Languages of Barrayar
The six national languages of the Empire of Barrayar are Galactic English (Barrayaran Variant), Galactic English (Komarran Variant), Barrayaran English, Barrayaran Russian, Barrayaran French and Barrayaran Greek. All maintain equal status as official languages at the national level within the Imperial Administration.
On Komarr, people speak Galactic English (Komarran Variant), although, due to the deep links between Komarr and the wider Nexus, the Komarran variant differs little if anything from the Nexus Standard. On Sergyar there is an amalgamation of Barrayar-borne variants and Komarran dialects, although, as of 3003, there is no form distinctively emerging. On Sergyar, Komarr and space-borne settlements, as well as in Vorbarr Sultana, Barrayaran linguistic groups are widely intermingled.
On Barrayar, Galactic English is natively spoken by small minorities of immigrants, although it is quite understood in the major urban centres. Native languages are spoken with a fragmented localization (several, little enclosed areas) on the Southern Continent, while the ancestral regions still remain on the Northern Continent.
Barrayaran languages
On Barrayar there are four Barrayaran forms of Greek, French, English and Russian.
The Barrayaran Greek group is the smallest, with the Barrayaran Greek spoken by the 8% of population of the Northern Continent, while on the Southern Continent the percentage is of 11%; Greek Districts lie on the South-East of the Northern Continent, including both coast and interior regions. The Barrayaran Francophone group is spread among 21% of native speakers on the Northern Continent, and among the 18% of the Southern Continent populations. Barrayaran French is spoken on the East Coast of the Northern Continent, with three internal Districts.
The Barrayaran Anglophone group counts 18 Northern Districts and the 31% of the population of the Northern Continent, while the 34% of Southern Continent population speaks Barrayaran English as its native language. The Northern region of origin of Barrayaran English lies on the West Coast, in centre-south and on Dendarii mountains (southern watershed).
The Barrayaran Russophone group counts about the 40% of the Northern Continent population, while on the Southern Continent Barrayaran Russian is spoken by only the 25%. The home regions are on the South Coast, in the "big centre" and Northern regions of the Northern Continent. In turn, the Barrayaran Russian has two separate and noticeable dialects: the "Mountain Russians", spoken by the Dendarii people and the "Plains Russians", spoken in Districts north of Vorkosigan District, the main centre being Vorbarr Sultana.
Language mixing
Even within the four linguistic regions, there are differences in the distribution of languages. In the Russian-speaking region, in 3000, Greek is the most practiced second national language with 3% of the population. In other linguistic regions, Russian always ranks second, but to varying degrees. The Greek-speaking region is the least homogeneous with 75.9% of residents using the official language.
Political basis
The protection granted to different languages and cultures of Barrayar finds its roots in the distinctively imperial character of Barrayar and, on second instance, of the interstellar empire. It is officially assumed that at the moment when the Barrayaran peoples and culture become a nation they will cease to exist as people, and Barrayar will cease to exist as a state; this consideration denies the priority of the "nation" for the sake of empire.
The "national" concept is rejected because it was the Empire which gave birth to Barrayar, its establishment by Dorcas Vorbarra marking a passage point from the polities conglomerate to a single political entity. The attempt to become a nation could cripple its “cultural code” and its historical destiny as legitimate heir to an aspiration to rule the whole of the Nexus.
Legal principles
The major principles of the Imperial Public Service are:
- Equality of languages;
- Freedom of Imperial Subjects to choose the language to use with the Imperial Public Service;
- Territoriality of languages;
The official languages are equal before the law at the Imperial level since 2878. According to the second principle, subjects have the freedom to choose their language; however, is the principle of territoriality, which is crucial because it helps stabilize linguistic areas.
Equality of languages
By law, all languages are equal and as such they are used in the legal production. Linguistic equality concerns all Barrayaran legislation which covers more than a linguistic area. Imperial institutions emanate Imperium-wide law and as such must therefore be expressed in all official languages. All official acts are considered drawn up in all official languages of the Barrayaran Empire, no one prevails over the others and all have the same legal value. The multi-lingual simultaneous drawing can be defined as a "legal fiction" essential to ensure, at least on paper, of "authenticity" to the legal texts.
The declared equality and the same legal value of all the language versions do not, however, prevent cases of differences of interpretation; the use of technical terminology in the regulatory texts inevitably brings with it the risk that the same concept can be interpreted in a non-uniform manner in one or more language versions.
The necessary uniformity in the application of the law raises a problem: in the case of linguistic divergence in the interpretation of a rule you can not locate a version that can prevail over the others and to be referenced. It is, in other words, to overcome the differences in respect of multilingualism, guaranteeing equal value in all the official versions and uniform interpretation and application of the rules. The need to interpret evenly Imperial law mean that, in case of doubt, the text of a provision must not be considered in isolation; it must instead be interpreted in the light of the text in all other official languages. The examination of all the language versions of a multilingual text is not only a resource for interpretation, but a specific legal obligation.
Territoriality of languages
The purpose of the territoriality principle is to maintain as much as possible, the language areas in their historical limits, which remain relatively stable. With the principle of territoriality, each District has an official language and when a citizen settles in a District which has a language different from his own, he must accept the official language of his place of residence. A partial exception to this principle is admitted for Vorbarr Sultana, which employs many employees from other language regions.
On the Northern Continent, the central State is not competent for distribution of languages. Linguistic boundaries are set by Districts, which determine their official language and respect the traditional territorial distribution of languages. The District regulation of their language is left to the District themselves.
On the other hand, on the Southern Continent, the central authority responsible for the language policy is the Ministry of the West, as overseen by a specific committee of the Council of Counts. In this case, the Ministry ensures the availability of all official languages, sets the District primary language and allows the individual Region or Arrondissement to add another language (used mainly for schools).
On Komarr, the authority responsible for the language policy is the Komarran Board; the official language is Galactic English (Komarran Variant), although the school language is a free choice of each institute, provided it is authorized by the relevant office; on Sergyar, all six official languages are uniformly recognized; government documents are written in six versions, i.e. in Galactic English (Barrayaran Variant), Galactic English (Komarran Variant), Barrayaran English, Barrayaran Russian, Barrayaran French and Barrayaran Greek.