scholarly journals Language Challenges in Global and Regional Integration

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Phillipson
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Regional Integration ◽  
Research Collaboration ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Student Mobility ◽  
National Language ◽  
University Education ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Linguistic Capital

Summary The article analyses whether the expansion of English is adding to linguistic repertoires, or whether a process of linguistic capital dispossession of national languages is taking place. It explores the role that discourses of ‘global English’ and of English as a ‘lingua franca’ play in processes of global and regional European integration. It considers whether the linguistic capital of all languages can be made productive when in much of Europe there is a marked downgrading of the learning of foreign languages other than English, alongside the continued neglect of many minority languages. Language pedagogy and language policy need to be situated within wider political, social and economic contexts. EU schemes for research collaboration and student mobility are of limited help in maintaining linguistic diversity. The Bologna process furthers European integration but intensifies the hegemony of English. Nordic universities are moving into bilingual education, combining English with a national language. The 2006 Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy aims at ensuring that Nordic languages and English develop in parallel, that all residents can maintain their languages, and that language policy issues should be widely understood. If neoliberalism and linguistic neoimperialism are determining factors, there are challenges in maintaining the vitality of languages, and organizing school and university education so as to educate critical multilingual citizens.

Language policy and language planning in mainland Southeast Asia: Myanmar and Lisu

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Bradley
Keyword(s):  
Southeast Asia ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Group ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policy And Planning ◽  
Educational Strategies ◽  
Policy And Planning ◽  
Mainland Southeast Asia

AbstractMost nations in mainland Southeast Asia and elsewhere have one national language as a focus of national identity and unity, supported by a language policy which promotes and develops this language. Indigenous and immigrant minority groups within each nation may be marginalized; their languages may become endangered. Some of the official national language policies and ethnic policies of mainland Southeast Asian nations aim to support both a national language and indigenous minority languages, but usually the real policy is less positive. It is possible to use sociolinguistic and educational strategies to maintain the linguistic heritage and diversity of a nation, develop bilingual skills among minority groups, and integrate minorities successfully into the nations where they live, but this requires commitment and effort from the minorities themselves and from government and other authorities. The main focus of this paper is two case studies: one of language policy and planning in Myanmar, whose language policy and planning has rarely been discussed before. The other is on the Lisu, a minority group in Myanmar and surrounding countries, who have been relatively successful in maintaining their language.

Confusion of Tongues: Constitutional Recognition of Languages and Language Rights in Australia

2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (2) ◽  
pp. 333-361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Torres Strait Islander ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
The State ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Rights ◽  
Language Recognition ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Torres Strait

This article considers the YouMeUnity Report proposal for the inclusion of new language provisions in the Australian Constitution as part of a package of reforms for the constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The article outlines the important symbolic and substantive effects of recognising language rights in the Constitution. The article explains how the recognition of a national language and the recognition of minority languages are conceptually distinct — promoting a national language is aimed at promoting national unity and enhancing the political and economic participation of individuals in the state, whereas protecting minority languages is aimed at recognising linguistic diversity, enriching the cultural life of the State, maintaining connections with other nations, and recognising language choice as a basic human right. The article argues that there is a strong case for minority language recognition, and in particular, the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages, in the Australian Constitution, but warns against the recognition of English as the national language.

scholarly journals The Ukrainian language in the polylingual space of Transcarpathia

2021 ◽  
pp. 3-19
Author(s):  
Halyna Shumytska ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Mother Tongue ◽  
The State ◽  
Border Region ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Language Policies ◽  
Political Situation ◽  
State Language

This article explores trends in language policies in the Transcarpathian region during 1991–2020 within the general Ukrainian sociopolitical context. It is argued that the status of the Ukrainian language as the state language in the region has become strengthened as evidenced by recent developments in language planning and language policy, including the adoption of the Law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Lan-guage as the Official Language”. However, the manipulation of the language question in Ukraine, especially in the border regions, has taken on a political character, spreading beyond the borders of the state, threatening the constitutional order and the state sovereignty of Ukraine, in particu-lar in education, economics, and legal sphere. In Transcarpathia, a multi-ethnic border region in the extreme west of Ukraine, warrants attention of both scholars and politicians. This article looks into the changes in the Ukrainian language policies in the local state administration, and the importance of the Ukrainian president office in this regard. Specific features of the linguo-political situation in Transcarpathia, viewed at different periods of its development from the independence of Ukraine in 1991 on-ward, are presented. This study determines the role of the media in shaping a regional linguo-political situation, including the Internet media language space. The paper provides data of a comprehensive analy-sis of the results of the 2017–2019 external independent evaluation as an indicator of language competence of the participants of EIE, the results of research on the perception of educational language innovations in the region through a survey of different categories of respondents during 2018, the monitoring of experimental experience in implementing elements of multilingual edu-cation in educational institutions in Ukraine, particularly in Transcarpathia. The author outlines prospects for continued research in the framework of the project “Debat ing Linguistic Diversity: Managing National Minority Languages in Ukraine and Russia” (2020–2023). Keywords: language policy, language situation, state language, mother tongue, minority language, multilingual education, mass media.

“We are not privileged enough to have that foundation of language”: Pasifika young adults share their deep concerns about the decline of their ancestral/heritage languages in Aotearoa New Zealand

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 131-139
Author(s):  
Lina-Jodi Vaine Samu ◽  
Helen Moewaka Barnes ◽  
Lanuola Asiasiga ◽  
Tim McCreanor
Keyword(s):  
Young Adults ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
Focus Group ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Focus Group Interviews ◽  
Heritage Languages ◽  
Aotearoa New Zealand ◽  
Group Interviews

Focus group interviews conducted with Aotearoa New Zealand–born Pasifika young adults aged 18–25 years highlighted their intense apprehension about the diminishing abilities of New Zealand–born Pasifika people to speak their ancestral/heritage Pasifika languages in Aotearoa. Some Pasifika languages are also declining at their homeland wellsprings. There has been no comprehensive strategic national language policy developed in New Zealand where Pasifika heritage and other community languages can flourish. New Zealand appears to default to a monocultural given where English prevails without critique. Minority languages are battling it out with each other for legitimacy of existence. Resulting from New Zealand’s failure to create a comprehensive languages strategy for all, younger generations of Pasifika neither have fluency in their ancestral languages which impact negatively on their identity security and their ability to attain critical fluency in English to thrive as their migrant parents and grandparents envisioned they would in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Unequal language rights in the Nordic language community

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (3) ◽  
pp. 222-236
Author(s):  
Ari Páll Kristinsson ◽  
Amanda Hilmarsson-Dunn
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Good Reason ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Communication Policy ◽  
Common Culture ◽  
The North ◽  
Scandinavian Language ◽  
Language Boundaries ◽  
National Languages

The aim of this paper is to show the implications of using the notion of ‘common culture’ as a basis for a communication policy across language boundaries. There are eight different national languages in the Nordic area, from Greenland in the west to Finland in the east, from Sápmi — the traditional territories of the Sami people in Northern Scandinavia — in the north to Denmark in the south. Additionally, a dozen traditional minority languages and some two hundred immigrant languages are spoken in the area. Despite this linguistic diversity, a ‘Declaration on a Nordic Language Policy,’ signed in 2006 by ministers of education in the Nordic countries, recommends using one of the three ‘Scandinavian’ languages (Danish, Norwegian, or Swedish) for communication across language boundaries throughout the Nordic area, rather than using translation and interpretation, or speaking in English — which is common practice despite official policies. Moreover, recent empirical research indicates that there is good reason to seriously doubt that using a Scandinavian language is a practical communication solution for the Nordic peoples. For example, Greenlanders have poor skills in understanding Swedish. Similarly, Finnish-speaking Finns have poor skills in understanding Danish. Official Nordic language policy is based on an ideology of a common culture rather than linguistic practice. Thus, it appears that communication problems are seen as less important than the prevailing ideas of perceived common Nordic (linguistic) culture.

scholarly journals ENGLISH AND IDENTITY IN MULTICULTURAL CONTEXTS: ISSUES, CHALLENGES, AND OPPORTUNITIES

2017 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 71
Author(s):  
Anita Lie
Keyword(s):  
Language Learning ◽  
Language Policy ◽  
English Language ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Performance Standards ◽  
Identity Transformation ◽  
National Language ◽  
Multicultural Context ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Local Languages

The increasing dominance of English has brought implications in language policy and the teaching of English in the multicultural Indonesia. A high power language such as English is taught in schools as a language of modern communication, while the national language is regarded as a force of unifying the nation and local languages as carriers of ‘tradition’ or ‘historical’ identity. Within that context, this article focuses on the increased use of English among an emerging group of young and adolescent learners and their possible identity transformation. This article examines the issues, challenges, and opportunities in English language learning and identity transformation in the multicultural context of Indonesia. A description of the multicultural context and linguistic diversity is presented to understand the language policy and its implications in the functions and degrees of the national language Indonesian, local languages, and English in Indonesia. Issues in the spread of English are explored to understand the challenges and opportunities in transforming cultural identity and achieving performance standards in English. 

scholarly journals Implementation Challenges of National Language Policy in Nigeria: The Roles of the Indigenous Languages

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 270-279
Author(s):  
Francis Owojecho
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Functional Roles ◽  
Implementation Challenges ◽  
Policy Initiatives ◽  
National Language Policy ◽  
To Come ◽  
Definition Of

The administration and maintenance of linguistic plurality and multilingualism in Nigeria seem to come with a lot of challenges, given a setting within which English is still being assigned dominant functional roles. Language policy which is a deliberate effort to mandate specific language behaviours in particular contexts is characterized by many obvious implementation defects in Nigeria. Such defects revolve around lack of decisive policy guidelines being implemented about language development and allocation, language use, language rights, and a host of other important issues. This paper examines the detrimental effects that poor implementation of national language policy initiatives in Nigeria has had on the development and survival of indigenous languages in the immediate past. It reveals the unhealthy attitude of many Nigerians elite groups towards the sustainability of indigenous languages, the inability of successive government to select a single viable national language from the indigenous languages, non-codification of many minority languages, and inadequate definition of roles for indigenous languages in governance. The study found that the lack of adequate implementation of the language policy initiatives has given prominence to English which is consequently endangering the indigenous languages in Nigeria. 

LAS PARADOJAS DEL MULTILINGUISMO EN MÉXICO

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-127
Author(s):  
Maria Antonieta Flores Ramos
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Colonial Period ◽  
Indigenous Languages ◽  
National Language ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Cultural Changes ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
The World ◽  
Siglo Xx

En este artículo se desarrolla una breve retrospectiva de la historia del multilingüismo, es decir, de las políticas lingüísticas llevadas a cabo en México a partir de la Colonia, pasando por el período independista hasta llegar al siglo XX con el propósito de analizar, posteriormente, las circunstancias a las que se enfrentan las lenguas de Chiapas, en la actualidad. Dicho recuento nos permite concluir que las políticas lingüísticas en México han sido paradójicas desde la época colonial pues son contrarias al sentir de los mexicanos hablantes de lenguas originarias. Este recorrido también permitió percatarnos de que las circunstancias, a las que se enfrentan las lenguas originarias en Chiapas, se reproducen, con mayor o menor semejanza, en diferentes latitudes del mundo donde se hablan las denominadas “lenguas minoritarias”.  Palabras-clave. Multilingüismo, políticas lingüísticas en México, contacto de lenguas, lenguas minoritarias, transformaciones socioculturales.  Abstract: the article focuses on the mismatch between the Mexican´s stated official policy on language and the evolving linguistics realities from colony to nowadays in order to analyze the situation of the indigenous languages from Chiapas, today. The study reveals a permanent contradiction between the language policy in Mexico and the linguistics realities and also shows that Spanish as a successful national language is recent because this idiom was introduced during the colonial period but it didn´t take root until the last decades of the twentieth century. The article describes the conditions of the so called minority languages in Chiapas and reveals that these circumstances take place all over the world with few differences.  Key- words. Language policy in Mexico, multilingualism, contact languages, minority languages, social and cultural changes.      

scholarly journals Linguistic territoriality under stress

2021 ◽  
Vol 45 (2) ◽  
pp. 121-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
Till Burckhardt ◽  
John Coakley ◽  
László Marácz
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Minority Languages ◽  
Geographically Dispersed ◽  
Language Minorities ◽  
Hybrid Language ◽  
The Baltic ◽  
Over Time

Abstract This article revisits a well-known dichotomy (the ‘territorial’ and ‘personal’ principles) and develops a four-element classification of state approaches (from the most generous to the most menacing, from the perspective of speakers of minority languages). The article examines the implications for language policy of geographically dispersed or spatially concentrated patterns of distribution of speakers of particular languages. We begin by exploring the general literature on language policy, focusing in particular on the territorial and personal principles, the use of ‘threshold rules’ at municipal and other subnational levels, and the hybrid language regimes that are often a consequence of sociolinguistic complexity. We consider the extent to which responses to linguistic diversity across Europe may be understood by reference to these principles and categories. We explain why we have selected particular case studies (the Baltic republics, Transylvania, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland) for further exploration. We conclude that, notwithstanding the value of the typologies we consider, real-life cases are almost invariably more complex, with states implementing policies that defy categorisation, that may change over time, and that may treat different language minorities by reference to different principles.

scholarly journals MALAYSIA’S NATIONAL LANGUAGE POLICY IN INTERNATIONAL THEORETICAL CONTEXT

2016 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan John Albury ◽  
Khin Khin Aye
Keyword(s):  
Language Policy ◽  
Linguistic Diversity ◽  
National Language ◽  
Linguistic Minority ◽  
Theoretical Terms ◽  
Theoretical Context ◽  
Linguistic Rights ◽  
Nation States ◽  
National Ideology ◽  
National Language Policy

This paper examines the motivations behind Malaysia’s national language policy in theoretical terms to allow the Malaysian narrative to be positioned in an international context. To do this, it applies Spolsky’s (2004) theory of what influences language policy making in contemporary nation-states, namely national ideology, the role of English in globalisation era, the nation’s sociolinguistic situation, and an interest in linguistic minority rights. The paper argues that all factors are relevant in the Malaysian context. However, the domestic sociolinguistic situation only influences policy in so far as Malaysia’s response to its ethnolinguistic minorities is limited to minimal linguistic rights in the education system. This limited acceptance of linguistic diversity continues a tradition of protecting what Malaysian law sees as the supremacy of Malay culture and language. The paper concludes with an invitation to apply this theory in the study of other nations in the region to foster a robust body of comparative data on national language policies in Southeast Asia. Keywords: Malaysia, national language policy, ethnocracy, national identity, language rightsCite as: Albury, N.J., & Aye, K.K. (2016).  Malaysia’s national language policy in international theoretical context. Journal of Nusantara Studies, 1(1), 71-84.

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