The first part of the course offers a broad picture of linguistic diversity and cultural preservation, traces the evolution of language rights and explores the historical connections of such evolution with nation states, warfare, and globalization. The second part of the course surveys international and national legal regimes in the protection of language rights, covering both minority language rights and official language rights, and their manifestations as negative and positive rights. We will examine how some of these rights are realized in the domains of education, legal processes and public services across jurisdictions, as well as the limitations of their reach. The third part of the course focuses on the philosophical and moral basis of language rights, addresses sources of contention, and queries the concept of ‘linguistic justice’. Such discussions provide a lens through which tensions between liberalism and diversity may be probed.
Some of the questions the course will deal with include:
- Should mother-tongue education be a right?
- To what extent can law offer equal treatment to different language communities?
- Do states have a moral obligation to keep an endogenous language alive?
- Is the emergence of English as a global lingua franca a form of linguistic imperialism?
At the end of this course, students who fulfill the requirements of this course will be able to:
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Describe what language rights are and explain controversies surrounding the issue
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Critically examine the promise and limitations of language rights
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Demonstrate an awareness of the interconnections between language policy, politics and law
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Demonstrate knowledge of legal regimes that protect language use
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Engage with the philosophical debate about linguistic justice
We will meet for 3 hours per week. The meetings will comprise formal lectures, in-class debates and discussions, and other learning activities.
In-class debate + reports 20%
Oral presentation 20%
Research project 60%
Tentative list of reading materials to be selected from:
Anderson, Benedict (2006) Imagined Communities. Verso.
Billig, Michael (1995) Banal Nationalism. Sage.
Chen, Albert H Y (1998) The Philosophy of Language Rights. Language Sciences 20(1): 45-54.
Hobsbawm, E. J. (2006) Nations and Nationalism since 1780. Canto.
Kymlicka and Patten (2007) Language Rights and Political Theory. Oxford University Press.
Liu and Rao (2024) Global Language Justice. Columbia University Press.
May, Modood and Squires (2004) Ethnicity, Nationalism and Minority Rights. Cambridge University Press.
May, Stephen (2012) Language and Minority Rights (2nd Edition). Routledge.
Paz (2013) The Failed Promise of Language Rights: A Critique of the International Language Rights Regime. Harvard International Law Journal 54(1): 157-218.
Pillar (2016) Linguistic Diversity and Social Justice. Oxford University Press.
Pupavac (2012) Language Rights: From Free Speech to Linguistic Governance. Palgrave.
Rawls (1999) A Theory of Justice (Revised Edition). Harvard University Press.
Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) Linguistic Genocide in Education – Or Worldwide Diversity and Human Rights? Lawrence Erlbaum.
Van Parijs (2011) Linguistic Justice for Europe and for the World. Oxford University Press.
Van Parijs (2015) Lingua franca and linguistic territoriality. Why they both matter to justice and why justice matters for both. Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy 18(2): 224-240.
Williams (2013) Perfidious Hope: The Legislative Turn in Official Minority Language Regimes. Regional and Federal Studies 23(1): 101-122.