Conceptions and discourses of linguistic justice: Some illustrations from the Scottish context

Abstract

This article considers the example of Scotland in order to examine the ways in which issues, arguments and claims that implicate linguistic justice are framed and presented in public discourse and in different kinds of practical contexts. It takes a positive rather than normative approach, identifying and analysing the main issues and lines of argument that have emerged in practice, rather than testing a particular theoretical understanding of linguistic justice. The article examines the key principles and understandings that underpin the current policy regime and the nature of provision for particular languages in Scotland, especially the autochthonous Scottish Gaelic language, which receives particular concern from policy-makers but also attracts controversy. Other important language varieties include Scots; Polish, Urdu, Punjabi and Chinese; and British Sign Language. Anomalies and inconsistencies are identified and analysed in relation to provision for different languages in different fields, disparities that often have political or ideological ramifications and require to be understood in the distinct Scottish socio-political context. In the final section, the article addresses in the position of different languages in the Scottish education system, attempting to discern the extent to which greatly varying levels of provision for different kinds of languages can be understood in terms of linguistic justice.