Hearing the Unheard V: Embracing or Overlooking Diversity? The Case for Minority Languages in Eurovision

The stage at the Eurovision 2023 competition (Photo: Michael Doherty, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 DEED, via Wikimedia Commons) 

As we approach the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest, bets are being made on who will triumph in this year’s competition. While the glitz and glam of the contest is undoubtedly the most entertaining feature to audiences, a perhaps overlooked aspect is the diversity of the languages represented by the nations competing for the title, or rather lack thereof. While according to ESC rules, entries can be in any language, natural or constructed, native to the entrant or not, many still choose to sing in English. Those that do not, mostly stick to the primary language of that nation. As a result, minority languages are consistently underrepresented, though fortunately the consequences of this are not as detrimental as we have seen in previous instalments of Hearing the Unheard. This article will shed some light on minority language entries in Eurovision, hopefully drawing more attention to them and encouraging their use. 

Since 1988, competing countries in Eurovision have been free to sing in whatever language they choose. Before this, various periods passed where English was the only permitted language. Initially after this rule change, competing countries welcomed the chance to perform in their national languages, yet presently, and even then, the majority of entries remain in English. In 2017, for example, only four songs did not contain any English lyrics. But why do so many countries choose to perform in English? This undoubtedly stems from its status as a lingua franca, both in Europe and worldwide. It is seen as a ‘neutral’ language; performing in English will garner no criticism of having a political angle and eliminates some chance of any opposition based on nationality (though this is a bit of a generalisation. Nationality-based alliances, and feuds, are a fundamental part of Eurovision – the running joke of Greece and Cyprus’ guaranteed 12 points to each other comes to mind). Furthermore, with many performers looking to forge international careers, performing in English gives them a significantly greater chance of success. 

Despite this, performing in languages other than English has become increasingly popular. The percentage of entries featuring a language other than English has been on the rise since 2017, following Portugal’s win with Salvador Sobral’s song “Amar pelos dois”, which was solely in Portuguese. The song was a huge success, and still holds the Eurovision record for the highest-scoring winner, having earned a total of 758 points. This was followed by two more extremely popular winners: Italy’s Måneskin with “Zitti e buoni” and Ukraine’s Kalush Orchestra with “Stefania”. In 2021, the first, second, and third places were all won by non-English songs for the first time since 1995. So regarding linguistic diversity in terms of non-English entries, it seems that Eurovision is heading in the right direction. 

However, despite an increasing number of non-English entries, millions of Europeans who speak a minority language remain underrepresented on the Eurovision stage. Few entries in Eurovision’s history have featured primarily a minority or regional language, which is disappointing given the impact this could have on their preservation and representation. This is by no means a deliberate circumstance in most instances. Countries are not obliged to represent minority languages, particularly when the goal is ultimately to win over the rest of the participating nations. There are also examples where speaking in a minority language could be seen as a political act, such as Sardinian due to their desire for autonomy from Italy. So, performing in a minority language may prove more trouble than it’s worth. However, when some European languages have just a few thousand speakers left, like North Frisian for example, Eurovision could be the perfect opportunity to bring more attention to minority languages. 

Minority languages have not been completely disregarded in Eurovision by any means. France has included a good amount of variation in their entries, performing for the first time in Antillean Creole in 1992, Corsican in 1993, and Breton in 1996. Other performances in minority or regional languages include Italy’s 1992 entry in Neapolitan, Andorra’s 2004 entry in Catalan, and Switzerland’s 1989 entry in Romansch, a Gallo-Romance language spoken predominantly in the Swiss canton region of the Grisons. Other countries have not embraced their regional and/or minority languages, however. An example of this is the United Kingdom who have only ever sung in English, never Scottish Gaelic, Cornish, or Manx for example. Furthermore, minority language entries do not always have their intended impact. Norway’s 1980 “Sámiid ædnan” (“Sami Land”), for example, was a sombre performance inspired by the autonomy movement among the Sami people of Northern Norway (see the first instalment of Hearing the Unheard for an in-depth history of the Sami plight). Ironically, however, the extent of the Sami lyrics stretched only so far as the title, with the rest of the lyrics in Norwegian.  

Instead of necessarily encouraging more minority languages in Eurovision, I would like to bring to the reader’s attention a competition which does just this. Liet International is an international music competition for songs solely in European minority languages. It has been held annually since 2002 and has been dubbed the ‘Eurovision of minority languages.’ A total of 57 languages have been represented at the contest at least once, and winning songs have been in languages such as Catalan, Northern and Southern Sami, Corsican, West Frisian, and Cornish. While this is an incredible opportunity for artists to showcase their music in their regional language, the competition is by no means as glitzy as Eurovision, with a budget of only 100,000 euros. And despite such an interesting mix of minority and regional languages, the most recent competition in 2022 attracted less than a thousand viewers on YouTube. So, minority languages are being represented at song competitions, but these suffer from a lack of awareness. 2024’s edition, though, will be hosted in Bastia, Corsica, on November 22nd and should be streamed live on YouTube. I urge you to mark the date and tune in, as I’m sure I will. 

So, in true Hearing the Unheard fashion, all is not lost for minority languages, and they continue to thrive despite any adversity they may face. In fact, this year’s Eurovision will feature two exciting languages: Australia’s entry has phrases in Yankunytjatjara, an Australian Aboriginal language, and Azerbaijan’s entry features phrases in Azerbaijani, making it the first Azerbaijani entry to predominantly feature Azerbaijani language. Make sure to look out for both performances in the first semi-final on Tuesday 7th of May.