What should I consider for a multilingual conculture?

[StrangerCoug]

Several times I've thought up a country for a conworld where there are multiple languages spoken, not unlike the situation in India and (while not really a "country") the EU. Oftentimes, I make the country a federation (often a monarchy as well, though for the purposes of this question it can also be a republic) where the individual states each have a slightly different regional culture and heritage.

I'd like to probe the political considerations of this (for context, I'm thinking the early modern era to the present in terms of technology): One of the languages is primarily spoken in the capital and the surrounding region. For the sake of discussion, let's give it the placeholder name Capitalian and define "the surrounding region" to be the province the capital is in, called Capitalia. While Capitalian is widely spoken in Capitalia and official throughout the whole country, outside of Capitalia it tends not to be the native language of the country's speakers—instead, it could be any of about 10 to 12 other regionally spoken languages in the country, with Capitalian mostly relegated to a lingua franca in everyday practice. The conservatives of this conculture want to preserve (at least what they see as) Capitalian's prestige status nationwide, especially in education where learning it is mandatory, whereas the liberals would like to see greater preservation and protection of these other regional languages. I'm not against the country having a history of suppressing non-Capitalian languages, especially if they're associated with enemies they've fought wars with, but I'd like the regional languages much more vibrant than I perceive the current status of the Celtic languages to be in real life, even enjoying official status in some provinces where they're widely spoken natively.

How might the country arrive at this status to begin with? What specific language debates might arise between those who want to promote Capitalian and those who want to protect native non-Capitalian languages, and what are realistic things the head of the country's government might do that gets the end result I want? What might the provinces where Capitalian native speakers are a minority do?

(I hope that's all clear xD)

[zompist]

This is exactly how every country worked before, oh, 1850.

So, (say) standard French was spoken in Paris and the nearby provinces, with dialects or separate languages further away. Nothing had to be done to encourage the local languages: the majority of the people were brought up and lived entirely in their local language. There was no public school, and most people lived in their region all their lives. Only the elite learned standard French.

What changes this situation is institutions that mix ordinary people from different backgrounds: they have to learn the standard language. At first this mainly consists of moving to the capital (where the good jobs are). Universal conscription is a factor. In the last century and a half, you have high degrees of movement and universal education, which start to destroy the conditions for the local varieties to thrive.

I would, by the way, caution against assuming that progressives would favor, and conservatives would disfavor, the local languages. Learning the standard would be associated with free movement of labor and access to higher education and middle-class professions, which are the source of liberalism in Europe at least. Elites are generally for the elite learning the prestige language, and often actively discourage the commoners from learning it.

Assuming you want your nation to move into modern times with multilingualism intact, what I'd advice is multiple centers of work and prestige. Think Europe as a whole, not France. If there's just one capital, it'll be very hard for its language not to dominate. But if you have a choice of going to Capitalia or two other regions, then things change.

[StrangerCoug]

Assuming you want your nation to move into modern times with multilingualism intact, what I'd advice is multiple centers of work and prestige. Think Europe as a whole, not France. If there's just one capital, it'll be very hard for its language not to dominate. But if you have a choice of going to Capitalia or two other regions, then things change.

So given that I'd like a federation with provinces, would provincial capitals work well as alternatives to Capitalia as far as getting good jobs go?

[zompist]

Assuming you want your nation to move into modern times with multilingualism intact, what I'd advice is multiple centers of work and prestige. Think Europe as a whole, not France. If there's just one capital, it'll be very hard for its language not to dominate. But if you have a choice of going to Capitalia or two other regions, then things change.

So given that I'd like a federation with provinces, would provincial capitals work well as alternatives to Capitalia as far as getting good jobs go?

Sure, but think about why they make separate economic/cultural zones. E.g.:

-- contrasting cultures/languages/religions, e.g. Indic v Dravidian zones of India, or Greek v Latin parts of Roman Empire
-- enormous size of country (e.g. Mumbai/Kolkata, New York/Chicago)
-- long history of separation (e.g. the cities of Italy)
-- mercantile v administrative capital (e.g. Barcelona v Madrid)