Linguistic diversity has great impact on political communication and mutual understanding in Europe. It is both a symbol of European democracy and an obstacle to political dialogue and the exchange of ideas. From a multidisciplinary perspective, this book explores the role that linguistic diversity plays in European democracy and examines the inherent tensions and contradictions of European language laws and policy, to fill the gap among the disciplines of linguistics, law, and political and social science. With contributions from leading researchers in EU law and legal theory, political science, sociology, sociolinguistics, and cognitive linguistics, this book brings together diverse and sometimes competing perspectives on linguistic diversity.
The chapters by Peter A. Kraus, Sue Wright, and Robert Phillipson discuss aspects of linguistic diversity and European democracy. Kraus points out the connections and contradictions between the issues of European democracy and linguistic diversity. According to him, more effective mechanisms for unity should be designed, mechanisms that not only avoid normative monolingualism but also allow linguistic diversity. Wright discusses the status quo of European democracy and suggests that the open and flowing communication plays a significant role in building the European public sphere and is the challenge for Europeans. Phillipson focuses on the more problematic aspects of multilingualism in Europe. He argues that true multilingualism can only be achieved on an informed basis and by placing linguistic matters in a more important position.
Some chapters explore multilingualism from the perspective of EU law. Magali Gravier & Lita Lundquist summarize the laws and policies governing multilingualism in the EU and point out that introducing a system of foreign language teaching would be helpful for both EU institutions and the member states. Joxerramon Bengoetxea takes a look at the multilingual challenge as it relates to the European Court of Justice and suggests that even though the Court is a multilingual institution, its legal reasoning is usually monolingual and more multicultural than multilingual. Michal Bobek analyzes the practical and legal consequences of the multilingual regime of EU law at the national level. Mattias Derlén further argues that it is the conflicting and unclear directions concerning the relationship between multilingualism and the interpretation of Union law that make multilingualism seem difficult.
Bruno de Witte, Dagmar Richer, and J. Normann Jørgensen also contribute ideas from exclusive perspectives. de Witte mainly studies language rights and concludes that the expansion of language rights did not occur primarily through litigation but through political mobilization. Richer explores the protection of language diversity by taking Swiss language law as a model, exemplifying its fundamental principles and constitutional concepts. Jørgensen presents a sociolinguistic perspective on language and suggests that language is both individual and social, but linguistic rights usually deal with groups of speakers rather than individual speakers. So in order to protect the linguistic rights of individual speaker, the polylingualism norm can be used. This book, on the whole, will be a valuable resource for academics and researchers in the areas of European law, legal theory, and linguistics.
