Language Regimes Research Articles

Language Politics and Practices in the Baltic States

This monograph provides an overview of the language situation in the three Baltic countries: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. It examines the recent change in language regimes that the Baltic States have deliberately brought about since the restitution of their independence, the nature of these changes, the opposition they have engendered and the linguistic, political and social consequences of these policies, both locally and internationally. First, an overview is provided on the historical background to contextualise and present language policy issues in the Baltic. Then attempts to overturn major aspects of Soviet language policy and to re-institute the national language are highlighted. Aspects of the current language situation covered include a special focus on bilingual and multilingual language use in the Baltic multiethnic settings. Detailed attention is also paid to language provision in the diverging educational settings, as well as to methods of assessment. This is followed by a discussion of attitudes to language use, standardisation, testing, languages and language variants. In conclusion the scholarly treatment of Baltic language policy issues is examined, concluding with an evaluation of the contribution of the Baltic States to our overall understandings of language policy and its complexities.

Managing multilingualism in the European Union: language policy evaluation for the European Parliament

One of the important issues raised by the European integration is that of languages and in particular how the EU institutions can cope with language diversity. In this paper, I develop an analysis aimed at assessing the quality of language regimes not in absolute terms, but rather in terms of their consistency with the actors’ goals, which define what we call a ‘scenario’. The paper focuses on the European Parliament as it was confronted with the challenges of enlargement. It compares the economic and political advantages and drawbacks of six language regimes under three different scenarios. Results show that various language regimes can be optimal depending on the scenario considered and that multilingualism does not imply inevitably an unsustainable increase in expenditures.

The Application of Multilingualism in the European Union Context

On 1 May 2004, 10 more countries acceded to the European Union (EU), bringing the total number of Member States to 25, increasing the EU's population to over 450 million and, last but not least, nearly doubling the number of the official languages of the EU. The recent enlargement, a cornerstone in the continuing process of European integration, poses unprecedented challenges, also because of its linguistic implications for the EU and for the language regime applicable to the Community Institutions. In the case of the ECB, this challenge is all the more evident due to the very short deadlines within which some of its operational decisions need to be taken and implemented and the practical implications that their adoption in all the official languages of the EU would entail. This paper is divided in two Parts. Part I provides an overview of the rationale and of the legal basis underlying the EU's current language policy, outlining the language regime applicable to the Community Institutions and bodies and discusses exceptions and limitations to multilingualism associated with the particular situation of Member States with more than one official language or stemming from some recent case-law on the Institutions' language regime. Part II examines the issue of the name of the single currency and some of the reasons underlying the ECB's stance on proposed national variations in its spelling.

Disenfranchisement in Linguistically Diverse Societies: The Case of the European Union

We consider a linguistically diversified society and examine the notion of language disenfranchisement when some individuals are denied the full access to documents and political process in their native tongues. To calculate the disenfranchisement indices we use the Dyen percentage cognate matrix of linguistic distances between Indo-European languages and apply survey and population data on language proficiency in the European Union. We then determine optimal sets of official languages that depend on society's sensitivity against disenfranchisement and comprehensiveness of the chosen language regime. We also discuss the language situation in the European Union after its last enlargement.

Changing language regimes in globalizing environments

Marketization, deregulation and participation are the major developments summarily referred to under the heading of globalization. Increasing interdependence and electronic communications that facilitate the exchange of information among individuals, organizations and societies are vital parts of this process. The spread of English, too, has been described as a causal and concomitant factor of globalization which, however, has many other implications for the world’s languages. In this paper I want to make some suggestions as to how globalization and language interact and, more specifically, how language regimes change under the influence of economic, political and cultural developments.

Regional dialect and cultural development in Japan and Europe

Linguistic revitalization is not confined to minority languages or endangered languages alone but includes regional dialects. This paper examines the case of Japan, starting with the experiences of the Ryūkyū archipelago and then that of other regions in mainland Japan. Following this discussion, the case of Jersey in the Channel Islands will be discussed for the sake of comparison. It is argued that dialectal revitalization movements are cultural phenomena of developed countries. Language revitalization movements are analyzed mainly from a sociological point of view. In particular, the relationship of the private sector and public authorities, involvement of local intellectuals and activists, intergenerational problems, cultural linkage, traditional festivals and cultural and economic effects on local populations are investigated. As a representative example, the dialect movement of Okinawa Island is discussed in greater detail here. Okinawan movements must be considered threshold cases between minority language and dialect revitalization movements. The Amami island group furthermore provides us with a comparative case to Jersey. Although dialect revitalization movements draw less attention than those concerning minority languages, they are also affected by changing language regimes. We can, therefore, expect that these movements will continue to influence language attitudes toward regional dialects as well as toward standard languages.

Sociolinguistic perspectives on emerging multilingualism in urban Europe

In this article, sociolinguistic perspectives on the status and use of immigrant minority (henceforward IM) languages are presented. After a general introduction to the theme we focus on multilingualism and European identity, paying special attention to the European discourse on IM groups and integration. Next, we present information on the rationale, design, and core results of large scale home language surveys in six major multicultural cities across Europe. The data were collected and analyzed as part of the Multilingual Cities Project, carried out under the auspices of the European Cultural Foundation, established in Amsterdam. Against this background, we deal with the need for changing language regimes at school as a consequence of processes of migration and minorization across European nation states.

Preface

What are the consequences and concomitants of globalization in the field of language? Answers to this question vary with the languages and the research domains in question. The vantage point of this special issue is the concept of language regimes, loosely defined as sets of habits and attitudes, legal provisions, and ideologies. Japan is at the centre of the discussion, providing as it does a case where the effects of intensifying global interdependence are strongly felt.

Labor migration and the language barrier in contemporary Japan: the formation of a domestic language regime of a globalizing state

This article discusses the impact of the increase from the late 1980s in the frequency and number of foreign languages spoken in Japan in the judicial branch of the Japanese state. Particular attention is paid to the language barrier problem in Japan’s criminal justice process, the cause and consequences of the problem, as well as Japan’s response to it. The introduction points out that in the politics of language activated by the arrival of international labor migration, migrant receiving countries today are unable to anticipate that migrant language assimilation will occur, and that those countries — in particular Japan — need to respond to such a situation accordingly. Section 2 puts the language barrier problem into historical context to show that the problem reflects a substantial change in Japan’s international relations, and as such is a force of globalization. Section 3 reports on the legal and political implications of the problem for the contemporary Japanese state, and the immediate consequences of the problem after its revelation, namely that the legality and legitimacy of Japan’s administration of criminal justice to foreign language speakers within its jurisdiction was partially and temporarily constrained. Section 3 also presents Japan’s response to the problem, both by civil society and the state. It is argued that by introducing judicial interpretation into its criminal justice process, the Japanese state managed to recover within about a decade its capability to justify (as far as its interests in maintaining domestic order are concerned) the administration of criminal justice to foreigners in Japanese territory whose first language is not Japanese.

Disenfranchisement in Linguistically Diverse Societies. The Case of the European Union

We consider a linguistically diversified society that has to select a set of official languages. We examine the notion of language disenfranchisement that is created when one or more languages fail to be included in the list of the official ones, implying that some individuals are denied full access to the documents and to the political process in their native tongues. To derive the first of our indices, we use the dichotomous approach that does not take into account a linguistic proximity between languages. To develop a more refined disenfranchisement index, we utilize the Dyen percentage cognate distance matrix that takes into account a linguistic proximity or remoteness of any pair of two languages. We then apply survey and population data on language proficiency in the European Union, calculate disenfranchisement indices and determine optimal sets of official languages that depend on two parameters, society's sensitivity against disenfranchisement and comprehensiveness of the language regime adopted. We also discuss the language challenges faced by the European Union after its enlargement in May 2004.

China's Policies for Minority Nationalities in Higher Education: Negotiating National Values and Ethnic Identities

China's Policies for Minority Nationalities in Higher Education: Negotiating National Values and Ethnic Identities

The Impact of European Accession upon Language Policy in the Baltic States

The deliberate changes to language regime undertaken in post-Soviet Estonia and Latvia have had significant repercussions for their accession to the EU and NATO. Charges of discrimination against Russian-speaking minorities have led countless European delegations to survey the Baltic States, resulting in a mixture of approval, advice and warnings on language, citizenship and integration issues. While these intervention shave been justified by assertions of international human rights standards, such standards as exist have been devised for very different minority situations, and their relevance to the Baltic States is often contested. The article points to an evolving critique of the minority-rights based approach of European institutions, and examines the specific sociolinguistic situation in the Baltic including the often unrecognized attitudes of the Russian-speaking minorities. The Baltic case has wider resonance for other small national languages seeking to reassert their status against former imperialistic language regimes.

Political unity and linguistic diversity in Europe

The paper seeks to assess the consequences of cultural diversity for European polity-building by focusing on the language issue. What does the European Babel mean for the project of transnational political integration ? To what extent has the shaping of the European language regime become a declared goal on the agenda of the EU ? In contrast with precedent patterns of nation-state formation, the present situation in Europe offers only few reasons to believe that some cultural standardization could be achieved by putting major political restrictions on multilingualism. Deliberate attempts at setting the institutional foundations of a culturally integrated European public sphere may end up producing unintended outcomes and lead to anti- European mobilizations striving for the protection of cultural difference. Hence, a political community of Europeans will not be based on a unitary and homogeneous public sphere, but rather reflect a complex mosaic of different cultural identities with cross-cutting political loyalties. In this context, cultural and linguistic diversity will be institutionalized, institutionalized, but to varying degrees and with different implications at different political levels.

State Sovereign Immunity and the Future of Federalism

Previous articleNext article No AccessState Sovereign Immunity and the Future of FederalismErnest A. YoungErnest A. Young Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Supreme Court Review Volume 19991999 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/scr.1999.3109705 Views: 11Total views on this site Citations: 5Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 2000 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Jackie Jones Rebecca J. Cook and Simone Cusack: Gender Stereotyping, Transnational Legal Perspectives, Feminist Legal Studies 21, no.22 (Nov 2012): 217–220.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10691-012-9218-5Emmanuelle Richez Francophone Minority Communities: The Last Constitutional Standard-Bearers of Trudeau’s Language Regime, International Journal of Canadian Studies , no.45-4645-46 (Jan 2012): 35.https://doi.org/10.7202/1009893arMichael Michael McGrath Appendix III: People v. Oliver Jovanovic: From Cybersex to Sexual Assault Allegations, (Jan 2011): 505–518.https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-386029-3.00030-9David S. Law The Paradox of Omnipotence: Courts, Constitutions, and Commitments, SSRN Electronic Journal (Jan 2005).https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.701561Mikhail Filippov, Peter C. Ordeshook, Olga Shvetsova Designing Federalism, 2 (Dec 2009).https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511610875

Optimal language regimes for the European Union

Like other linguistically diverse institutions, the European Union promotes conflicting values as it chooses official languages. Increased activism and the admission of new states threaten a language-policy crisis. One approach to a solution is to analyze more carefully than before the universe of possible language regimes for institutions like the EU and the justifications for deeming any alternative We can define a language regime as a set of official languages and a sei ofrules permitting complete mutual comprehension in a deliberation among representatives of language groups. If only the groups' languages and one synthetic language are relevant, ifthe representatives are monolingual, if translators are bilingual, and if other simplifications are assumed, there are almost five times as many potentially optimal language regimes as language groups (e.g. with nine groups, 40). We can partition the language regimes into ten classes, distinguished by their official languages and whether they translate directly, via intermediate group languages, or via the synthetic language. The duration and urgency ofthe deliberation, the capacity of translation facilities, the importance of language equality, the distribution of group sizes, and the relative cost of learning the synthetic language are some conditions that determine which language regime is optimal. The prevailing conditions in the EU create a clear choice between twofamilies of language regimes. One family satisfies the professed norm of equal language treatment by making either none or all of the groups' languages official. The other family, by making only the largest languages official, systematizes the common EUpractice ofsacrificing language equality for cost reduction. A victoryfor one normative position wouldfavor a corresponding language regime, but a continued daily normative struggle would tend to produce complex Variation in language regimes across EU agencies.

The Game Theory of Language Regimes

The logic of globalization suggests that world languages such as English will begin to challenge national vernaculars in such a way as to threaten their existence as living languages. The power of nationalism suggests that groups supporting national vernaculars will use all political resources to stem the tide of globalization. This paper analyzes the micro rationality of language choice, seen as an n-person tipping game. It demon strates that for many postcolonial states, multilingual outcomes for individuals is a powerful equilibrium. The maintenance of multilingual repertoires rather than the replacement of competing languages in all domains by English, the paper concludes, will be the mark of the emerg ing world language system.

The Remnants of Free Exercise

Previous articleNext article No AccessThe Remnants of Free ExerciseDouglas LaycockDouglas Laycock Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUS Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by The Supreme Court Review Volume 19901990 Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/scr.1990.3109655 Views: 32Total views on this site Citations: 14Citations are reported from Crossref Copyright 1991 The University of ChicagoPDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article: Freedom of Religion and Marriage Equality, (Jan 2022): 202–226.https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-6807-1.ch007Andrew Shorten Toleration and Religious Discrimination, (Sep 2021): 827–851.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-42121-2_1Wendy E. Parmet From the Shadows: The Public Health Implications of the Supreme Court’s COVID-Free Exercise Cases, Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 49, no.44 (Jan 2022): 564–579.https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2021.80Andrew Shorten Toleration and Religious Discrimination, (Oct 2020): 1–25.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03227-2_1-1Aurélia Bardon, Jeffrey W. Howard Laborde, liberalism, and religion, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 23, no.11 (Jun 2018): 1–8.https://doi.org/10.1080/13698230.2018.1487229 Religious Liberty, (Jan 2019): 54–75.https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-5225-7961-8.ch003Elizabeth Sheehy Expert evidence on coercive control in support of self-defence: The trial of Teresa Craig, Criminology & Criminal Justice 18, no.11 (Sep 2017): 100–114.https://doi.org/10.1177/1748895817733524Muhammad Velji Change Your Look, Change Your Luck: Religious Self-Transformation and Brute Luck Egalitarianism, Res Philosophica 92, no.22 (Jan 2015): 453–471.https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2015.92.2.13Ted L. McDorman, Aldo Chircop Canada's Oceans Policy Framework: An Overview, Coastal Management 40, no.22 (Feb 2012): 133–144.https://doi.org/10.1080/08920753.2012.652517Emmanuelle Richez Francophone Minority Communities: The Last Constitutional Standard-Bearers of Trudeau’s Language Regime, International Journal of Canadian Studies , no.45-4645-46 (Jan 2012): 35.https://doi.org/10.7202/1009893arC. SCOTT FINDLAY, STEWART ELGIE, BRIAN GILES, LINDA BURR Species Listing under Canada's Species at Risk Act, Conservation Biology 23, no.66 (Dec 2009): 1609–1617.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1523-1739.2009.01255.xWilliam T. Hipwell A Deleuzian critique of resource-use management politics in Industria, The Canadian Geographer/Le G?ographe canadien 48, no.33 (Sep 2004): 356–377.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.0008-3658.2004.00065.xJohn Wybraniec, Roger Finke Religious Regulation and the Courts, (Jan 2004): 535–553.https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-9094-5_33 Kevin R. den Dulk and J. Mitchell Pickerill Bridging the Lawmaking Process: Organized Interests, Court-Congress Interaction, and Church-State Relations, Polity 35, no.33 (Nov 2016): 419–440.https://doi.org/10.1086/POLv35n3ms3235526