in the Armenian Diaspora.
 * There are six living Celtic languages, spoken in areas of northwestern Europe dubbed the "Celtic nations". All six are members of the Insular Celtic family, which in turn is divided into:
 * Brittonic family: Welsh (Wales, c. 462,000 ), Cornish (Cornwall, c.  500 ) and Breton (Brittany, c.  206,000 )
 * Goidelic family: Irish (Ireland, c. 1.7 million ), Scottish Gaelic (Scotland, c.  57,400 ), and Manx (Isle of Man, 1,660 )
 * Continental Celtic languages had previously been spoken across Europe from Iberia and Gaul to Asia Minor, but became extinct in the first millennium CE.

 * The Indo-Aryan languages have one major representative: Romani (c. 1.5 million speakers), introduced in Europe during the late medieval period. Lacking a nation state, Romani is spoken as a minority language throughout Europe.
 * The Iranian languages in Europe are natively represented in the North Caucasus, notably with Ossetian (c. 600,000).

Turkic

 * Oghuz languages in Europe include Turkish, spoken in East Thrace and by immigrant communities; Azerbaijani is spoken in Northeast Azerbaijan and parts of Southern Russia and Gagauz is spoken in Gagauzia.
 * Kipchak languages in Europe include Karaim, Crimean Tatar and Krymchak, which is spoken mainly in Crimea; Tatar, which is spoken in Tatarstan; Bashkir, which is spoken in Bashkortostan; Karachay-Balkar, which is spoken in the North Caucasus, and Kazakh, which is spoken in Northwest Kazakhstan.
 * Oghur languages were historically indigenous to much of Eastern Europe; however, most of them are extinct today, with the exception of Chuvash, which is spoken in Chuvashia.

Uralic

Uralic language family is native to northern Eurasia. Finnic languages include Finnish (c. 5 million) and Estonian (c.  1 million), as well as smaller languages such as Kven (c.  8,000). Other languages of the Finno-Permic branch of the family include e.g. Mari (c. 400,000), and the Sami languages (c. 30,000).

The Ugric branch of the language family is represented in Europe by the Hungarian language (c. 13 million), historically introduced with the Hungarian conquest of the Carpathian Basin of the 9th century. The Samoyedic Nenets language is spoken in Nenets Autonomous Okrug of Russia, located in the far northeastern corner of Europe (as delimited by the Ural Mountains).

Others

 * The Basque language (or Euskara, c. 750,000) is a language isolate and the ancestral language of the Basque people who inhabit the Basque Country, a region in the western Pyrenees mountains mostly in northeastern Spain and partly in southwestern France of about 3 million inhabitants, where it is spoken fluently by about 750,000 and understood by more than 1.5 million people. Basque is directly related to ancient Aquitanian, and it is likely that an early form of the Basque language was present in Western Europe before the arrival of the Indo-European languages in the area in the Bronze Age.
 * North Caucasian languages is a geographical blanket term for two unrelated language families spoken chiefly in the north Caucasus and Turkey—the Northwest Caucasian family (including Abkhaz and Circassian) and the Northeast Caucasian family, spoken mainly in the border area of the southern Russian Federation (including Dagestan, Chechnya, and Ingushetia).
 * Kalmyk is a Mongolic language, spoken in the Republic of Kalmykia, part of the Russian Federation. Its speakers entered the Volga region in the early 17th century.
 * Kartvelian languages (also known as Southwest Caucasian languages), the most common of which is Georgian (c. 3.5 million), others being Mingrelian and Svan, spoken mainly in the Caucasus and Anatolia.
 * Maltese (c. 500,000) is a Semitic language with Romance and Germanic influences, spoken in Malta.    It is based on Sicilian Arabic, with influences from Sicilian, Italian, French and, more recently, English. It is the only Semitic language whose standard form is written in Latin script. It is also the second smallest official language of the EU in terms of speakers (after Irish), and the only official Semitic language within the EU.
 * Cypriot Maronite Arabic (also known as Cypriot Arabic) is a variety of Arabic spoken by Maronites in Cyprus. Most speakers live in Nicosia, but others are in the communities of Kormakiti and Lemesos. Brought to the island by Maronites fleeing Lebanon over 700 years ago, this variety of Arabic has been influenced by Greek in both phonology and vocabulary, while retaining certain unusually archaic features in other respects.
 * Dialects of Eastern Aramaic are spoken by Assyrian communities in the Caucasus and southern Russia who fled the Assyrian Genocide during World War I.

Sign languages
Several dozen manual languages exist across Europe, with the most widespread sign language family being the Francosign languages, with its languages found in countries from Iberia to the Balkans and the Baltics. Accurate historical information of sign and tactile languages is difficult to come by, with folk histories noting the existence signing communities across Europe hundreds of years ago. British Sign Language (BSL) and French Sign Language (LSF) are probably the oldest confirmed, continuously used sign languages. Alongside German Sign Language (DGS) according to Ethnologue, these three have the most numbers of signers, though very few institutions take appropriate statistics on contemporary signing populations, making legitimate data hard to find.

Notably, few European sign languages have overt connections with the local majority/oral languages, aside from standard language contact and borrowing, meaning grammatically the sign languages and the oral languages of Europe are quite distinct from one another. Due to (visual/aural) modality differences, most sign languages are named for the larger ethnic nation in which they are spoken, plus the words "sign language", rendering what is spoken across much of France, Wallonia and Romandy as French Sign Language or LSF for: langue des signes française.

Recognition of non-oral languages varies widely from region to region. Some countries afford legal recognition, even to official on a state level, whereas others continue to be actively suppressed.

Though "there is a widespread belief—among both Deaf people and sign language linguists—that there are sign language families," the actual relationship between sign languages is difficult to ascertain. Concepts and methods used in historical linguistics to describe language families for written and spoken languages are not easily mapped onto signed languages. Some of the current understandings of sign language relationships, however, provide some reasonable estimates about potential sign language families:

 * Francosign languages, such as LSF, ASL, Dutch Sign Language, Flemish Sign Language, and Italian Sign Language.
 * BANZSL languages, including British Sign Language (BSL), New Zealand Sign Language (NZSL), Australian Sign Language (Auslan), and Swedish Sign Language.
 * Isolate languages, such as Albanian Sign Language, Armenian Sign Language, Caucasian Sign Language, Spanish Sign Language (LSE), Turkish Sign Language (TİD), and perhaps Ghardaia Sign Language.
 * Many other sign languages, such as Irish Sign Language (ISL), have unclear origins.

Language and identity, standardization processes
In the Middle Ages the two most important defining elements of Europe were Christianitas and Latinitas.

The earliest dictionaries were glossaries: more or less structured lists of lexical pairs (in alphabetical order or according to conceptual fields). The Latin-German (Latin-Bavarian) Abrogans was among the first. A new wave of lexicography can be seen from the late 15th century onwards (after the introduction of the printing press, with the growing interest in standardisation of languages).

The concept of the nation state began to emerge in the early modern period. Nations adopted particular dialects as their national language. This, together with improved communications, led to official efforts to standardise the national language, and a number of language academies were established: 1582 Accademia della Crusca in Florence, 1617 Fruchtbringende Gesellschaft in Weimar, 1635 Académie française in Paris, 1713 Real Academia Española in Madrid. Language became increasingly linked to nation as opposed to culture, and was also used to promote religious and ethnic identity: e.g. different Bible translations in the same language for Catholics and Protestants.

The first languages whose standardisation was promoted included Italian (questione della lingua: Modern Tuscan/Florentine vs. Old Tuscan/Florentine vs. Venetian → Modern Florentine + archaic Tuscan + Upper Italian), French (the standard is based on Parisian), English (the standard is based on the London dialect) and (High) German (based on the dialects of the chancellery of Meissen in Saxony, Middle German, and the chancellery of Prague in Bohemia ("Common German")). But several other nations also began to develop a standard variety in the 16th century.

Lingua franca
Europe has had a number of languages that were considered linguae francae over some ranges for some periods according to some historians. Typically in the rise of a national language the new language becomes a lingua franca to peoples in the range of the future nation until the consolidation and unification phases. If the nation becomes internationally influential, its language may become a lingua franca among nations that speak their own national languages. Europe has had no lingua franca ranging over its entire territory spoken by all or most of its populations during any historical period. Some linguae francae of past and present over some of its regions for some of its populations are:

 * Classical Greek and then Koine Greek in the Mediterranean Basin from the Athenian Empire to the Eastern Roman Empire, being replaced by Modern Greek.
 * Koine Greek and Modern Greek, in the Eastern Roman or Byzantine Empire and other parts of the Balkans south of the Jireček Line.
 * Vulgar Latin and Late Latin among the uneducated and educated populations respectively of the Roman Empire and the states that followed it in the same range no later than 900 AD; Medieval Latin and Renaissance Latin among the educated populations of western, northern, central and part of eastern Europe until the rise of the national languages in that range, beginning with the first language academy in Italy in 1582/83; Neo-Latin written only in scholarly and scientific contexts by a small minority of the educated population at scattered locations over all of Europe; ecclesiastical Latin, in spoken and written contexts of liturgy and church administration only, over the range of the Roman Catholic Church.
 * Lingua Franca or Sabir, the original of the name, an Italian-based pidgin language of mixed origins used by maritime commercial interests around the Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and early Modern Age.
 * Old French in continental western European countries and in the Crusader states.
 * Czech, mainly during the reign of Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV (14th century) but also during other periods of Bohemian control over the Holy Roman Empire.
 * Middle Low German, around the 14th–16th century, during the heyday of the Hanseatic League, mainly in Northeastern Europe across the Baltic Sea.
 * Spanish as Castilian in Spain and New Spain from the times of the Catholic Monarchs and Columbus, c. 1492; that is, after the Reconquista, until established as a national language in the times of Louis XIV, c. 1648; subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the Spanish Empire.
 * Polish, due to the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (16th–18th centuries).
 * Italian due to the Renaissance, the opera, the Italian Empire, the fashion industry and the influence of the Roman Catholic church.
 * French from the golden age under Cardinal Richelieu and Louis XIV c. 1648; i.e., after the Thirty Years' War, in France and the French colonial empire, until established as the national language during the French Revolution of 1789 and subsequently multinational in all nations in or formerly in the various French Empires.
 * German in Northern, Central, and Eastern Europe.
 * English in Great Britain until its consolidation as a national language in the Renaissance and the rise of Modern English; subsequently internationally under the various states in or formerly in the British Empire; globally since the victories of the predominantly English speaking countries (United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and others) and their allies in the two world wars ending in 1918 (World War I) and 1945 (World War II) and the subsequent rise of the United States as a superpower and major cultural influence.
 * Russian in the former Soviet Union and Russian Empire including Northern and Central Asia.

Linguistic minorities
Historical attitudes towards linguistic diversity are illustrated by two French laws: the Ordonnance de Villers-Cotterêts (1539), which said that every document in France should be written in French (neither in Latin nor in Occitan) and the Loi Toubon (1994), which aimed to eliminate anglicisms from official documents. States and populations within a state have often resorted to war to settle their differences. There have been attempts to prevent such hostilities: two such initiatives were promoted by the Council of Europe, founded in 1949, which affirms the right of minority language speakers to use their language fully and freely. The Council of Europe is committed to protecting linguistic diversity. Currently all European countries except France, Andorra and Turkey have signed the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, while Greece, Iceland and Luxembourg have signed it, but have not ratified it; this framework entered into force in 1998. Another European treaty, the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, was adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe: it entered into force in 1998, and while it is legally binding for 24 countries, France, Iceland, Italy, North Macedonia, Moldova and Russia have chosen to sign without ratifying the convention.

Scripts

The main scripts used in Europe today are the Latin and Cyrillic.

The Greek alphabet was derived from the Phoenician alphabet, and Latin was derived from the Greek via the Old Italic alphabet. In the Early Middle Ages, Ogham was used in Ireland and runes (derived from Old Italic script) in Scandinavia. Both were replaced in general use by the Latin alphabet by the Late Middle Ages. The Cyrillic script was derived from the Greek with the first texts appearing around 940 AD.

Around 1900 there were mainly two typeface variants of the Latin alphabet used in Europe: Antiqua and Fraktur. Fraktur was used most for German, Estonian, Latvian, Norwegian and Danish whereas Antiqua was used for Italian, Spanish, French, Polish, Portuguese, English, Romanian, Swedish and Finnish. The Fraktur variant was banned by Hitler in 1941, having been described as "Schwabacher Jewish letters". Other scripts have historically been in use in Europe, including Phoenician, from which modern Latin letters descend, Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on Egyptian artefacts traded during Antiquity, various runic systems used in Northern Europe preceding Christianisation, and Arabic during the era of the Ottoman Empire.

Hungarian rovás was used by the Hungarian people in the early Middle Ages, but it was gradually replaced with the Latin-based Hungarian alphabet when Hungary became a kingdom, though it was revived in the 20th century and has certain marginal, but growing area of usage since then.

European Union
The European Union (as of 2021) had 27 member states accounting for a population of 447 million, or about 60% of the population of Europe.

The European Union has designated by agreement with the member states 24 languages as "official and working": Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Irish, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish and Swedish. This designation provides member states with two "entitlements": the member state may communicate with the EU in any of the designated languages, and view "EU regulations and other legislative documents" in that language.

The European Union and the Council of Europe have been collaborating in education of member populations in languages for "the promotion of plurilingualism" among EU member states. The joint document, "Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR)", is an educational standard defining "the competencies necessary for communication" and related knowledge for the benefit of educators in setting up educational programs. In a 2005 independent survey requested by the EU's Directorate-General for Education and Culture regarding the extent to which major European languages were spoken in member states. The results were published in a 2006 document, "Europeans and Their Languages", or "Eurobarometer 243". In this study, statistically relevant samples of the population in each country were asked to fill out a survey form concerning the languages that they spoke with sufficient competency "to be able to have a conversation".

List of languages
The following is a table of European languages. The number of speakers as a first or second language (L1 and L2 speakers) listed are speakers in Europe only; see list of languages by number of native speakers and list of languages by total number of speakers for global estimates on numbers of speakers.

The list is intended to include any language variety with an ISO 639 code. However, it omits sign languages. Because the ISO-639-2 and ISO-639-3 codes have different definitions, this means that some communities of speakers may be listed more than once. For instance, speakers of Bavarian are listed both under "Bavarian" (ISO-639-3 code bar) as well as under "German" (ISO-639-2 code de).

Languages spoken in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Cyprus, Georgia, and Turkey
There are various definitions of Europe, which may or may not include all or parts of Turkey, Cyprus, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. For convenience, the languages and associated statistics for all five of these countries are grouped together on this page, as they are usually presented at a national, rather than subnational, level.

Immigrant communities
Recent (post–1945) immigration to Europe introduced substantial communities of speakers of non-European languages.

The largest such communities include Arabic speakers (see Arabs in Europe) and Turkish speakers (beyond European Turkey and the historical sphere of influence of the Ottoman Empire, see Turks in Europe). Armenians, Berbers, and Kurds have diaspora communities of c. 1–2,000,000 each. The various languages of Africa and languages of India form numerous smaller diaspora communities.

 * List of the largest immigrant languages

title: Languages of Europe


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Eindhoven University of Technology

The Eindhoven University of Technology (Technische Universiteit Eindhoven), abbr. TU/e, is a public technical university in the Netherlands, situated in Eindhoven. In 2020–21, around 14,000 students were enrolled in its BSc and MSc programs and around 1350 students were enrolled in its PhD and EngD programs. In 2021, the TU/e employed around 3900 people.

TU/e is the Dutch member of the EuroTech Universities Alliance, a partnership of European universities of science & technology. The other members are Technical University of Denmark (DTU), École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), École Polytechnique (L’X), The Technion, and Technical University of Munich (TUM).

History
The Eindhoven University of Technology was founded as the Technische Hogeschool Eindhoven (THE) on 23 June 1956 by the Dutch government. It was the second institute of its kind in the Netherlands, after the Delft University of Technology.

Undergraduate education was given in four- or five-year programs until 2002, styled along the lines of the German system of education; graduates of these programs were granted an engineering title and allowed to prefix their name with the title ir. (an abbreviation of ingenieur; not to be confused with graduates of technical hogescholen, who were engineers abbreviated ing.). Starting in 2002, following the entry into force of the Bologna Accords, the university switched to the bachelor/master structure (students graduating in 2002 were given both an old-style engineering title and a new master's title). The undergraduate programs are now split into two parts, a three-year bachelor program and a two-year master program.

2011-2020 Plans
On 3 January 2011, the university's plans for the period up to 2020, the "Strategic Plan 2020", was presented. The plan included establishing a University College with relevance in engineering education; establishing a Graduate School to manage the graduate programs; increasing the student body and annual PhDs awarded by 50 percent; increasing knowledge "valorisation" (practical usage) to a campus-wide score of 4.2; increasing the international position of the university to the top 100; and improving the campus, including adding a costly science park.

Organization
As a public university of the Netherlands, TU/e's general structure and management is determined by the Wet op het Hoger Onderwijs en Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (Law on Higher Education and Scientific Research). Between that law and the statutes of the university itself, the management of the university is organized according to the following chart:

Executive board
The day-to-day running of the university is in the hands of the executive board (College van Bestuur). The executive board (EB) monitors the academic departments and service organizations, in addition to the local activities of the Stan Ackermans Institute. The EB consists of the president, the rector magnificus, and the vice president, in addition to a secretary for clerical tasks, who is usually the secretary of the entire university. The rector magnificus is the only member of the EB whose membership is mandated by law. The law allows anyone to be appointed rector, but in practice the university appoints a former department dean as rector. The rector represents the university's academic staff and academic interests of the university. The current president is Robert-Jan Smits, the rector is Silvia Lenaerts, the vice president is Nicole Ummelen, and the secretary is Susanne van Weelden.

Oversight of the executive board
There are two bodies that supervise the Executive Board:

 * The Supervisory Board is an external board of five people appointed by the Minister of Education (one member is appointed, based on a nomination by the University Council). This Board provides external oversight of the running of the university, including changing of the statutes, the budget, and other strategic decisions.
 * The University Council is a council of 18 people, half of whom are elected from the university staff (academic and otherwise) and half from the student body. The University Council is informed of the running of the university by the executive board at least twice a year and may advise the EB as it sees fit. It guards against discrimination within the university, and the council must agree to any changes in the management structure. The Council membership is open to all students and personnel, except the University Secretary and anyone in the supervisory board or the executive board.

Departments and service organizations
Most of the work at the university is done in the departments and service organizations. In both the departments and the service organizations, the staff (and students) are involved with the running of the body. Both the bodies also have advisory councils.

The departments take care of most of the research and education at the university. Each department is run by its professors and headed by a dean. The deans are all members of the executive deliberation meeting, which is a regular meeting of the deans and the rector.

The service organizations are involved in further activities that are part of running the university.

The university has the following service organizations:

TU/e Holding B.V.
TU/e is involved in commercial interests and off-campus ties. These include commercial agreements between the university and external companies, in addition to interests in spinoff companies. In 1997 the TU/e Holding B.V., a limited company, was created to manage these commercial interests.

Rankings
As of 2018, Eindhoven was ranked between 51 and 141 in the world (the university itself provides a survey), and a top ten technical university in Europe. In a 2003 European Commission report, TU/e was ranked as third among European research universities (after Cambridge and Oxford, tied with TU Munich and thus tied for the highest ranked Technical University in Europe), based on the impact of its scientific research. In the 2011 ARWU (Academic Ranking of World Universities) rankings, TU/e was placed at the 52-75 bracket internationally in the Engineering/Technology and Computer Science (ENG) category and at 34th place internationally in the Computer Science subject field.

Education
The scientific departments (or faculties) are the main divisions involved in teaching and research in the university. They employ the majority of the academic staff, are responsible for teaching the students, and sponsor the research schools and institutions.

The departments also offer PhD programs (promotiefase) for qualified masters. Unlike in anglo-saxon countries, the PhD program is not educational, rather, the university employs those aiming for a PhD as researchers. The TU/e has nine departments:
 * Biomedical Engineering
 * Built Environment
 * Electrical Engineering
 * Industrial Design
 * Chemical Engineering and Chemistry
 * Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences (formerly Technology Management)
 * Applied Physics
 * Mechanical Engineering
 * Mathematics and Computer Science

Honors programs
The university offers honors programs for both bachelor and master students. At the bachelor level it consists of intensive study within eight possible tracks. At the master level it consists of extra leadership and professional development work.

Postgraduate doctorate of engineering (PDEng)
In 1986, the university, together with two other Dutch technological universities (TU Delft and University of Twente), started various programs for earning a postgraduate doctorate of engineering (PDEng). These programs are managed by the Stan Ackermans Institute on behalf of the 4TU Federation. Nationally, 3,500 students have earned the postgraduate PDEng degree through these programs. There are ten programs at TU/e, each two years long.

 * Automotive Systems Design
 * Clinical Informatics
 * Data Science
 * Healthcare Systems Design
 * Information and Communication Technology
 * Process and Product Design
 * Qualified Medical Engineer
 * Smart Buildings and Cities
 * Software Technology
 * User-System Interaction

Other educational programs
The university hosts a number of other educational programs that are in some way related to the main educational programs. These include the teacher's program and an MBA program.

 * Eindhoven School of Education: Teacher's education for masters, to get a higher education teaching certificate. Also involves research into education.
 * TIAS School for Business and Society: A shared MBA program with the University of Tilburg, for university graduates.
 * HBO minor program: Bachelor programs for students of HBO universities (four-year bachelor programs), to gain access to the master programs.

International connections
The TU/e has connections with sister institutions in different countries, for example:

 * National University of Singapore in Singapore
 * Zhejiang University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, and Northeastern University in China
 * Georgia Institute of Technology, Northwestern University, Carnegie Mellon University in the US
 * RMIT University in Australia
 * Middle East Technical University in Turkey
 * Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium

The TU/e also provides education to foreign students and graduates. According to the 2009 annual report in the academic year 2008–2009 there were 490 exchange students, 103 foreign nationals registered in a bachelor program, 430 in a master program, 158 in a professional doctorate program (79% of the total). In 2009 the university employed 37 foreign professors (15.9% of the total) and 16 foreign associate professors (12.8%). Overall, 29.5% of the university staff was non-Dutch.

As of 2011/2012, the TU/e had Erasmus agreements with universities in 30 countries across Europe in a range of subjects for student exchanges.

Regional effect
The TU/e plays a role in the academic, economic and social life of Eindhoven and the surrounding region.

The TU/e is important to the economy of the Eindhoven region, as well as the wider areas of BrabantStad and the Samenwerkingsverband Regio Eindhoven. It provides skilled labor for local businesses and partners with technology companies in the area.

Regional history
The university's role in the economy started with the interaction with the Philips company. The university was founded primarily to address Philips's need for local employees with higher levels of education in electronics, physics, chemistry and later computer science. Later that interest spread to DAF and Royal Dutch Shell. Often, senior personnel from these companies were hired to form the academic staff of the university (an Eindhoven joke was said that the university trains the engineers and Philips trains the professors).

The relationship changed during the 1980s and 1990s as Philips moved away from the region. The university was forced to seek closer ties with the city of Eindhoven, resulting in the Brainport initiative, a move to draw high tech industry to the region. The university started expending more effort in making practical use of its research and providing support for local companies and startups.

Current effect
The TU/e is host (and in some cases also commissioner) of a number of research schools, including the ESI and the DPI. These research schools are a source of knowledge for tech companies in the area such as ASML, NXP and FEI. As of summer 2010, the TU/e was also host to the Eindhoven Energy Institute (EEI), a co-location of the European Institute of Innovation and Technology's KIC on Sustainable Energy (InnoEnergy). The university also plays a large role in providing knowledge and personnel to other companies in the High Tech Campus Eindhoven and helps support startups through the Eindhoven Twinning Center and The Gate. The valorisation of TU/e has led to various spin-offs, including Lusoco, NC Biomatrix, Taylor, SMART Photonics, EFFECT Photonics and MicroAlign.

In the extended region, the TU/e is a part of the Eindhoven-Leuven-Aachen triangle. The agreement between these three cities from three different countries formed a region that is among the highest in the European Union in terms of investment in technology and knowledge economy. The agreement includes cooperation between the three technical universities in the cities.

Community
The TU/e has over 110 community bodies for its members. They are related to sports, culture, faith, staff, international students and hobbies, as well as university political parties, student teams, and study associations for each faculty.

Technological sports
In addition to the regular sports played by the students and staff, the university has some "technology sporting efforts". Some examples include:

 * Robot football: In 2010, TechUnited, the university's robot football team, won the European Championship, came second for the third time in a row at the world championship in Singapore and won the world championship in 2012. The team is part of the Mid-Size league of RoboCup.

 * Auto racing:The TU/e's race team, University Racing Eindhoven (URE) competes annually in the Formula Student and other races with self-built racers. Starting in 2010 the team switched from a petrol engine to an electric car; this car came third at Silverstone, second at Hockenheim and won the Formula Student in its first year.

 * The university also has another race team, Solar Team Eindhoven (STE), that has entered cars named Stella into the biannual World Solar Challenge since 2013, winning the Cruiser class competition both in 2013 and 2015.

Another student racing program is the Automotive Technology InMotion team, a collaboration between the TU/e and Fontys University of Applied Sciences. The team has the aim to compete in the 2020 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Student teams
TU/e has various student teams which work on problems in the fields of sustainability, AI, health and mobility.

Notable alumni

 * Wil van der Aalst, Dutch computer scientist
 * Stefan Bon, chemical engineer at the University of Warwick
 * Jo Coenen, Dutch architect and former Chief Architect of the Netherlands
 * Martijn van Dam, member of the House of Representatives (2006–10, 2010–12)
 * Marijn Dekkers, Chairman of Unilever
 * Jan Dietz, Dutch computer scientist
 * Teun van Dijck, member of the House of Representatives (2006–10, 2010–12)
 * Camiel Eurlings, Dutch Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water Management (2006–2010)
 * Gerard Kleisterlee, Chairman of Vodafone and a former president and chief executive officer of Royal Philips Electronics
 * Arno Kuijlaars, mathematician, professor at the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven
 * G.M. Nijssen, Dutch computer scientist
 * Itay Noy, Israeli watchmaker
 * Ralf Mackenbach, Singer
 * Kees Schouhamer Immink, president Turing Machines Inc, digital pioneer, winner Emmy Award, recipient IEEE Medal of Honor
 * Sjoerd Soeters, architect
 * René van Zuuk, Dutch architect

Notable faculty

 * Jacques Benders, mathematician
 * Andries Brouwer, mathematician and computer programmer
 * Nicolaas Govert de Bruijn, mathematician
 * Henk Buck, professor of chemistry
 * Jo Coenen, Dutch architect and former Chief Architect of the Netherlands
 * Henk Dorgelo, physicist and first rector magnificus
 * Edsger W. Dijkstra, mathematician and computer scientist, Turing Award winner 1972
 * Hugo Christiaan Hamaker, physicist
 * Hubert-Jan Henket, architect
 * Alexandre Horowitz, mechanical engineer; inventor of the Philishave
 * Arie Andries Kruithof, physicist, discovered the Kruithofeffect and Kruithofcurve
 * Piet Lemstra, inventor of the Dyneema fibre
 * Jack van Lint, mathematician
 * Harry Lintsen, historian in technology history, former chairman Foundation for the History of Technology
 * Archer Martin, Fellow of the Royal Society, 1952 Nobel laureate in chemistry (professor TU/e 1964–1974)
 * Bert Meijer, chemical engineer, pioneer in polymer research
 * Jaime Gómez Rivas, Physicist
 * Sjoerd Romme, professor of Entrepreneurship & Innovation
 * Johan Schot, historian, professor of technology history
 * Bettina Speckmann, computer scientist
 * Piet Steenkamp, lawyer, co-founder of the CDA
 * Martinus Tels, chemical engineer, rector magnificus, pioneer of waste management processes in the Netherlands
 * Wietse Venema, programmer and physicist

Notable honors for research done at the university

 * prof. dr. ir.René de Borst: Spinozapremie (1999)
 * prof. dr. Bert Meijer: KNCV Gold Medal (1993), Arthur K. Doolittle Award (1995), Spinozapremie (2001), Wheland Medal 2010/2011
 * prof.dr.ir. René Janssen: KIvI/NIRIA Speurwerkprijs 2010, Spinozapremie (2015)
 * prof. dr.ir. Jaap Schouten: Simon Stevin Master 2006
 * prof. dr. ir. Jan van Hest: Spinozapremie (2020)

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Eindhoven University of Technology


text:
Electronegativity

Electronegativity, symbolized as χ, is the tendency for an atom of a given chemical element to attract shared electrons (or electron density) when forming a chemical bond. An atom's electronegativity is affected by both its atomic number and the distance at which its valence electrons reside from the charged nucleus. The higher the associated electronegativity, the more an atom or a substituent group attracts electrons. Electronegativity serves as a simple way to quantitatively estimate the bond energy, and the sign and magnitude of a bond's chemical polarity, which characterizes a bond along the continuous scale from covalent to ionic bonding. The loosely defined term electropositivity is the opposite of electronegativity: it characterizes an element's tendency to donate valence electrons.

On the most basic level, electronegativity is determined by factors like the nuclear charge (the more protons an atom has, the more "pull" it will have on electrons) and the number and location of other electrons in the atomic shells (the more electrons an atom has, the farther from the nucleus the valence electrons will be, and as a result, the less positive charge they will experience—both because of their increased distance from the nucleus and because the other electrons in the lower energy core orbitals will act to shield the valence electrons from the positively charged nucleus).

The term "electronegativity" was introduced by Jöns Jacob Berzelius in 1811, though the concept was known before that and was studied by many chemists including Avogadro. In spite of its long history, an accurate scale of electronegativity was not developed until 1932, when Linus Pauling proposed an electronegativity scale which depends on bond energies, as a development of valence bond theory. It has been shown to correlate with a number of other chemical properties. Electronegativity cannot be directly measured and must be calculated from other atomic or molecular properties. Several methods of calculation have been proposed, and although there may be small differences in the numerical values of the electronegativity, all methods show the same periodic trends between elements.

The most commonly used method of calculation is that originally proposed by Linus Pauling. This gives a dimensionless quantity, commonly referred to as the Pauling scale (χr), on a relative scale running from 0.79 to 3.98 (hydrogen = 2.20). When other methods of calculation are used, it is conventional (although not obligatory) to quote the results on a scale that covers the same range of numerical values: this is known as an electronegativity in Pauling units.

As it is usually calculated, electronegativity is not a property of an atom alone, but rather a property of an atom in a molecule. Even so, the electronegativity of an atom is strongly correlated with the first ionization energy. The electronegativity is slightly negatively correlated (for smaller electronegativity values) and rather strongly positively correlated (for most and larger electronegativity values) with the electron affinity. It is to be expected that the electronegativity of an element will vary with its chemical environment, but it is usually considered to be a transferable property, that is to say that similar values will be valid in a variety of situations.

Caesium is the least electronegative element (0.79); fluorine is the most (3.98).

Pauling electronegativity
Pauling first proposed the concept of electronegativity in 1932 to explain why the covalent bond between two different atoms (A–B) is stronger than the average of the A–A and the B–B bonds. According to valence bond theory, of which Pauling was a notable proponent, this "additional stabilization" of the heteronuclear bond is due to the contribution of ionic canonical forms to the bonding.

The difference in electronegativity between atoms A and B is given by: $$|\chi_{\rm A} - \chi_{\rm B}| = ({\rm eV})^{-1/2} \sqrt{E_{\rm d}({\rm AB}) - \frac{E_{\rm d}({\rm AA}) + E_{\rm d}({\rm BB})} 2}$$ where the dissociation energies, Ed, of the A–B, A–A and B–B bonds are expressed in electronvolts, the factor (eV)−$1/2$ being included to ensure a dimensionless result. Hence, the difference in Pauling electronegativity between hydrogen and bromine is 0.73 (dissociation energies: H–Br, 3.79 eV; H–H, 4.52 eV; Br–Br 2.00 eV)

As only differences in electronegativity are defined, it is necessary to choose an arbitrary reference point in order to construct a scale. Hydrogen was chosen as the reference, as it forms covalent bonds with a large variety of elements: its electronegativity was fixed first at 2.1, later revised to 2.20. It is also necessary to decide which of the two elements is the more electronegative (equivalent to choosing one of the two possible signs for the square root). This is usually done using "chemical intuition": in the above example, hydrogen bromide dissolves in water to form H+ and Br− ions, so it may be assumed that bromine is more electronegative than hydrogen. However, in principle, since the same electronegativities should be obtained for any two bonding compounds, the data are in fact overdetermined, and the signs are unique once a reference point has been fixed (usually, for H or F).

To calculate Pauling electronegativity for an element, it is necessary to have data on the dissociation energies of at least two types of covalent bonds formed by that element. A. L. Allred updated Pauling's original values in 1961 to take account of the greater availability of thermodynamic data, and it is these "revised Pauling" values of the electronegativity that are most often used.

The essential point of Pauling electronegativity is that there is an underlying, quite accurate, semi-empirical formula for dissociation energies, namely: $$E_{\rm d}({\rm AB}) = \frac{E_{\rm d}({\rm AA}) + E_{\rm d}({\rm BB})} 2 + (\chi_{\rm A} - \chi_{\rm B})^2 {\rm eV}$$ or sometimes, a more accurate fit $$E_{\rm d}({\rm AB}) =\sqrt{E_{\rm d}({\rm AA}) E_{\rm d}({\rm BB})}+1.3(\chi_{\rm A} - \chi_{\rm B})^2 {\rm eV}$$

These are approximate equations but they hold with good accuracy. Pauling obtained the first equation by noting that a bond can be approximately represented as a quantum mechanical superposition of a covalent bond and two ionic bond-states. The covalent energy of a bond is approximate, by quantum mechanical calculations, the geometric mean of the two energies of covalent bonds of the same molecules, and there is additional energy that comes from ionic factors, i.e. polar character of the bond.

The geometric mean is approximately equal to the arithmetic mean—which is applied in the first formula above—when the energies are of a similar value, e.g., except for the highly electropositive elements, where there is a larger difference of two dissociation energies; the geometric mean is more accurate and almost always gives positive excess energy, due to ionic bonding. The square root of this excess energy, Pauling notes, is approximately additive, and hence one can introduce the electronegativity. Thus, it is these semi-empirical formulas for bond energy that underlie the concept of Pauling electronegativity.

The formulas are approximate, but this rough approximation is in fact relatively good and gives the right intuition, with the notion of the polarity of the bond and some theoretical grounding in quantum mechanics. The electronegativities are then determined to best fit the data.

In more complex compounds, there is an additional error since electronegativity depends on the molecular environment of an atom. Also, the energy estimate can be only used for single, not for multiple bonds. The enthalpy of formation of a molecule containing only single bonds can subsequently be estimated based on an electronegativity table, and it depends on the constituents and the sum of squares of differences of electronegativities of all pairs of bonded atoms. Such a formula for estimating energy typically has a relative error on the order of 10% but can be used to get a rough qualitative idea and understanding of a molecule.

Mulliken electronegativity
Robert S. Mulliken proposed that the arithmetic mean of the first ionization energy (Ei) and the electron affinity (Eea) should be a measure of the tendency of an atom to attract electrons: $$\chi = \frac{E_{\rm i} + E_{\rm ea}} 2 $$

As this definition is not dependent on an arbitrary relative scale, it has also been termed absolute electronegativity, with the units of kilojoules per mole or electronvolts. However, it is more usual to use a linear transformation to transform these absolute values into values that resemble the more familiar Pauling values. For ionization energies and electron affinities in electronvolts, $$\chi = 0.187(E_{\rm i} + E_{\rm ea}) + 0.17 \,$$ and for energies in kilojoules per mole, $$\chi = (1.97\times 10^{-3})(E_{\rm i} + E_{\rm ea}) + 0.19.$$

The Mulliken electronegativity can only be calculated for an element whose electron affinity is known. Measured values are available for 72 elements, while approximate values have been estimated or calculated for the remaining elements.

The Mulliken electronegativity of an atom is sometimes said to be the negative of the chemical potential. By inserting the energetic definitions of the ionization potential and electron affinity into the Mulliken electronegativity, it is possible to show that the Mulliken chemical potential is a finite difference approximation of the electronic energy with respect to the number of electrons., i.e., $$\mu(\rm Mulliken) = -\chi(\rm Mulliken) = {}-\frac{E_{\rm i} + E_{\rm ea}} 2 $$

Allred–Rochow electronegativity
A. Louis Allred and Eugene G. Rochow considered that electronegativity should be related to the charge experienced by an electron on the "surface" of an atom: The higher the charge per unit area of atomic surface the greater the tendency of that atom to attract electrons. The effective nuclear charge, Zeff, experienced by valence electrons can be estimated using Slater's rules, while the surface area of an atom in a molecule can be taken to be proportional to the square of the covalent radius, rcov. When rcov is expressed in picometres, $$\chi = 3590{{Z_{\rm eff}}\over{r^2_{\rm cov}}} + 0.744$$

Sanderson electronegativity equalization
R.T. Sanderson has also noted the relationship between Mulliken electronegativity and atomic size, and has proposed a method of calculation based on the reciprocal of the atomic volume. With a knowledge of bond lengths, Sanderson's model allows the estimation of bond energies in a wide range of compounds. Sanderson's model has also been used to calculate molecular geometry, s-electron energy, NMR spin-spin coupling constants and other parameters for organic compounds. This work underlies the concept of electronegativity equalization, which suggests that electrons distribute themselves around a molecule to minimize or to equalize the Mulliken electronegativity. This behavior is analogous to the equalization of chemical potential in macroscopic thermodynamics.

Allen electronegativity
Perhaps the simplest definition of electronegativity is that of Leland C. Allen, who has proposed that it is related to the average energy of the valence electrons in a free atom,

$$\chi = {n_{\rm s}\varepsilon_{\rm s} + n_{\rm p}\varepsilon_{\rm p} \over n_{\rm s} + n_{\rm p}}$$

where εs,p are the one-electron energies of s- and p-electrons in the free atom and ns,p are the number of s- and p-electrons in the valence shell. It is usual to apply a scaling factor, 1.75×10−3 for energies expressed in kilojoules per mole or 0.169 for energies measured in electronvolts, to give values that are numerically similar to Pauling electronegativities.

The one-electron energies can be determined directly from spectroscopic data, and so electronegativities calculated by this method are sometimes referred to as spectroscopic electronegativities. The necessary data are available for almost all elements, and this method allows the estimation of electronegativities for elements that cannot be treated by the other methods, e.g. francium, which has an Allen electronegativity of 0.67. However, it is not clear what should be considered to be valence electrons for the d- and f-block elements, which leads to an ambiguity for their electronegativities calculated by the Allen method.

On this scale, neon has the highest electronegativity of all elements, followed by fluorine, helium, and oxygen.

Correlation of electronegativity with other properties
The wide variety of methods of calculation of electronegativities, which all give results that correlate well with one another, is one indication of the number of chemical properties that might be affected by electronegativity. The most obvious application of electronegativities is in the discussion of bond polarity, for which the concept was introduced by Pauling. In general, the greater the difference in electronegativity between two atoms the more polar the bond that will be formed between them, with the atom having the higher electronegativity being at the negative end of the dipole. Pauling proposed an equation to relate the "ionic character" of a bond to the difference in electronegativity of the two atoms, although this has fallen somewhat into disuse.

Several correlations have been shown between infrared stretching frequencies of certain bonds and the electronegativities of the atoms involved: however, this is not surprising as such stretching frequencies depend in part on bond strength, which enters into the calculation of Pauling electronegativities. More convincing are the correlations between electronegativity and chemical shifts in NMR spectroscopy or isomer shifts in Mössbauer spectroscopy (see figure). Both these measurements depend on the s-electron density at the nucleus, and so are a good indication that the different measures of electronegativity really are describing "the ability of an atom in a molecule to attract electrons to itself".

Periodic trends
In general, electronegativity increases on passing from left to right along a period and decreases on descending a group. Hence, fluorine is the most electronegative of the elements (not counting noble gases), whereas caesium is the least electronegative, at least of those elements for which substantial data is available. This would lead one to believe that caesium fluoride is the compound whose bonding features the most ionic character.

There are some exceptions to this general rule. Gallium and germanium have higher electronegativities than aluminium and silicon, respectively, because of the d-block contraction. Elements of the fourth period immediately after the first row of the transition metals have unusually small atomic radii because the 3d-electrons are not effective at shielding the increased nuclear charge, and smaller atomic size correlates with higher electronegativity (see Allred-Rochow electronegativity and Sanderson electronegativity above). The anomalously high electronegativity of lead, in particular when compared to thallium and bismuth, is an artifact of electronegativity varying with oxidation state: its electronegativity conforms better to trends if it is quoted for the +2 state with a Pauling value of 1.87 instead of the +4 state.

Variation of electronegativity with oxidation number
In inorganic chemistry, it is common to consider a single value of electronegativity to be valid for most "normal" situations. While this approach has the advantage of simplicity, it is clear that the electronegativity of an element is not an invariable atomic property and, in particular, increases with the oxidation state of the element.

Allred used the Pauling method to calculate separate electronegativities for different oxidation states of the handful of elements (including tin and lead) for which sufficient data were available. However, for most elements, there are not enough different covalent compounds for which bond dissociation energies are known to make this approach feasible. This is particularly true of the transition elements, where quoted electronegativity values are usually, of necessity, averages over several different oxidation states and where trends in electronegativity are harder to see as a result.

The chemical effects of this increase in electronegativity can be seen both in the structures of oxides and halides and in the acidity of oxides and oxoacids. Hence CrO3 and Mn2O7 are acidic oxides with low melting points, while Cr2O3 is amphoteric and Mn2O3 is a completely basic oxide.

The effect can also be clearly seen in the dissociation constants pKa of the oxoacids of chlorine. The effect is much larger than could be explained by the negative charge being shared among a larger number of oxygen atoms, which would lead to a difference in pKa of log10($1/4$) = –0.6 between hypochlorous acid and perchloric acid. As the oxidation state of the central chlorine atom increases, more electron density is drawn from the oxygen atoms onto the chlorine, diminishing the partial negative charge of individual oxygen atoms. At the same time, the positive partial charge on the hydrogen increases with a higher oxidation state. This explains the observed increased acidity with an increasing oxidation state in the oxoacids of chlorine.

Electronegativity and hybridization scheme
The electronegativity of an atom changes depending on the hybridization of the orbital employed in bonding. Electrons in s orbitals are held more tightly than electrons in p orbitals. Hence, a bond to an atom that employs an spx hybrid orbital for bonding will be more heavily polarized to that atom when the hybrid orbital has more s character. That is, when electronegativities are compared for different hybridization schemes of a given element, the order $χ(sp^{3}) < χ(sp^{2}) < χ(sp)$ holds (the trend should apply to non-integer hybridization indices as well). While this holds true in principle for any main-group element, values for the hybridization-specific electronegativity are most frequently cited for carbon. In organic chemistry, these electronegativities are frequently invoked to predict or rationalize bond polarities in organic compounds containing double and triple bonds to carbon.

Group electronegativity
In organic chemistry, electronegativity is associated more with different functional groups than with individual atoms. The terms group electronegativity and substituent electronegativity are used synonymously. However, it is common to distinguish between the inductive effect and the resonance effect, which might be described as σ- and π-electronegativities, respectively. There are a number of linear free-energy relationships that have been used to quantify these effects, of which the Hammett equation is the best known. Kabachnik parameters are group electronegativities for use in organophosphorus chemistry.

Electropositivity
Electropositivity is a measure of an element's ability to donate electrons, and therefore form positive ions; thus, it is antipode to electronegativity.

Mainly, this is an attribute of metals, meaning that, in general, the greater the metallic character of an element the greater the electropositivity. Therefore, the alkali metals are the most electropositive of all. This is because they have a single electron in their outer shell and, as this is relatively far from the nucleus of the atom, it is easily lost; in other words, these metals have low ionization energies.

While electronegativity increases along periods in the periodic table, and decreases down groups, electropositivity decreases along periods (from left to right) and increases down groups. This means that elements in the upper right of the periodic table of elements (oxygen, sulfur, chlorine, etc.) will have the greatest electronegativity, and those in the lower-left (rubidium, caesium, and francium) the greatest electropositivity.

title: Electronegativity


text:
European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML) is a European treaty (CETS 148) adopted in 1992 under the auspices of the Council of Europe to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages in Europe. However, the charter does not provide any criterion or definition for an idiom to be a minority or a regional language, and the classification stays in the hands of the national state.

The preparation for the charter was undertaken by the predecessor to the current Congress of Local and Regional Authorities, the Standing Conference of Local and Regional Authorities of Europe because involvement of local and regional government was essential. The actual charter was written in the Parliamentary Assembly based on the Congress' Recommendations. It only applies to languages traditionally used by the nationals of the State Parties (thus excluding languages used by recent immigrants from other states, see immigrant languages), which significantly differ from the majority or official language (thus excluding what the state party wishes to consider as mere local dialects of the official or majority language) and that either have a territorial basis (and are therefore traditionally spoken by populations of regions or areas within the State) or are used by linguistic minorities within the State as a whole (thereby including such languages as Yiddish, Romani and Lemko, which are used over a wide geographic area).

Some states, such as Ukraine and Sweden, have tied the status of minority language to the recognized national minorities, which are defined by ethnic, cultural and/or religious criteria, thereby circumventing the Charter's notion of linguistic minority.

Languages that are official within regions, provinces or federal units within a State (for example Catalan in Spain) are not classified as official languages of the State and may therefore benefit from the Charter. On the other hand, Ireland has not been able to sign the Charter on behalf of the Irish language (although a minority language) as it is defined as the first official language of the state. The United Kingdom has ratified the Charter in respect to (among other languages) Welsh in Wales, Scots and Gaelic in Scotland, and Irish in Northern Ireland. France, although a signatory, has been constitutionally blocked from ratifying the Charter in respect to the languages of France.

The charter provides many actions state parties can take to protect and promote historical regional and minority languages. There are two levels of protection—all signatories must apply the lower level of protection to qualifying languages. Signatories may further declare that a qualifying language or languages will benefit from the higher level of protection, which lists a range of actions from which states must agree to undertake at least 35.

Protections
Countries can ratify the charter in respect of its minority languages based on Part II or Part III of the charter, which contain varying principles. Countries can treat languages differently under the charter, for example, in the United Kingdom, the Welsh language is ratified under the general Part II principles as well as the more specific Part III commitments, while the Cornish language is ratified only under Part II.

Part II
Part II of the Charter details eight main principles and objectives upon which States must base their policies and legislation. They are seen as a framework for the preservation of the languages concerned.
 * Recognition of regional or minority languages as an expression of cultural wealth.
 * Respect for the geographical area of each regional or minority language.
 * The need for resolute action to promote such languages.
 * The facilitation and/or encouragement of the use of such languages, in speech and writing, in public and private life.
 * The provision of appropriate forms and means for the teaching and study of such languages at all appropriate stages.
 * The promotion of relevant transnational exchanges.
 * The prohibition of all forms of unjustified distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference relating to the use of a regional or minority language and intended to discourage or endanger its maintenance or development.
 * The promotion by states of mutual understanding between all the country's linguistic groups.

Part III
Part III details comprehensive rules, across a number of sectors, by which states agree to abide. Each language to which Part III of the Charter is applied must be named specifically by the government. States must select at least thirty-five of the undertakings in respect to each language. Many provisions contain several options, of varying degrees of stringency, one of which has to be chosen "according to the situation of each language". The areas from which these specific undertakings must be chosen are as follows:
 * Education
 * Judicial authorities
 * Administrative authorities and public services
 * Media
 * Cultural activities and facilities
 * Economic and social life
 * Transfrontier exchanges