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Chapter 14. European integration and the variety of languages

An awkward co-existence
  • Jean-Claude Barbier
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The Politics of Multilingualism
This chapter is in the book The Politics of Multilingualism

Abstract

While formal EU law acknowledges the equality of the 24 languages of the Member States, practice has sanctioned the blatant hegemony of the English language over the years, and the United Kingdom has now decided to leave the European Union. Most social scientists do not care about this situation. As members of a trans-European elite, they privilege the certainties of a standardised European English over the strict demands of science and truth that need pluri-lingualism. But there is more to pluri-lingualism than being an indispensable vector to rigorous social science. Language is also indispensable for politics and, as politics is now made in English in the European Union, non-speakers of English now face exclusion from full participation in politics. Contrary to received wisdom, this concerns the majority of European citizens. One key obstacle to the modification of language practices across the Union lies in the structural features of EU law itself, with regard to its very conception of language as a discriminating instrument.

Abstract

While formal EU law acknowledges the equality of the 24 languages of the Member States, practice has sanctioned the blatant hegemony of the English language over the years, and the United Kingdom has now decided to leave the European Union. Most social scientists do not care about this situation. As members of a trans-European elite, they privilege the certainties of a standardised European English over the strict demands of science and truth that need pluri-lingualism. But there is more to pluri-lingualism than being an indispensable vector to rigorous social science. Language is also indispensable for politics and, as politics is now made in English in the European Union, non-speakers of English now face exclusion from full participation in politics. Contrary to received wisdom, this concerns the majority of European citizens. One key obstacle to the modification of language practices across the Union lies in the structural features of EU law itself, with regard to its very conception of language as a discriminating instrument.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. List of abbreviations xvii
  6. List of figures, tables, charts and pictures xix
  7. Chapter 1. The politics of multilingualism 1
  8. Part I. Reconceptualising multilingualism and collective identity
  9. Chapter 2. The politics of multilingualism in Canada 19
  10. Chapter 3. A Russian-speaking nation? 39
  11. Chapter 4. The impact of mobility and migration on the identity-constructing policy in Brussels 65
  12. Chapter 5. From glossophagic hegemony to multilingual pluralism? 89
  13. Chapter 6. Transient linguistic landscapes of activism 111
  14. Part II. Linguistic hegemony, insecurity and linguistic justice
  15. Chapter 7. How to measure linguistic justice? 145
  16. Chapter 8. Linguistic justice and English as a Lingua Franca 167
  17. Chapter 9. The promise and pitfalls of global English 201
  18. Chapter 10. Languages, norms and power in a globalised context 223
  19. Part III. Lingua Franca and global linguistic governance
  20. Chapter 11. On some fashionable terms in multilingualism research 247
  21. Chapter 12. English, the Lingua Nullius of global hegemony 275
  22. Chapter 13. Idealism or pragmatism? 305
  23. Chapter 14. European integration and the variety of languages 333
  24. Author index 359
  25. Subject index 365
https://doi.org/10.1075/wlp.6.14bar

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Acknowledgements vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. List of abbreviations xvii
  6. List of figures, tables, charts and pictures xix
  7. Chapter 1. The politics of multilingualism 1
  8. Part I. Reconceptualising multilingualism and collective identity
  9. Chapter 2. The politics of multilingualism in Canada 19
  10. Chapter 3. A Russian-speaking nation? 39
  11. Chapter 4. The impact of mobility and migration on the identity-constructing policy in Brussels 65
  12. Chapter 5. From glossophagic hegemony to multilingual pluralism? 89
  13. Chapter 6. Transient linguistic landscapes of activism 111
  14. Part II. Linguistic hegemony, insecurity and linguistic justice
  15. Chapter 7. How to measure linguistic justice? 145
  16. Chapter 8. Linguistic justice and English as a Lingua Franca 167
  17. Chapter 9. The promise and pitfalls of global English 201
  18. Chapter 10. Languages, norms and power in a globalised context 223
  19. Part III. Lingua Franca and global linguistic governance
  20. Chapter 11. On some fashionable terms in multilingualism research 247
  21. Chapter 12. English, the Lingua Nullius of global hegemony 275
  22. Chapter 13. Idealism or pragmatism? 305
  23. Chapter 14. European integration and the variety of languages 333
  24. Author index 359
  25. Subject index 365
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