Reorganization of States and the Politics of Official Languages in India

2019 ◽  
pp. 1509-1524
Author(s):  
Mahendra Prasad Singh ◽  
Ramesh Chandra Dhussa
Keyword(s):  
Official Languages

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

The Implementation of CLIL and Attitudes Towards Trilingualism

2009 ◽  
Vol 157 ◽  
pp. 23-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Lasagabaster
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Language ◽  
Secondary Students ◽  
Language Attitudes ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Minority Language ◽  
Educational Systems ◽  
Autonomous Community ◽  
Positive Attitudes ◽  
Inherent Feature ◽  
Official Languages

Abstract Linguistic and cultural diversity is becoming an inherent feature of most schools in Europe. This is specially so in contexts such as the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain, where the presence of two official languages (Basque and Spanish) is complemented by the early teaching of English, which sets out as early as the age of four in the majority of schools. Nevertheless, the low foreign language command of Spanish students in general and the Basque students in particular has led to the implementation of CLIL experiences, which have been mushrooming in the last decade. Some voices have been raised though against the ever increasing presence of English due to its probable negative impact on language attitudes, especially on attitudes towards Basque. Many efforts have been made to normalize the situation of Basque at school and some scholars consider that these achievements can be jeopardized if the minority language yields too much space to the two international languages (Spain and English). In this paper the effect of CLIL programmes on attitudes towards trilingualism is examined through a holistic questionnaire completed by 277 secondary students. The results obtained demonstrate that CLIL can help to boost positive attitudes towards trilingualism at school, a matter of the utmost importance due to the ever increasing number of multilingual educational systems in Europe.

Zur Mehrsprachigkeit in der Schweiz und im schweizerischen Rechtssystem

2016 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paweł Bielawski
Keyword(s):  
French Text ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Legal Texts ◽  
Swiss Confederation ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Made In

AbstractThe article analyses how the Swiss Confederation regulates its multilingualism and the role the official languages play in the legislative and judicial processes of this country. It is proved here that the legislation in Switzerland is not made in all four official languages, hence it depends on translation. Considering that only German and French text versions of Swiss laws are aligned to each other, the article further examines whether the differences existing between the language versions of these legal texts lead to pragmatic divergences. Against this backdrop, the article considers whether the legal system of the multilingual Switzerland can be called multilingual.

Language and identity in East Timor

2008 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerry Taylor-Leech
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Policy Development ◽  
East Timor ◽  
Language And Identity ◽  
Data Sets ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Student Focus ◽  
Research Findings ◽  
Official Languages

Language choice in the newly independent Republic of East Timor can be usefully examined in the wider context of language policy in multilingual states. The present article reports on ethnographic research investigating official and popular discourses of language and identity in East Timor and the role of past and present language policies and practices in shaping national and social identity. It focuses on the discursive reconstruction of identity through five official instruments of language policy development. Hostile discourses in the Australian and Indonesian press towards the choice of Portuguese (the former colonial language) and Tetum (the endogenous lingua franca) as official languages provided the context for the investigation. A persistent theme in these discourses is that English and/or Indonesian would be preferable choices. The article puts these discourses into perspective by presenting findings from two data sets: (i) the 2004 National Census and (ii) analysis of the discourses of 78 participants in semi-structured interviews and student focus groups. The census shows clear signs of the revival of Portuguese and the reinvigoration of Tetum. It also shows how diverse linguistic identities have become in East Timor. The research findings show that there is less hostility to official language policy than claimed in the Australian and Indonesian press. However, the findings also emphasise the urgent need to reconstruct an inclusive, plurilingual national identity that can encompass diversity.

Exploring Culturally Sustaining Writing Pedagogy in Urban Classrooms

2017 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 215-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rebecca Woodard ◽  
Andrea Vaughan ◽  
Emily Machado
Keyword(s):  
Writing Pedagogy ◽  
Dominant Culture ◽  
Writing Teachers ◽  
Writing Curriculum ◽  
Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy ◽  
Semistructured Interviews ◽  
Critical Practices ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Urban Classrooms

We examine how culturally sustaining pedagogy that fosters linguistic and cultural pluralism might be taken up in writing instruction. Using data collected through semistructured interviews with nine urban elementary and middle school writing teachers, we document teachers’ conceptualizations and enactments of culturally sustaining writing pedagogy. Findings indicate that these teachers tended to make space for explicit discussions of language, culture, and power in the writing curriculum and to problematize expressions of dominant culture, such as an emphasis on official languages. We also explore the tensions that these teachers experienced in their pedagogy while engaging in culturally sustaining methods; for example, we documented teachers’ sense that writing needed to be more formal than speech and instances where their critical practices put them at odds with stakeholders in their schools. This work represents an emerging understanding of how culturally sustaining literacy pedagogy might be implemented in practice.

The Status of Arabic in Israel: Refiections on the Power of Law to Produce Social Change

2002 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ilan Saban ◽  
Muhammad Amara
Keyword(s):  
Legal Status ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
Prima Facie ◽  
The State ◽  
French Language ◽  
The Status ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
State Of Affairs ◽  
Ethnic Nation ◽  
State Of Israel

AbstractThe status of Arabic in Israel gives rise to question. Israel is a rare case of an ethnic nation-state that grants the language of minority group with a legal status which isprima facieone of equality. Both Hebrew and Arabic are the official languages of the State of Israel. What are the reasons for this special state of affairs? The answer is threefold: historic, sociological and legal. In various ways the potential inherent in the legal status of Arabic has been depleted of content, and as a result of that, as well as other reasons, the socio-political status of Arabic closely resembles what you would expect the status of a language of a minority group in a state that identifies itself as the state of the majority group to be. This answer, however, is another source of puzzlement – how does such a dissonance between law and practice evolve, what perpetuates it for so long, is change possible, is it to be expected?We present an analysis of the legal status of Arabic in Israel and at the same time we proceed to try and answer the questions regarding the gap between the legal and the sociopolitical status of Arabic. We reach some of our answers through a comparison with the use of law to change the status of the French language in Canada. One of these answers is that given the present constellation in Israel, the sociopolitical status of Arabic cannot meaningfully be altered by legal means.

scholarly journals The curious case of legal translation

Literator ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Cornelius
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Core Competencies ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Constitutional Development ◽  
Legal Translation ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Legal Competence ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Legislative Language

This article explores the nature and scope of legal translation which is an under-researched area in South Africa. In this article the author predicts that the demand for competent legal translators will increase in the future, evidenced by a recent call by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development(DoJ&CD), inviting applications for ten positions for “legislative language practitioners”. However, legal translation differs substantially from general translation in the sense that legal translation is subject to heavy restrictions at all levels and legal considerations are of paramount importance in a country such as South Africa, which provides for eleven official languages. Legal translation involves different legal languages, different legal systems and different cultural systems that require specialised knowledge and skills of the translator. The aim of this article is to investigate the core competencies and skills the legal translator must have; to consider the balance between legal competence and translation or linguistic competence; and to propose a discourse-analytical method of source text analysis, developed by Bhatia as a simplification strategy, as this may be a powerful tool in the training of legal translators in South Africa. Recent developments in South Africa relating to the Department of Arts and Culture’s obligation to translate legislation into all official languages, have important consequences for legal translation in general and the training of legal translators in particular.

scholarly journals El sistema español de jerarquía lingüística. Desarrollo autonómico del artículo 3 de la Constitución: lengua del Estado, lenguas cooficiales, otras lenguas españolas y modalidades lingüísticas. Teoría y praxis. // The Spanish system of language hierarchy. Autonomic development of article 3 of the Constitution: State language, co-official languages, other Spanish languages and language modalities. Theory and praxis.

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (100) ◽  
pp. 51
Author(s):  
Vicenta Tasa Fuster
Keyword(s):  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Native Languages ◽  
Autonomous Communities ◽  
Linguistic Rights ◽  
Spanish Constitution ◽  
El Sistema ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
Special Respect ◽  
The Right ◽  
Official Recognition

Resumen:Este trabajo pretende dar una visión general del reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística española que se deriva de la Constitución. Nos referimos exclusivamente a las lenguas autóctonas históricamente habladas en España; teniendo en cuenta, además, que una misma lengua puede recibir diversas denominaciones populares y oficiales.Partiendo de estas premisas, el trabajo estudia el reconocimiento que hace la Constitución Española de la diversidad lingüística en España en su artículo 3. Se subraya en el estudio que, en dicho artículo de la Constitución se establece que el castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado y que todos los españoles tienen el deber de conocerla y el derecho a usarla (art. 3.1), que las otras lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas comunidades autónomas, en función de la regulación que hagan sus estatutos (art. 3.2) y que España considera que la riqueza de las diferentes modalidades lingüísticas esun patrimonio cultural que deberá tener un respeto y una protección especiales (art. 3.3).El contenido de la Constitución, la jurisprudencia constitucional de las últimas cuatro décadas y los estatutos de autonomía y legislación lingüística autonómica, han asentado un reconocimiento de la diversidad lingüística española y de los derechos lingüísticos concretos de los hablantes de las distintas lenguas españolas fundamentado en el principio de jerarquía lingüística y no en los de seguridad lingüística e igualdad de derechos lingüísticos. El principio de jerarquía lingüística presupone considerar que existen unas lenguas que deben tener un reconocimiento legal y oficial superior a otras. Y, lo que es lo mismo, que los derechos lingüísticos de sus hablantes no tienen el mismo grado de reconocimiento. Llegándose a dar el caso que, en España, una misma lengua pueda llegar a tener diferentes niveles de reconocimiento legal-oficial y un número aún mayor de políticas lingüísticas que traten de convertir en una realidad substantiva todos o una parte de los derechos lingüísticos reconocidos formalmente a los hablantes de una lengua diferente del castellano en una comunidad autónoma.Así las cosas, se constata que legalmente una lengua (castellano) tiene una situación de preeminencia legal-oficial, seis lenguas españolas (catalán, gallego, vasco, occitano, aragonés y asturleonés) tienen algún tipo de reconocimiento oficial en parte del territorio en el que son habladas de manera autóctona, una lengua tiene reconocimiento político (tamazight), otra tiene un reconocimiento administrativo menor en Cataluña (caló), y tres lenguas autóctonas no tienen el más mínimo reconocimiento legal, político o administrativo (árabe, haquetia yportugués). El trabajo estudia detalladamente y de manera global la estructuración de la jerarquía lingüística en la legislación española derivadade la Constitución y concluye con una descripción de los seis niveles de jerarquía lingüística y de derechos lingüísticos que existen en España. Se defiende, finalmente, un cambio sistema lingüístico legalconstitucional que respete los principios de seguridad lingüística y el principio de igualdad de derechos lingüísticos de todos los ciudadanos españoles. Summary:1. Introduction. The Constitution and the Spanish languages. 2.Language in the statutes of monolingual communities. 3. Linguisticdiversity in multilingual communities with a single official language.4. Communities with co-officiality. 5. Final considerations: a hierarchicalrecognition. 6. Bibliography cited. Abstract:This paper is an overview of the recognition of the Spanish linguistic diversity derived from the Constitution. We refer exclusively to the native languages historically spoken in Spain; about that is important to know that the same language can receive diverse popular and official denominations.With these premises, the work studies the recognition in the article 3 of the Spanish Constitution of the linguistic diversity in Spain. It is emphasized in the study that this article establishes that the Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State and that all Spaniards have the duty to know it and the right to use it (article 3.1), that the other Spanish languages would be official in the respective autonomous communities, depending on the regulation made by their statutes of autonomy (article 3.2 ), and that Spain considers the richness of the different linguistic modalities a cultural heritage that must have special respect and protection (article 3.3).The content of the Constitution, the constitutional jurisprudence of the last four decades and the statutes of autonomy and autonomous linguistic legislation, have established a recognition of the Spanish linguistic diversity and of the specific linguistic rights of the speakers of the different Spanish languages based on the principle of linguistic hierarchy and not in those of linguistic security and equality of linguistic rights. The principle of linguistic hierarchy considers that there are some languages that have to have a legal and official recognitionsuperior to others. And, what is the same, that the linguistic rights of its speakers do not have the same degree of recognition. In Spain, the same language may have different levels of legal-official recognition and a lot of linguistic policies in the autonomous communities that try to be reality all or part of the linguistic rights formally recognized to speakers of a language other than Castilian. So it is verified that legally a language (Castilian) has a situation oflegal-official preeminence, six Spanish languages (Catalan, Galician, Basque, Occitan, Aragonese and Asturian) have some type of official recognition in part of the territory where are spoken, one language has political recognition (Tamazight), another has a lower administrative recognition in Catalonia (Caló), and three indigenous languages do not have the least legal, political or administrative recognition (Arabic, Hachetia and Portuguese).The paper studies in detail the structure of the linguistic hierarchy in Spanish legislation derived from the Constitution and concludes with a description of the six levels of linguistic hierarchy and of linguistic rights that exist in Spain. Finally, it defends a legal-constitutional linguistic system that respects the principles of linguistic security and of equality of linguistic rights of all Spanish citizens.

scholarly journals Langage et système des lois suisses

2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 579-597
Author(s):  
François Dessemontet
Keyword(s):  
Systematic Approach ◽  
Number Fields ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Department Of Justice ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
Federal Department ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Swiss Experience

This paper addresses the issue of a systematic approach to the drafting of legislation, in the light of Swiss experience. Starting from a brief survey of inflationary tends in the production of Legislative material, the author brings out the mutually reinforcing interplay between these tends and a widening lack of consensus about the contents and enforceability of legislation. While such factors hardly favour systematic lawmaking, a number of institutional features in the Swiss federal legislative process help maintain the quality of legislative instruments — namely the very length of the process, the bicameralism, the plurality of official languages, and the subjection of laws to the referendum procedure. Further, the practice of Swiss Legislators shows concern for the preservation of systematic unity. Thus, the federal department of Justice has devised a set of Principles of legislative drafting, supplemented by a checklist that can be applied to any draft legislative instrument. In a number fields where lawmaking authority vests in the cantons rather than in the Confederation, federal authorities have drafted model laws in the hope of promoting uniformity between cantonal legislation. In.other fields, where law-making authority has been given to the Confederation, federal legislation has sometimes been limited to a basic law, containing broad provisious only leaving details to be filled in by each of the cantons. The technique of codification, by contrast, has not been resorted to since the major achievements in civil and criminal law during the first half of this century. Finally, Swiss legislative draftsmen, both federal and cantonal, have been concerned lately with the improvement of drafting and style, as is shown by the recent spread of guidelines, instructions and even laws on the subject.

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