Minority Language Policy Research Articles

‘We don’t talk Gypsy here’: Minority language policies in Europe

Abstract The Roma constitute an ideal case of educational injustice meeting linguistic difference, racism, social marginalization, and poverty. This paper asks whether human-rights or capabilities approaches are best suited to address issues related to the language education of Roma students in Europe. These children are disadvantaged by not growing up with the standard dialect of whatever language is preferred by the mainstream population, and by the low status of the Romani language, and non-standard dialect of the standard language they usually speak. We examine language education for Roma students in Croatia, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, describing similarities and differences across contexts. We explain weak and strong version of language rights arguments, and the ways these principles are expressed, and not expressed in education policies. Sen’s capabilities approach can be employed to generate contextualized visions of education reform that speak directly to disadvantages suffered by Roma children.

Is the EU Accession a Critical Juncture for Romania’s Language Policy?

In the course of history, Romania’s Transylvania was the home of a number of different ethnolinguistic groups, including Hungarians, Romanians, Germans, Jews and Roma among others. After the First World War, and particularly during the last decades of the communist regime, however, pressures to create a highly centralized, uniform, monolingual state with the Romanian language as its only official language have largely increased. This uniformizing French style Jacobin language policy became a key element of the Romanian state tradition, supported by the make-up of its institutions and legal provisions. As a consequence, the languages of Romania have been ordered hierarchically with the official Romanian language outranking the different minority languages, including Hungarian, German, Roma, Ukrainian, Slovakian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Ruthenian, Russian and so on. In this framework, the minority languages could be used at a local and regional level only. However, minority language use was restricted by language laws, thresholds and other hampering measures. The country’s accession to the European Union (EU) in 2007 has been celebrated as a critical juncture challenging the canonical top-down Jacobin state tradition and its exclusive language policy with respect to the minority languages. The analysis presented in this paper will weigh the pro’s and contra’s of this claim. It will be concluded that although minority languages have received more recognition under the new EU order than under former Romanian nationalizing regimes, like the preceding post-communist and communist rules, the implementation of a permissive minority language policy still shows serious deficiencies. It will be concluded that the accession of Romania to the EU can hardly be referred to as a critical juncture concerning its language policy.

Minority Language Policy in China: A Disjunction between Policy Intentions and Reality

Minority Language Policy in China: A Disjunction between Policy Intentions and Reality

Some thoughts on the role of ethnic elites in language maintenance in the People’s Republic of China

The purpose of this paper is to present a framework for investigating the minority language policies of the PRC and their actual outcomes in four case studies of minority languages of the PRC. It forms part of my long-term project “Plurality in Unity: The Outcomes of PRC Minority Language Policies for Miao, Mongolian, Tibetan and Uyghur”. The crucial role of ethnic elites and their activities in the field of corpus and status planning stands in focus, as the presence or absence of such groups tend to influence the results of minority language work. They play a central role between the policies and decisions on the state level and the implementation on the grass-roots level. The present study is based on more or less extensive field-work among four of the ethnic minority group of the PRC, viz. the Miao, Mongols, Tibetans and Uyghurs. These investigations have been carried out since 1989 and the methods employed are not unified, which makes the results attained up till now only tentative. However, due to the complexity of the matter, only tentative conclusions may be expected.

AKTUALNI ZADACI JEZIČNE POLITIKE HRVATA U MAĐARSKOJ

The present paper discusses the concept, place and role of language policy as part of the interdisciplinary science of applied linguistics. In the context of language policy of the European Union, there is always discussion about the Hungarian practice, especially in the segment of minority language rights, and the possibility of the mi nority language policy. Among the current tasks of the language policy of Croats in Hungary there is especially the need for a language strategy and empirical research emphasized, that may contribute to language planning. Apart of planning the status and corpus, there is much emphasis put on the planning of the language reacquisition, as well as of developing the state of balanced bilingualism.

중국 소수민족 언어의 위상 하락과 주변화의 추이: 법제적 분석을 통해 본 시진핑 시기의 억압적 소수민족 언어정책의 주요 이슈

중국 소수민족 언어의 위상 하락과 주변화의 추이: 법제적 분석을 통해 본 시진핑 시기의 억압적 소수민족 언어정책의 주요 이슈

Because the computer speaks English? Language rights and digital media

Legal measures in support of minority language media often take for granted particular models of broadcasting, but are these models valid? How flexible are key instruments such as the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages? After assessing the applicability of existing law on minority languages to various media platforms and services, it is argued that combining approaches from cyberlaw with sociolinguistic themes of the linguistic landscape and functional completeness can provide a more elaborate account of minority language rights and policy in the context of technological development.

Interpreting and minority language planning and policy

With potential applications for other minority languages, this paper discusses the implications of interpreting to and from Galician, starting with an overview of the current sociolinguistic situation, and the interpreting and translation market in Galicia in the light of political changes. After highlighting the similarities and differences between written translation and oral interpretation, the article examines the role played specifically by interpretation as a prestige-raising activity within the framework of language planning. Finally, the paper also discusses interpreting using minority languages as a tool enabling citizens to exercise their linguistic rights to the full.

The Status of Implementation of Minority Language Policy and the Problems in China

The Status of Implementation of Minority Language Policy and the Problems in China

Reclaiming Basque: language, nation, and cultural activism

The Basque language, Euskara, is one of Europe's most ancient tongues and a vital part of today's lively Basque culture. Reclaiming Basque examines the ideology, methods, and discourse of the Basque-language revitalization movement over the course of the past century and the way this effort has unfolded alongside the simultaneous Basque nationalist struggle for autonomy. Jacqueline Urla employs extensive long-term fieldwork and close examination of a vast range of documents to uncover the strategies that have been used to preserve and revive Basque and the various controversies that have arisen among language advocates. Reclaiming Basque offers a new perspective on language activism as a dynamic and evolving social movement. It addresses the complex issue of what it means to speak Basque in the contemporary Basque Country, as well as the roles of minority languages, language policies, and cultural identity in a globalized world.

Language justice for Sign Language Peoples: the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Sign Language Peoples (SLPs) across the world have developed their own languages and visuo-gestural-tactile cultures embodying their collective sense of Deafhood (Ladd 2003). Despite this, most nation-states treat their respective SLPs as disabled individuals, favoring disability benefits, cochlear implants, and mainstream education over language policies fostering native sign languages. This paper argues that sign language policy is necessary for language justice. Based on interviews with SLPs and policy makers in the UK, this paper argues that ideally sign language policy requires a shift in policy discourse away from a disability construction to one recognizing the minority language status of SLPs. However minority language policy support for the formulation of sign language policies hitherto has been very limited. Conversely, the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) (UN 2007) offers the best hope for sign language policy notwithstanding its disability framing. The CRPD requires states to recognize sign languages and to support sign bilingual education, where appropriate. It employs a human rights approach, and is a potential stepping stone towards the emergence of minority language policies for SLPs. This paper argues that the CRPD offers a regulatory context that could enable a shift in policy discourse towards the eventual promulgation of the minority sign language policy that many Deaf-SLPs have called for. This strategy, as suggested here, offers the best chance of moving from a situation of social injustice for SLPs to one of language justice where full sign language access is promoted.

The View from Below: Exploring the Interface of Europeanization and Basque Language Activism in France

This article explores how Basque language activists in France have evaluated and engaged with European-level minority language policies in relative terms of "opportunity." Focusing upon the social construction of political opportunity from below, I consider how actors affiliated with a community-based schooling initiative cultivated a strategic stance toward the Council of Europe's Charter for Regional or Minority Languages between 1997 and 2007. Drawing upon qualitative case study data, I show how activist stances toward the European Charter were both motivated and minimized by their institutional containment within the French national state and the educational sector more specifically. The article contributes to scholarship by shedding microsociological light on the ways in which grassroots actors experience the intersection between national and supranational political processes in Europe. The article also contributes to the study of ethnic mobilization in Europe by shedding light on the underexamined field of linguistic-rights activism in education.

Minority language researchers and their role in policy development

This paper deals with the role of researchers in the development of language policies for European minority languages. This question is placed in the context of a long-standing debate in sociology to which several authors have contributed; among them are Max Weber, Howard Becker and Alvin Gouldner. This article also briefly refers to the European Charter for Researchers. A summary is given of the local research settings of Friesland and the Basque Country where my studies into European minority languages, language policy and multilingual education are carried out. This article mentions three possible roles for a researcher: academic scholar, policy adviser and language activist. A key issue in all this is to find a balance between ‘detachment’ and ‘involvement’. There is a dynamic in the different roles and the balance shifts over time. This is further complicated by being a relative insider to one language group and relative outsider to the other.

Language education policy by proxy: the ‘ideal’ meets the ‘real’ in the educational network of the Jewish Community in Mexico City

Language is the most immediate tool of inclusion into a social group and as such is central in creating, understanding and participating in the group. Language policy can serve, establish and organise such groups, and to assure that they are maintained and implemented for posterity. Language policy in education is imperative for a group to build and maintain its past, present and future. This paper discusses the formulation of a language policy in the Jewish Educational Network of Mexico City, following its daily management. More specifically, this paper will address: (1) the discrepancies between the minority's language policy and ideologies and its reality; (2) the status of Hebrew as a burden or a benefit in pacesetting language education in this community; and (3) the outcomes of implementation of a language policy ‘by proxy’ (i.e. a policy created elsewhere to be carried out locally).

A critical analysis of the historical and contemporary status of minority languages in Zimbabwe

Although a voluminous amount of literature addresses language-in-education policy in Africa, one area in which the literature remains sparse is the role of minority languages in education. This article presents an overview of complex issues regarding the hegemony claims of different minority language groups in Zimbabwe. Given the relatively small research base dealing explicitly with controversies in the promotion of minority languages as the media of instruction, this article uses archival and historical literature to trace intricate controversies about language in education within minority African languages groups. This article argues that the interrelationships between the dynamics of the state, ethnic composition, and history vary considerably and impact the success of minority language policies.

Minority Language Rights and Education in China: The Relevance of Human Rights Law and Substantive Equality

This chapter considers the potential role of international human rights law, especially provisions which are applicable to China, in mediating competing interests and objectives when determining minority language policy in the education context. In particular, it examines the content of – and the obligations arising from – the right to equality and non-discrimination and the right to equality in education. Equality, as understood in its substantive sense, requires an assessment of the actual situation of disadvantage faced by particular groups and the provision of appropriate remedies. While this principle can help ensure respect for minority language rights, political obstacles including state-building priorities often interfere with its practical realization in China.

Minority language policy regarding personal names – an overview

Language Policy (LP) with language planning as its implementation is now a well-established field; yet, as evidenced by the scarcity of scholarly literature, seldom concerned with personal names. The paper looks at personal names (given names and surnames) and discusses the ways in which they can be perceived as objects of minority LP. Policies regarding personal names are analysed within the framework of the traditional division of language planning into status, corpus and acquisition planning. These policies are then further examined according to other dimensions: what the object of a LP is, who its agent is, what motivates a LP, what effects it exerts, and how a LP is carried out. Finally, the paper looks at EU minority legislation with reference to personal names, especially at the country-specific opinions which reflect the FCNM monitoring process, highlighting areas of controversy. In conclusion, it is shown how vital personal names are to personal and group identity and, consequently, how control over them helps the nation-state control a minority, although – it is argued – not every regulation constitutes a minority LP

Promoting a minority language to majority language speakers: television advertising about the Māori language targeting non-Māori New Zealanders

It has been claimed that the success of minority language policy initiatives may only be achievable if at least some degree of ‘tolerability’ of these initiatives is secured among majority language speakers. There has, however, been little consideration in the language planning literature of what practical approaches might be used to influence the attitudes of majority language speakers towards minority languages, that is to ‘plan for tolerability’. This article considers the approach taken in two recent television advertisements that address the attitudes and behaviours of non-Māori New Zealanders towards the Māori language. It begins by examining the discursive approach taken in these advertisements, the attitudinal messages they convey about the Māori language and the behaviours they propose for non-Māori New Zealanders. The article then discusses the responses of 80 non-Māori viewers of the advertisements, considering the extent to which they perceived the intended messages of the advertisements and how their responses were influenced by their existing attitudes towards the Māori language. On this basis, the article assesses the potential effectiveness of using language promotion materials as a means of planning for the tolerability of the Māori language among non-Māori New Zealanders.

Solving the “Gypsy Problem”:D.H. and Othersv. the Czech Republic

Previous articleNext article No AccessSolving the “Gypsy Problem”: D.H. and Others v. the Czech RepublicWilliam S. New and Michael S. MerryWilliam S. New Search for more articles by this author and Michael S. Merry Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Comparative Education Review Volume 54, Number 3August 2010 Sponsored by the Comparative and International Education Society Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/652857 Views: 108Total views on this site Citations: 8Citations are reported from Crossref History © 2010 by the Comparative and International Education Society. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports the following articles citing this article:Kateřina Čanigová, Adéla Souralová Low-income Roma Mothers Negotiating Mothering in the Context of Poverty, Journal of Poverty 21 (Oct 2022): 1–24.https://doi.org/10.1080/10875549.2022.2128975Nigel Fancourt The educational competence of the European Court of Human Rights: judicial pedagogies of religious symbols in classrooms, Oxford Review of Education 48, no.22 (Jun 2021): 131–147.https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2021.1933406Veselina Lambrev ‘They clip our wings’ : studying achievement and racialisation through a Roma perspective, Intercultural Education 31, no.22 (Feb 2020): 139–156.https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2019.1702292Lotem Perry-Hazan, Oshrat Perelstain Mobilizing ethnic equality in admissions to schools: Litigation, politics, and educational change, Journal of Educational Change 19, no.11 (Sep 2017): 51–75.https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-017-9308-xGökhan Kılıçoğlu, Derya Yılmaz Kılıçoğlu , The Urban Review 50, no.33 ( 2018): 402.https://doi.org/10.1007/s11256-017-0439-4William S. New, Hristo Kyuchukov, Milan Samko , European Education 50, no.22 ( 2018): 185.https://doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2018.1458322William S. New, Hristo Kyuchukov, Jill de Villiers ‘We don’t talk Gypsy here’: Minority language policies in Europe, Journal of Language and Cultural Education 5, no.22 (Jul 2017): 1–24.https://doi.org/10.1515/jolace-2017-0015Michael Smith, Shu-Ling Tsai, Petr Matějů, and Min-Hsiung Huang Educational Expansion and Inequality in Taiwan and the Czech Republic, Comparative Education Review 60, no.22 (Mar 2016): 339–374.https://doi.org/10.1086/685695

European Union and Minorities: Different Paths of Europeanization?

Europeanization literature does not bring together member and candidate countries in a single comparative framework. Focusing on minority governance, an issue area which is not part of the acquis, I compare Europeanization in these two sets of countries. In the candidate countries the EU triggers a top‐down change in minority language policies through conditionality. Alternatively, in the member countries it provides the space for a bottom‐up change in such policies through boomerang pattern, as the European institutions fund non‐state actors and help them form coalitions resulting in rising demands from the member countries. Using reports on EU‐funded projects, and examples from Latvia, Turkey, Sweden, and Northern Ireland, I demonstrate that in minority governance, Europeanization is not a uniform process and it operates within different institutional logics: logic of consequences in the candidate countries vs. logic of appropriateness in the member countries. This variation is an important determinant of the outcome of Europeanization.