Rearticulating the Case for Minority Language Rights

Abstract

While advocacy of minority language rights (MLR) has become well established in sociolinguistics, language policy and planning and the wider human rights literature, it has also come under increased criticism in recent times for a number of key limitations. In this paper, I address directly three current key criticisms of the MLR movement. The first is a perceived tendency towards essentialism in articulations of language rights. The second is the apparent utopianism and artificiality of 'reversing language shift' in the face of wider social and political 'realities'. And the third is that the individual mobility of minority-language speakers is far better served by shifting to a majority language. While acknowledging the perspicacity of some of these arguments, I aim to rearticulate a defence of minority language rights that effectively addresses these key concerns. This requires, however, a sociohistorical/sociopolitical rather than a biological/ecological analysis of MLR. In addition, I will argue that a sociohistorical/sociopolitical defence of MLR can problematise the positions often adopted by minority language rights' critics themselves, particularly those who defend majoritarian forms of linguistic essentialism and those who sever the instrumental/identity aspects of language. Implications for language policy and planning will also be discussed.

Les atouts et avantages du bilinguisme à Moncton : entre discours et réalité

“…Elle soulève également, chez les locuteurs de la langue minoritaire, des questions autour de la valeur identitaire du fran çais et de la nouvelle valeur marchande qu'on y attribue, tout en illustrant les rapports fort complexes et mouvants entre langue et identité (cf. Boudreau, 2003 ;May, 2003 ;et May, 2012, entre autres) et les paradoxes qui en découlent. Ce sont là des situations qui, d'une part, illustrent à quel point les pratiques langagières doivent s'analyser de manière critique en tenant compte de l'histoire des rapports entre les communautés et qui, d'autre part, soulèvent d'importantes questions relatives aux politiques linguistiques et à l'aménagement des langues en milieu minoritaire.…”

Ngā Tuakiri o te Tangata: Being Māori in Early Childhood Education

“…Hunt and Macfarlane (2011) make the point that for Māori students and teachers, this is akin to living in two worlds, acting rather than participating in the teaching and learning process. It also brings to the fore a primordial perspective of ethnicity and identity, based on inherited, fixed homogeneous categories of identity (May, 2003b). Of the 19 early childhood ITE providers (MoE, 2015), two are distinctively Māori institutions, Te Wānanga o Raukawa, and Te Whare Wānanga o Awanuiārangi.…”

Diller arası Etkileşim Süreçlerini Belirleyen Kimi Etkenler

“…While this modernist constructivist approach to developing national languages was seen as a strength in developing national languages, it has lead to the pejorative positioning of minority languages and their speakers and to the consequent development of research on MLR. The chapter outlines the concerns of MLR advocates in the context of language ecology and linguistic human rights paradigms (May, 2001(May, , 2003(May, , 2005.…”