Chapter 7. How to measure linguistic justice?
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Federico Gobbo
Abstract
When the concept of linguistic justice was proposed by Pool (1991) in order to cope with the asymmetries quite often found in multilingual contexts, it immediately provoked a great deal of debate. To sum up the debate, there is broad agreement on the meaning of linguistic in-justice, but it is still not clear what linguistic justice really is. This doubt is reflected in the mechanics of the proposed methods for the evaluation of multilingual contexts. What are we measuring? In particular, justice for whom, for example, national citizens or migrants? At which level of analysis, that is to say, at local, national, or transnational? The answers to these types of questions will determine our choice of the right – or at least the appropriate – parameters to be taken into account in order to design an index of the proposed measurement method. In other words, measures are far from neutral, in spite of the fact that they are quantitative, especially in the field of analytical sociolinguistics (Iannàccaro & Dell’Aquila, 2011). After almost a decade of refinements, in particular by Van Parijs (2004, 2011, 2012), Grin (2011), and Grin and Gazzola (2007) observed that the intangible value of a language, being one of the main carriers of culture, is quite often left aside in the indexes that propose to measure linguistic justice as a whole. The only variable that seems to be generally accepted as being relevant is territory.
In this chapter, I examine the Calvet Language Barometer (CLB) in its latest version, published on the web in 2012, under the perspective of linguistic justice. I will proceed backwards, as the CLB aims to measure the “linguistic altitude” of languages in isolation – i.e., their position on the scale – while linguistic justice refers to languages in contact and mainly to multilingual contexts. However, the worldwide gravitational model presented in Calvet (2006, 1999), is naturally compatible with the CLB and can be used for this purpose. The case study of South Tyrol will be presented in order to test the CLB in this perspective, showing to what extent the barometer works, where it does not work, and why. In the conclusion, some preliminary ideas about a genuine multilingual measure of linguistic justice will be presented, based upon an operative notion of multilingual equilibrium.
Abstract
When the concept of linguistic justice was proposed by Pool (1991) in order to cope with the asymmetries quite often found in multilingual contexts, it immediately provoked a great deal of debate. To sum up the debate, there is broad agreement on the meaning of linguistic in-justice, but it is still not clear what linguistic justice really is. This doubt is reflected in the mechanics of the proposed methods for the evaluation of multilingual contexts. What are we measuring? In particular, justice for whom, for example, national citizens or migrants? At which level of analysis, that is to say, at local, national, or transnational? The answers to these types of questions will determine our choice of the right – or at least the appropriate – parameters to be taken into account in order to design an index of the proposed measurement method. In other words, measures are far from neutral, in spite of the fact that they are quantitative, especially in the field of analytical sociolinguistics (Iannàccaro & Dell’Aquila, 2011). After almost a decade of refinements, in particular by Van Parijs (2004, 2011, 2012), Grin (2011), and Grin and Gazzola (2007) observed that the intangible value of a language, being one of the main carriers of culture, is quite often left aside in the indexes that propose to measure linguistic justice as a whole. The only variable that seems to be generally accepted as being relevant is territory.
In this chapter, I examine the Calvet Language Barometer (CLB) in its latest version, published on the web in 2012, under the perspective of linguistic justice. I will proceed backwards, as the CLB aims to measure the “linguistic altitude” of languages in isolation – i.e., their position on the scale – while linguistic justice refers to languages in contact and mainly to multilingual contexts. However, the worldwide gravitational model presented in Calvet (2006, 1999), is naturally compatible with the CLB and can be used for this purpose. The case study of South Tyrol will be presented in order to test the CLB in this perspective, showing to what extent the barometer works, where it does not work, and why. In the conclusion, some preliminary ideas about a genuine multilingual measure of linguistic justice will be presented, based upon an operative notion of multilingual equilibrium.
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- List of abbreviations xvii
- List of figures, tables, charts and pictures xix
- Chapter 1. The politics of multilingualism 1
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Part I. Reconceptualising multilingualism and collective identity
- Chapter 2. The politics of multilingualism in Canada 19
- Chapter 3. A Russian-speaking nation? 39
- Chapter 4. The impact of mobility and migration on the identity-constructing policy in Brussels 65
- Chapter 5. From glossophagic hegemony to multilingual pluralism? 89
- Chapter 6. Transient linguistic landscapes of activism 111
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Part II. Linguistic hegemony, insecurity and linguistic justice
- Chapter 7. How to measure linguistic justice? 145
- Chapter 8. Linguistic justice and English as a Lingua Franca 167
- Chapter 9. The promise and pitfalls of global English 201
- Chapter 10. Languages, norms and power in a globalised context 223
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Part III. Lingua Franca and global linguistic governance
- Chapter 11. On some fashionable terms in multilingualism research 247
- Chapter 12. English, the Lingua Nullius of global hegemony 275
- Chapter 13. Idealism or pragmatism? 305
- Chapter 14. European integration and the variety of languages 333
- Author index 359
- Subject index 365
Kapitel in diesem Buch
- Prelim pages i
- Table of contents v
- Acknowledgements vii
- List of contributors ix
- List of abbreviations xvii
- List of figures, tables, charts and pictures xix
- Chapter 1. The politics of multilingualism 1
-
Part I. Reconceptualising multilingualism and collective identity
- Chapter 2. The politics of multilingualism in Canada 19
- Chapter 3. A Russian-speaking nation? 39
- Chapter 4. The impact of mobility and migration on the identity-constructing policy in Brussels 65
- Chapter 5. From glossophagic hegemony to multilingual pluralism? 89
- Chapter 6. Transient linguistic landscapes of activism 111
-
Part II. Linguistic hegemony, insecurity and linguistic justice
- Chapter 7. How to measure linguistic justice? 145
- Chapter 8. Linguistic justice and English as a Lingua Franca 167
- Chapter 9. The promise and pitfalls of global English 201
- Chapter 10. Languages, norms and power in a globalised context 223
-
Part III. Lingua Franca and global linguistic governance
- Chapter 11. On some fashionable terms in multilingualism research 247
- Chapter 12. English, the Lingua Nullius of global hegemony 275
- Chapter 13. Idealism or pragmatism? 305
- Chapter 14. European integration and the variety of languages 333
- Author index 359
- Subject index 365
