Category Archives: Linguistic Policies

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Panel: The Legal Framework for Languages and Models of Linguistic Officiality

Panel chair: Juan Jiménez-Salcedo

Is Switzerland as language-friendly as its reputation suggests?

Prof. Dr. Manuel Meune

With its four official languages​,​ Switzerland, where most citizens identify with the Swiss “nation of will”, appears to have “satisfied” its linguistic minorities and rarely makes international headlines because of language conflicts. This success is often attributed to the absence of linguistic enclaves (except for Romansh) and the principle of territoriality. However, language freedom also plays a role along the German-French language border (Biel/Bienne) or in Graubünden, where the decline of Romansh is hard to stop. And some heated legal debates have taken place particularly in multilingual cantons.

In addition, the “language peace” can be linked to pragmatism and non-intervention. Even without legal protection, Swiss German dialects are very much alive, in a stable diglossic relationship with standard German. But Switzerland’s flattering image seems misleading in regards to its “fifth language” – Francoprovençal. The country has not done much better than centralist France in protecting this age-old language. Its recent inclusion in the debate on the implementation of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages offers some perspectives of revitalization, as does the proactive policy of the cantons of Fribourg and Valais, but this minimal legal protection comes very late.

Canada’s language regime: policy-choices and the modernization of the Official Languages Act

Prof. Dr. Linda Cardinal

Canada is a federal country. Canadian federalism is the result of a political compromise between its two main groups, Anglophones and Francophones. It language regime is also informed by political compromise. Because of federalism, language is ancillary in Canada. All governments can adopt their own language policies. As a result, Quebec has its own language policies as well as all the other provinces and territories except for British-Columbia.

This paper will discuss language policy-choices at the federal level. It will explain how such compromise has informed four generations of language policies. It will present briefly these different generations and their main characteristics. It will focus on the government’s new proposed legislation to modernize its Official Languages Act (Bill C-13). It will discuss its key points and show how it is continuing Canada’s language compromise while trying to propose change. The paper will conclude by explaining why it is important to look at patterns of continuity and change in the study of language regimes.

The Belgian language regime and the limits of the law as a language policy tool

Dr. Sophie Weerts

The Belgian state is a federal state, bringing together three national linguistic communities (Dutch, French and German speakers). Its linguistic organisation is part of a ‘model of plurilingualism’; based on three principles of freedom, equality and territoriality. These characters are translated into the law – sometimes very imperfectly – with the freedom of language, the linguistic regions (principle of territoriality) and an institutional organization that puts the (two main) linguistic communities on an equal footing.

In this contribution, I will argue that the Belgian language regime has two critical weaknesses. First, the freedom of language is interpreted restrictively under the principle of linguistic territoriality. Second, there is a lack of formal recognition of the plurilingualism of the Belgian state. The former is a matter of legal interpretation, while the latter stems from silence in the law. These elements make it possible to say that the law is undoubtedly necessary to carry out a linguistic policy that ensures linguistic pacification but cannot be seen as sufficient.

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Fostering citizen engagement through integrative language planning

James Archibald

Università di Torino, Italy

Panel: Language as a means of inclusion in educational and institutional settings

Chair: Maria Margherita Mattioda, Università di Torino, Italy

In any state, monolingual or multilingual, a common overriding objective is to create, build and maintain a cohesive national entity which will serve the social, cultural and economic needs of the citizenry, present or future. In order to create this type of national linguasphere and to maintain relations with other or related linguaspheres, the state must establish coherent policies which will guide its practices with respect to socioeconomic inclusion, cultural identity and language.

Integrative language planning cannot be disassociated with strategic development. This is what we have called elsewhere a stakeholder approach to language planning.

This model of devising or implementing language policies requires that states articulate clear statements of intent so that all concerned have an understanding of what is planned and how the plans will be executed. Hence, planning and practice go hand in hand.

Moreover, given the human involvement in the process, legislators and administrators must be mindful of the “affects” (Damasio 2018, Ch. 7) that will result from statements of intent, policy formulations, legislative texts and regulations used in the implementation of language legislation. In addition, public administrators must be in a position to objectively measure any possible social, cultural and economic effect of such policies, legislation and regulations. At the same time, this measurement should take place in an atmosphere which reflects the fundamental human rights of the present and future citizenry.

Rooted as they are in shared ideologies, these policies and practices help the state to define its educational philosophy and priorities as well as its institutional policies. That is why state-mandated institutions must define their own institutional policies. These should be in alignment with national policies and practices.

Such a system, if well planned and maintained, should have as a main objective to foster citizen engagement and support for policy orientations.

References

Archibald, J. & Chiss, J.L., éds. (2007). La langue et l’intégration des immigrants. Sociolinguistique, politiques linguistiques, didactique. Paris : L’Harmattan.

Archibald, J. & Galligani, S. (2009). La langue, l’immigration et la cohésion sociale. In Archibald, J. & Galligani, S., dirs. (2009) Langue(s) et immigration(s) : société, école, travail, 9-15. Paris : L’Harmattan.

Archibald, J. (2019). Principes de mise en œuvre de politiques linguistiques intégrées. In Grin, F., dir. Les « linguasphères » dans la gouvernance mondiale de la diversité, 26-28. Neuchâtel : Délégation suisse à la langue française, 2019.

Busekist, A. von. (2018). The ethics of language policies. New York : Routledge.

Damasio, A. (2018). The Strange Order of Things: Life, Feeling, and the Making of Cultures. New York : Pantheon.

Freeman, R.E. (2010). Strategic management: a stakeholder approach. Cambridge : Cambridge University Press.

Freeman, R.E. & Mcvea, J.F. (2001). A stakeholder approach to strategic management. Social Science Research Network Electronic Journal, January. (DOI: 10.2139/ssrn.263511).

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Switzerland’s multilingual language policy and the role of translation

Marina Gil Aranda

Without a doubt, the coexistence of two or more languages within a territory is a sign of cultural richness. Languages embody cultures and therefore considering their representation in a given system becomes essential in order to ensure the protection of a country’s cultural heritage. An example of this multilingual phenomenon is the Swiss Confederation, a federated republic of 26 cantons with four official languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh.
This paper aims to describe and analyse the Swiss multilingual language policy and the role of translation in this context. Firstly, we will focus on the treatment given to the four languages in the Swiss legal system and how this is reflected when drafting legislative texts. Secondly, we will discuss the role of translation as a backbone of the Swiss multilingual language policy and, consequently, the work carried out in this context by the linguistic services of the Federal Chancellery. Thirdly, we will consider the place of English as a language of intra-systemic communication. To this end, we have employed a descriptive qualitative methodology based on a study of the applicable regulations.

Keywords: linguistic policies, translation, Switzerland, plurilingualism.

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La identidad lingüística de germanistas brasileños y el mercado laboral en Brasil y Alemania: oportunidades y tensiones

Stephanie Godiva; Robson Carapeto-Conceição

El gobierno de Alemania, a través de recursos del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores, apoya alrededor del mundo tanto la formación universitaria de docentes de alemán como el funcionamiento de “escuelas de encuentro bicultural”, que representan una parte considerable del mercado de profesionales locales. Estas son instituciones privadas, frecuentadas en Latinoamérica por niños y jóvenes de clases económicamente privilegiadas. Consideradas de gran prestigio, la contratación de profesores para impartir clases de alemán en estas instituciones pasa por procesos distintos de selección según su identificación lingüística y etnicidad. Las diferentes ponderaciones asignadas a un alto certificado de dominio de lenguas, a la formación pedagógica continuada y a cualificaciones específicas para enseñar en sus asignaturas conducen a una situación de estandarización monocultural.

Mientras tanto, y aún en vista de la gran crisis de escasez de mano de obra para la educación básica, los profesores inmigrantes cualificados tienen dificultades para acceder al mercado laboral en Alemania. A los profesionales con amplia experiencia se les requiere normalmente que vuelvan a la universidad, completen créditos adicionales en cursos dirigidos a jóvenes principiantes y se presenten a exámenes prácticos para el reconocimiento de la equivalencia de su cualificación.

Esta ponencia examina las relaciones laborales y la empleabilidad de docentes de alemán, posibilitando reflexionar no sólo sobre las dificultades de movilidad del Sur Global (Sousa Santos 2009) a las escuelas en suelo alemán, sino también de la desigualdad de las políticas lingüísticas y educativas en el contexto escolar y sus respectivas consecuencias fuera de él. Para ello, esta investigación cualitativa analiza, a través de cuestionarios online, el discurso de germanistas titulados en Brasil que aspiran o buscaron una colocación en escuelas alemanas en Brasil y en Alemania.

Palabras clave: políticas lingüísticas, enseñanza de lenguas, políticas migratorias, estandarización monocultural, Alemania, Brasil.

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El impacto de las políticas lingüísticas en la interpretación comunitaria en Austria

Vera Ahamer

El discurso político y mediático sobre la política austriaca de inmigración está dominado por la primacía del “alemán como clave de la integración”. En este contexto, surge un campo de tensión entre dos polos: Por un lado, la exigencia de que los inmigrantes adquieran cuanto antes conocimientos de la lengua alemana y de los “valores austriacos” en el marco de cursos de idiomas estandarizados y lo demuestren en los exámenes estatales para poder “integrarse con éxito”. Sin embargo, este conocimiento lingüístico y “orientado a los valores” es criticado por investigadores de la adquisición y la didáctica de lenguas ya que se trata más de un conocimiento orientado a los exámenes y subordinado a la “transmisión de valores” que de un apoyo a la consecución de objetivos comunicativos. Estos últimos ganan en importancia sobre todo en aquellos contextos que a su vez pueden subsumirse en los ámbitos de la interpretación comunitaria: las escuelas, los hospitales, en la burocracia cotidiana, etc.

El derecho a la interpretación se niega ahora en muchos de los ámbitos pertinentes con el argumento de que los inmigrantes deben aprender el idioma lo antes posible para no causar costes adicionales al Estado. Se les achaca los problemas derivados de la falta de conocimientos lingüísticos. En mi contribución, me gustaría examinar más de cerca la evolución actual de la política de traducción en el contexto austriaco con el trasfondo de las contradicciones señaladas: La adquisición del alemán, los exámenes de integración, la falta de profesionalización de la interpretación comunitaria, las escuelas con un habitus monolingüe: estas son las palabras clave en torno a las cuales se cerrará el círculo de mis observaciones.

Palabras clave: Austria, políticas lingüísticas, política de inmigración, derechos lingüísticos, interpretación comunitaria, adquisición de lenguas segundas.

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Ideologies i tries lingüístiques: del programa electoral als usos lingüístics

Víctor Bargiela Zotes

El debat electoral de TV3 per a les eleccions a les Corts espanyoles del 10 de novembre de 2019 (Sanchís 2019) va ser el primer des de 1984 que no es va realitzar íntegrament en català. S’estudien tres aspectes amb l’objectiu d’analitzar què condiciona les tries lingüístiques. Primer de tot, la relació entre les tries lingüístiques i la posició ideològica extreta dels apartats de llengua dels programes electorals de cada partit. Segon, com afecta la ideologia política dels partits a la posició respecte l’autenticitat i l’anonimat de la llengua (Woolard 2016). I tercer, com condiciona la identitat dels interlocutors les tries lingüístiques en base al model del disseny de l’auditori (Bell 1984) i a fenòmens propis del procés de bilingüització com la convergència lingüística (Vila i Galindo 2012) o la lleialtat lingüística (Weinreich 1956).

Per tal d’estudiar aquestes qüestions s’analitza el debat a 8 celebrat a TV3 el 5 de novembre de 2019 amb motiu de les eleccions generals a les Corts espanyoles del 10 de novembre. S’observen tres fragments que sumen 50 minuts de debat per tal de comptabilitzar quants segons parla cada participant, a qui i en quina llengua, així com el nombre d’intervencions. Aquestes dades s’analitzaran conjuntament amb els punts referents a la política lingüística de Catalunya dels programes electorals de cadascun dels vuit partits participants en el debat.

Referències

BELL, A. (1984). Language style as audience design. Londres: Cambridge University Press.

SANCHÍS, V. (moderador). (5 de novembre de 2019). El debat a 8 de TV3 per les eleccions generals del 10N [programa de TV]. CCMA (productor executiu). Barcelona: TV3.

WEINREICH, U. (1953). Languages in Contact: Findings and Problems. Den Haag: Mouton Publishers.

WOOLARD, K. (2016) Singular and plural; ideologies of lingüístic authority in 21st century Catalonia. Londres: Oxford University Press.

VILA, F. X.; GALINDO, M. (2012). «Sobre la història i l’extensió de la norma de convergència lingüística a Catalunya». Dins Vila, F. Xavier (ed.): Posar-hi la base: usos i aprenentatges lingüístics en el domini català. Barcelona: IEC (31-45).

Paraules clau: ideologia lingüística, política lingüística, tria lingüística.

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El quechua en los medios de comunicación: nuevas funciones, nuevo modelo discursivos

Mario Soto Rodríguez

La convergencia de diversos factores socioculturales y políticos en las últimas dos décadas ha hecho que la difusión del quechua haya ganado espacios sociales importantes. El acceso a ámbitos de índole formal como el periodístico y el especialmente el académico puede incluso entenderse en primera instancia como un incremento en el estatus de esta lengua. No obstante, surge la pregunta: ¿Cuál es la naturaleza o variedad del quechua que se promueve en estos ámbitos? ¿Cuál es el modelo discursivo que los medios de comunicación quechuas difunden?
En este trabajo revisamos el empleo recursos discursivos y gramaticales innovadores y particulares emergentes en medios de comunicación oral. Los datos sugieren que su empleo se debe al modelo discursivo predominante y ajeno que se sigue en este tipo de actividad. Una buena parte de los diseñadores o ejecutores de la difusión del quechua en medios de comunicación son bilingües, con una notoria orientación cultural citadina-occidental o, a pesar de estar involucrados en la promoción de esta lengua, sencillamente la desconocen.

Palabras clave: quechua, políticas lingüísticas, medios de comunicación, discurso.

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The Labelling of Products in the European Union – Time for a more Coherent EU Language Policy

Stefaan VAN DER JEUGHT

The free movement of goods is one of the four core freedoms in the EU internal market. In that regard the linguistic diversity of the EU can form an obstacle to the achievement of that aim, when on a national or even subnational level specific regulatory linguistic requirements are imposed on the labelling of products. In this article, it will be shown that EU legislation does not tackle this issue in a general and uniform way, but proceeds rather on a case-to-case basis. The lack of a global and coherent policy in this regard has resulted in heterogeneous linguistic arrangements and lacking language rights for consumers. It is argued in this article that there is need for more coherent linguistic rights on the basis of clear and transparent general criteria such as product hazards, public health and consumer protection. As a general rule, a better balance should be struck between the essential principles underlying any linguistic regulatory provision, namely the freedom of language (for manufacturers, importers and distributors) to market their products in the EU internal market on the one hand, and the territoriality principle on the other, according to which Member States may determine the use of languages on their territory in order to protect the language rights of end-users and consumers.

Keywords: Product labelling, language rights of consumers

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The position of Spanish in the US: foreign or vernacular language?

PhDr. Mgr. Karolína Strnadová

Due to the migration from Latin America to the US in recent decades, the Spanish-speaking community is growing very fast in several US states, and therefore, the use of Spanish is increasing considerably in the US territory. Spanish earns its position in many areas of North American life: interpersonal communication on the street or in the work, commercial inscriptions and road signs, media, advertisements, etc. However, the position of Spanish within the Spanish-speaking community that resides in the US has changed. On the one hand, Spanish speakers who do not speak English continue to arrive and Spanish is their only or main language of communication. On the other hand, the new Spanish-speaking generations that were born in the US do not always speak Spanish at the level of their parents and/or prefer to use it over English. Where to look for the explanation for such a trend? 

The contribution will tend to offer a synthesis of several points that come into play when explaining the linguistic and social context of the United States: effects of the coexistence of diverse cultures and languages; linguistic centralization from the diachronic point of view; monolingualism versus bilingualism in the educational system; linguistic rights, social justice and the inclusion of the Spanish-speaking community; community translation and interpretation; code-switching and the Spanish of the new generations. The paper is based on various studies and academic works on the subject, official, legal and historical documents and the personal experience of the author.

Keywords: Spanish, USA, Spanish speakers, education, rights to language, linguistic centralization

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The contribution of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages to the construction of language public policies

Victor Guset

Associate Professor of Public Law at the University of Rouen

The European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages is an international treaty whose exclusive purpose is the protection and promotion of the linguistic diversity present on the European continent. The need to promote linguistic diversity is explained by the vulnerable situation of regional or minority languages. Several factors explain this vulnerability. On the one hand, some States, such as France, had adopted a policy aimed at the eradication of minority languages on their territories. On the other hand, even in the absence of such a ‘repressive’ policy (Moutouh, 1999: 223), social and economic factors may well have rendered these languages vulnerable (Kymlicka & Patten, 2007: 38).

These different factors are taken into account by the Charter. In order to protect and promote regional or minority languages, the Charter requires the State to establish a language public policy in their favour. The Charter is therefore the framework of national language policies. This influence of the Charter has two consequences. Firstly, through this policy, a State party to the Treaty must direct the linguistic behaviour of individuals in favour of the practice of regional languages. In doing so, it takes the form of a “Propulsive State” (Morand, 1999) that not only legally authorises the use of these languages but also “propels” their use. If the Charter requires such a propulsive State intervention, this intervention is necessarily flexible. It adapts to the characteristics of these languages as well as to the States’ specificities (Guset, 2017).

Secondly, the deployment and success of these public policies required by the Charter presuppose that States recognise the linguistic diversity present on their territories. The identification of languages benefiting from language public policies amounts to an indirect recognition of culturally ‘situated’ (May, 2016: 30) individuals, which is a feature of the ‘multiculturalist’ thought movement (Taylor, 2019).

Guset V. (2017), L’interprétation de la Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires, Thèse dactylographiée, Université de Bordeaux.

Kymlicka W., Patten A. (2007), « Introduction. Language Rights and Political Theory : Context, Issues and Approaches », in Kymlicka W., Patten A. (dir.) (2007), Language Rights and Political Theory, Oxford, OUP, 2007, 1-51.

May P. (2016), Philosophies du multiculturalisme, Paris, Presses de Sciences Po.

Moutouh H. (1999), « Vers un statut des langues régionales en droit français ? », in Guillorel H., Koubi G. (dir.) (1999), Langues et droit – Langues du droit, droit des langues, Bruxelles, Bruylant, 221-249.

Morand C-A. (1999), Le droit néo-moderne des politiques publiques, Paris, L.G.D.J.Taylor C. (2019), Multiculturalisme. Différence et démocratie, Paris, Flammarion.

Keywords: European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, language public policies, regional or minority languages, language rights