[In] what other part of the world would it be possible to outlaw the language of the state?

This question of Alessandro Urzì, post-fascist member of South Tyrolean Landtag (parliament), quoted by the BBC, is an interesting one, since it can be answered at different levels:

• Urzì refers to South Tyrol, where nobody even thinks of outlawing the “language of the state” — neither fully nor partially.
• However, many propose to withdraw officiality from — some or all — place names invented and imposed by a totalitarian regime, and that’s what we (and the BBC) are talking about.
• We could also question the concept of a (unique) “language of the state”, since there are many states in the world which have more than one official language without any hierarchy.
• If we reword Urzì’s question in a more consistent way (i.e. “in what other part of the world would it be possible to withdraw officiality from [imposed] place names [in the language of the state]?”) we could list
  • Australia (Uluru…)
  • Canada (Inaluit…)
  • China (Ürümqi…)
  • Denmark (on the Faroe Islands)
  • Spain (Galicia and Catalonia…)
  • France (Brittany, Canigó…)
  • the USA (Utqiaġvik, Denali…) and
  • even Italy (Aosta Valley, Piedmont and Trentino).

See also: 01 02