Abstract
Prof Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Prof Robert Phillipson need no formal introduction. Researchers in Language politics, Bilingualism, SLA and Teacher education, Language Rights and Educational Cultural Studies, Language Policy and Planning, and so on will be familiar with their writings and their perspectives on language and educational access and equity. We wish to highlight candidly right at the beginning that the issues raised in this interview have been poignantly addressed by the experts in several of their writings along their illustrious careers. The experts express this view at several points in the interview as well and hence the readers are warned against expecting any earth-shaking questions being asked. What the interviewers did attempt earnestly was to localise issues that ranged from the effect of seemingly innocent looking language legislations (promoting/ restricting languages) to language death to political stand on the Rohingya to concerns on traditional knowledge – all of which are directly/indirectly implicated to or by language. Two reasons necessitate this attempt to localise issues: 1) to refute denial of the presence of some of the issues highlighted in the interview in Asian contexts in a generic sense; and 2) to raise awareness on language as a discriminating factor (something that Indian constitution is yet to realise). Further, the questions asked are based on the opinions of the interviewers alone and are aimed at gaining insightful responses from the two experts.
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