The political map of Europe: On spaces of linguistic tolerance

Authors

Keywords:

political map of Europe, state, official language, cross-border relations, equivalence, tolerance

Abstract

Using the political map of Europe, this paper demonstrates the logic of linguistic equivalence (complete coincidence of official languages) and tolerance (their partial coincidence), resulting in two representational models: classification and tolerance spaces. The modern map of Europe constitutes a complex composition of these. Of the 55 states, 41 are ‘national’ (one state — one language) and form the classification layer of the map. The remaining 14 states possess two (8) or even three (6) official languages, revealing profound cross-border relationships. These states constitute six distinct spaces of linguistic tolerance with core languages (listed in descending order by number of participant states): French-German, Russian, Serbian, Greek-Turkish, English, and Swedish. The analysis of this historically evolved structure elucidates the interethnic relations within the European Union as a political and economic entity. The article is methodological in nature and may prove useful to academic researchers and university-level geography instructors.

References

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Published

2026-05-28

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