Abstract
This is a thematic issue on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. Due to globalization, Europeanization, supranational and transnational regulations linguistic diversity and multilingualism are on the rise. Migration and old and new forms of mobility play an important role in these processes. As a consequence, English as the only global language is spreading around the world, including Europe and the European Union. Social and linguistic inclusion was accounted for in the pre-globalization age by the nation-state ideology implementing the ‘one nation-one people-one language’ doctrine into practice. This lead to forced linguistic assimilation and the elimination of cultural and linguistic heritage. Now, in the present age of globalization, linguistic diversity at the national state level has been recognized and multilingual states have been developing where all types of languages can be used in governance and daily life protected by a legal framework. This does not mean that there is full equality of languages. This carries over to the fair and just social inclusion of the speakers of these weaker, dominated languages as well. There is always a power question related to multilingualism. The ten case studies in this thematic issue elaborate on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion. The articles in this issue refer to this topic in connection with different spaces, including the city, the island, and the globe; in connection with different groups, like Roma in the former Soviet-Union and ethnic Albanians in Macedonia; in connection with migration and mobility of Nordic pensioners to the south of Europe, and language education in Scotland; and finally in connection with bilingual education in Austria and Estonia as examples of successful practices including multilingualism under one and the same school roof.
Highlights
Diverse or multilingual societies are increasing worldwide
Social Inclusion, 2017, Volume 5, Issue 4, Pages 1–4 one people-one language ideology’ is weakening, creating room for the celebration of linguistic diversity; and there is a proliferation of federal, multilingual states which recognize more than one official language, i.e., the language of the majority as the official language for communication in governance, the public sphere and education
The proliferation of multilingualism is boosted by all forms of mobility, where mobility is understood as physical migration or new forms of virtual mobility connected to digital networks
Summary
Diverse or multilingual societies are increasing worldwide. This has mainly to do with processes of globalization and Europeanization. Language policy projects, like ‘MIME’ that is sponsored by the European Commission FP7-program should find an optimal equilibrium between mobility and social inclusion (Grin, Marácz, Pokorn, & Kraus, 2014) This thematic issue will offer ten case studies on the relation between multilingualism and social inclusion, and will reflect on the themes discussed above. The articles cover language as a source of conflict and an ethno-identity marker of minorities, like Roma in the former Soviet-Union and Albanians in Macedonia; the effects of mobility and migration on multilingual communication in the case of Northern European pensioners in the south of Europe and education in Scotland; and bilingual education in Austria and Estonia as illustrative cases of social inclusion under one and the same but linguistically diverse school roof
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