Sue Wright

FRENCH AS A LINGUA FRANCA

French was a prestige lingua franca for centuries. Although it is now declining in this role, the French government and French elites have mounted a campaign to promote and defend French in international settings. This chapter examines three basic misconceptions in the arguments advanced in this campaign: (1) The intrinsic qualities of a language are factors in the promotion of a language as a lingua franca; (2) language policy making at national level can affect language practices in international contexts; and (3) language diversity is served by the promotion of another prestige lingua franca. It concludes with a review of some of the pragmatic decisions taken by French nationals to confront the new linguistic situation.

Language policy, the nation and nationalism

During the course of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the democratic nation-state gradually came to be the form of political organization for all the countries of Europe. Europeans ceased to be subjects of rulers whose power over them was absolute and achieved, often with jolts and setbacks, the status of citizens who had to be consulted to some degree on political and social matters. The nation-state model was subsequently exported to other parts of the world, particularly as peoples who had suffered colonization sought independence. The development of the democratic nation-state had an immense effect on language practices. Whereas a king or emperor who believes he has a divine right to rule feels little need to consult his subjects, a democratic government must persuade its electorate to re-elect it. The need for a community of communication comes to the fore as soon as the ‘sovereign people’ provide legitimacy for governance.

Jacobins, Regionalists, and the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional and Minority Languages.

This paper charts the recent debates in France in response to the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages which, if ratified and implemented, would grant limited protection to minority regional languages there. Even though the consequences of ratifying and implementing the Charter in France are largely minimal, its potential adoption has nonetheless generated considerable controversy and opposition. This has resulted in the process of ratification and implementation being stalled at this present time. The paper charts the tenor and substance of the debates surrounding the fate of the Charter. It argues that much of the opposition to the Charter rests on Frances long-standing Jacobin commitment to cultural and linguistic homogeneity - itself the product of the French Revolution - and a related, almost visceral fear of minority languages.

What is language? A response to Philippe van Parijs

When we consider the issue of linguistic justice, we must define what we mean by language. Standardisation of languages is closely associated with the development of the nation state, and the de Saussurian conception of language as system is in concert with nationalism and its divisions. In the early twenty-first century, however, this view of the world as a mosaic of stable national monolingualisms is outdated. In a globalising world, much of the political, social and economic structure that is developing is transnational and patterns of contact, both real and virtual, have become extraordinarily complex. In the resulting communities of communication of this superdiverse world, much language practice is more function driven than in the recent past. New practices mean that we cannot consider questions of linguistic justice in this new world order using the linguistic toolkit of the old. The flows, exchanges and networks of globalisation present us with a new paradigm and we need to recalibrate concepts.

The map, the group and language ideology

This article chronicles the history of mapmaking, showing how the way maps develop is in tandem with the development of patterns of group identity. The central question concerns our ways of conceptualising the physical world and whether these feed into language ideology, that set of beliefs, values and attitudes drawn from our socio-political environment, which directs, constrains and moulds our language behaviour. Benedict Anderson noted the parallel development of mapping, identity and language practices in nation building. My argument here is that it is also possible to see this association in the European medieval world and that there are some indicators that such co-occurrence is discernible in mapmaking, identity formation and language practices in post-national settings. As ever in the social sciences, it would be inappropriate to claim clear cause and effect. However, it is possible to demonstrate that changes in world view co-occur with changes in language behaviour. It may, therefore, be legitim...

Language, nation and citizenship: contrast, conflict and convergence in Estonia's debate with the international community

This paper investigates the clash of (language) ideologies in Estonia in the post-Communist period. In an analysis of changing Western recommendations and Estonian responses during the transition of Estonia from Soviet Socialist Republic to independent state, we trace the development of the discourses on language and citizenship rights. Different conceptions of the nation-state and of how citizenship is acquired, together with different approaches to human rights, led to disagreement between Estonian political elites and the political actors attached to international institutions. In particular, the Soviet demographic legacy posed problems. We use a context-sensitive approach that takes account of human agency, political intervention, power, and authority in the formation of (national) language ideologies and policies. We find that the complexities of cultural and contextual differences were often ignored and misunderstood by both parties and that in their exchanges the two sides appeared to subscribe to ideal philosophical positions. In the following two decades both sides repositioned themselves and appeared to accommodate to the opposing view. In deconstructing the role of political intervention pressing for social and political inclusion and in documenting the profound feeling of victimhood that remained as a legacy from the Soviet period and the bargain that was struck, we hope to contribute to a deeper understanding of the language ideological debates surrounding the post-Communist nation-(re)building process.

Norms and authority in language: the case of UK English

This article is bound – to contrast with the other papers in this collection. English native speakers differ from the other groups studied in Sociolinguistica 28 in at least two major ways: first they are the users of the language that is spreading as a lingua franca and second they are users of a language which has never had a formal language academy. In this issue we are concerned with norms and authority in language. How are languages codified, standardised and controlled? Who are the norm givers and the regulating authorities? In this article we take the historical longue durée approach to explain why this is a very difficult question to answer in the case of English.

Language and the Internet

The article discusses the impact of Internet on language form and use. History and evolution of the Internet are highlighted. Political, social and economic aspects of Internet are discussed. Linguistic, cultural as well as economic consequences of the technological innovations, particularly Internet are also discussed.

New Polities and New Nation Building

The minorities that are examples of successful linguistic renaissance are often territorial minorities large enough and cohesive enough to have claimed and to have gained a degree of autonomy. They are often termed nations without states (Guibernau 1999). Within the states in which they are embedded they have often replicated some of the linguistic aspects of nation building, if on a smaller scale.

Language Choices: Political and Economic Factors in Three European States

Language has first and foremost an information-carrying function. Being able to express ideas in language allows human beings to remember the past, organize the present and plan the future. Language allows individuals to negotiate with each other, to cooperate and to live in groups. The utility of language is thus its fundamental attribute. However, the fact that this human skill has developed as languages rather than language has added another very important function: the use of a language variety within a group defines the parameters of the group; it includes as members all those who are speakers and excludes all those who cannot speak the language. Language thus has a role to play in the construction of political/social identity as communication takes place and social interaction cements relationships among members of the language community. This second function, the role of language in creating group identity, has been the major focus of sociolinguistics and applied linguistics. There has not been the same volume of literature on language and utility. In a rare book on language and economics, Grin and his co-authors criticize this deficiency, noting that the applied linguistics literature does not habitually concern itself with ‘economic variables like productivity, costs and profits, and [that] the causal links through which they might be connected with linguistic variables such as workers’ linguistic repertoires are never investigated’ (Grin et al., 2010, p. 3).