European Law and Regional or Minority Languages: Cultural Diversity and the Fight against Linguistic Vulnerability

The last recorded native speaker of the Cornish language died in 1777. Since the nineteenth century, amateur scholars have made separate attempts to reconstruct its written remains, each creating a different orthography. Later, following recognition under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 2002, Cornish gained new status. However, with government support came the governmental framework of “New Public Management”, which emphasises quantifiable outcomes to measure performance. This built implicit pressure towards finding a single standard orthography, for greatest efficiency. There followed a six-year debate among supporters of the different orthographies, usually quite heated, about which should prevail. This debate exemplified the importance of standardisation for minority languages, but its ultimate conclusion saw all sides giving way, and expediency, not ideology, prevailing. It also showed that standardisation was not imposed explicitly within language policy, but emerged during the language planning process.

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The Council of Europe and the European Union frameworks in the legal protection of minority languages: unity or diversity?

Eesti ja soome-ugri keeleteaduse ajakiri Journal of Estonian and Finno-Ugric Linguistics ◽

10.12697/jeful.2011.2.1.23 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 347-366

Author(s):

Alessia Vacca

Keyword(s):

European Union ◽

Legal Protection ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

Minority Languages ◽

The European Union ◽

Council Of Europe ◽

Treaty Of Lisbon ◽

National Minorities ◽

Charter Of Fundamental Rights ◽

Regional Or Minority Languages

This article focuses on the comparison between European Union Law and Council of Europe Law in the field of the protection of minority languages and looks at the relationships between the two systems. The Council of Europe has been very important in the protection of minority languages, having created two treaties of particular relevance: the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages in 1992 and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1995; both treaties contain many detailed provisions relating to minority languages. Not all countries, even of the European Union, have ratified these treaties. 12 out of 27 EU countries did not ratify the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The European Union supports multilingualism because it wants to achieve unity while maintaining diversity. Important steps, with respect to minority languages, were taken in the European Community, notably in the form of European Parliament Resolutions. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, approved in Nice the 7th December 2000, contains art. 21 and art. 22 related to this topic. The Treaty of Lisbon makes a cross reference to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union which is, consequently, legally binding under the Treaty of Lisbon since December 2009. The Charter could give ground for appeal to the European Court of Justice in cases of discrimination on the grounds of language

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The problem of developing multilingualism skills in the European educational context

International Scientific Journal of Universities and Leadership ◽

10.31874/2520-6702-2020-9-1-109-117 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 109-117

Author(s):

Mariya Vynarchyk

Keyword(s):

Personal Development ◽

Mother Tongue ◽

Educational Institutions ◽

Scientific Article ◽

Minority Languages ◽

Educational Context ◽

Council Of Europe ◽

Scientific Cooperation ◽

Language Competence ◽

Regional Or Minority Languages

The scientific article explores the problem of developing multilingualism skills in the European educational context. For this purpose, the task was to analyze the conditions and ways of realizing the problem of multilingualism in the modern educational field and to study the features of European multilingualism in the context of cultural diversity. The methodology of the study is based on the coverage and analysis of cognitive and practical multilingualism skills. European education policy is analyzed. Addressing the issue of multilingualism is one of the most important activities of the Council of Europe, the European Commission and is covered by the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages and in numerous resolutions of international conferences and symposia. It is established that one of the main goals of education in a democratic society is not only respect for human rights, but also the development of knowledge, skills and abilities of students, their preparation for life in civil society. Research has shown that multilingual people in Europe have advantages over monolinguals. More than half of all Europeans say they speak at least one language other than their mother tongue. The study showed that multilingualism is beneficial for people who are supporters of intercultural and linguistic interaction based on tolerance and humanism. Modern European educational policy is aimed at developing multilingual skills. This demonstrates the importance and timeliness of solving the problem in the educational environment with the active support of students and teachers, the financial capacity of European educational programs and projects of governments of leading European countries. As part of this task, it is important to actively support the mobility of students and teachers, to develop scientific cooperation, cultural interaction. Thanks to the intensive development of multilingual skills, it is possible to achieve the required level of language competence of students as a basis for their further learning and self-improvement. Since the modern educational community is focused on the highest human values, the personal development of schoolchildren and students is considered a priority for the functioning of European educational institutions.

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