Alexandre Duchêne proposes a novel approach to the linguistic minorities protection issue, choosing to analyze the discursive construction of the notion of “minority” within the United Nations. Adopting a critical point of view, he reveals the national ideologies underlying the production of international legal texts of law that, while promoting minority rights, still preserve the nation-states' interests. The book is composed of six chapters each with an introductory outline and a concluding synthesis, allowing one to follow the research trajectory easily.
In Ch. 1, the author presents his object of inquiry and his conceptual framework, distinguishing it from approaches that reify languages as delineated objects. His critical sociolinguistic approach encourages us to consider languages as complex social practices that change according to communication situations. Duchêne thus chooses to study the discursive construction of the notions of “minority” and “linguistic minority” in their historicity, that is, by observing their emergence in particular contexts underlain by particular ideological visions and political interests. As a microcosm of international relations, the UN offers insight into the plurality of conceptions of “minorities” and into the complexity of their international regulation. The corpus of this research is composed of numerous UN official documents, along with observations made during ethnographic fieldwork within the institution.
Ch. 2 summarizes the historical context of the creation of the UN. The author then presents three UN organs that are particularly linked to the minorities issue, seen as three particular discursive spaces with various degrees of power and specialization. Examining how discourses are produced within the UN, Ch. 3 discloses the linguistic ideology underlying the discursive running of the institution. By studying the elaboration of official documents, analyzing, for example, the instructions given to writers and translators, Duchêne reveals the positivist conception of a transparent language regulating the production of the institution's documents.
Chs. 4, 5, and 6 are devoted to the study of three key texts (two declarations and one covenant) related to minority rights. Considered as discursive events, each text is examined within its context of emergence, among the debates and the drafting processes that preceded its final version. The author shows the various ideological positions in conflict, and the contradiction between the search for universal values and the particularity of states' interests. These texts thus appear like compromises that, while granting an increasing space to minority rights, still preserve nation-states' interests by removing threats of separatism.
Through this varied discursive material, Duchêne uncovers the limits of these international measures: the irreconcilable ideological divergences of the UN actors and the primacy of state interests restrict the possibilities for regulating the protection of linguistic minorities.
The author also highlights the essentialist epistemological paradigm underlying the discursive construction of “minorities”: while recognizing their existence and allowing their claims, the notion “compartmentalizes” languages and minorities (263) and reproduces national homogenizing visions. Duchêne thus promotes an approach to linguistic phenomena in their complexity and a requestioning of these essentialist notions in their historicity.
Whether they are interested in language diversity, language planning, or critical sociolinguistics, this innovative and subversive study will inspire all of its readers.
