European Perspectives on Language Issues: Ideology and Real Life ESRC Seminar: Complementary Schools: Research, Policy and Practice Goldsmiths and Kings.

European Perspectives on Language Issues:Ideology and Real Life

ESRC Seminar: Complementary Schools:

Research, Policy and Practice

Goldsmiths and King’s College London

December 4, 2010

J. Normann Jørgensen, Dept. of Nordic Studies and Linguistics, University of Copenhagen, [email protected]

1. European perspectives on language and minorities

2. Language in Late Modern Superdiversity

3. Consequences

Language Rights

Neuilly Treaty 1919, art. 49-57 (linguistic minorities)

Council of Europe 1992 European Charter (Regional and Minority languages)

1995 Framework Convention (National minorities)

CSCE (Vienna) 1989 Education of ”national minorities”

EU Council of Ministers 1977 Directive 77/486 (minority language mother tongue teaching)2003 Directive 2003/109 (the status of third-country nationals who are long-term residents)

European Commission 2004 ”One Mother Tongue, Two Foreign Languages”

European Parliament 2004 Resolution 2204/2267 (INI)

Traité de Neuilly 27 novembre 1919

Art. 53.Il ne sera édicté aucune restriction contre le libre usage pour tout ressortissant bulgare d’une langue quelconque, soit dans les relations privées ou de commerce, soit en matière de religion, de presse, ou de publications de toute nature, soit dans les réunions publiques.Nonobstant l’établissement par le Gouvernement bulgare d’une langue officielle, des facilités appropriées seront données aux ressortissants bulgares de language autre que le bulgare, pour l’usage de leur language, soit oralement, soit par écrit, devant les tribunaux.

Traité de Neuilly 27 novembre 1919

Art. 55. En matière d’enseignement public, le Gouvernement bulgare accordera, dans les villes et districts où réside une proportion considérable de ressortissants bulgares de language autre que la langue bulgare, des facilités appropriées pour assurer que dans l’écoles primaires, l’instruction sera donnée, dans leur propre language, aux enfants de ces ressortissants bulgares.

Council of Europe 1992 European Charter(Regional and Minority languages)

Article 8 – EducationWith regard to education, the Parties undertake, within the territory in which

such languages are used, according to the situation of each of these languages, and without prejudice to the teaching of the official language(s) of the State:

- to make available pre-school education in the relevant regional or minority languages; or

- to make available a substantial part of pre-school education in the relevant regional or minority languages; or

- to apply one of the measures provided for under i and ii above at least to those pupils whose families so request and whose number is considered sufficient; or

- if the public authorities have no direct competence in the field of pre-school education, to favour and/or encourage the application of the measures referred to under i to iii above;

Council of Europe 1992 European Charter(Regional and Minority languages)

PREAMBLE:• Considering that the aim of the Council of Europe

is to achieve a greater unity between its members, particularly for the purpose of safeguarding and realising the ideals and principles which are their common heritage;

• Considering that the protection of the historical regional or minority languages of Europe, some of which are in danger of eventual extinction, contributes to the maintenance and development of Europe's cultural wealth and traditions;

CSCE Vienna - concluding document, January 15, 1989

(43) Aiming at ensuring effective equality of opportunity between the children of migrant workers and the children of their own nationals regarding access to all forms and levels of education, the participating States affirm their readiness to take measures needed for the better use and improvement of educational opportunities. Furthermore, they will encourage or facilitate, where reasonable demand exists, supplementary teaching in their mother tongue for the children of migrant workers.

Council of Europe Framework Conventionfor the Protection of National Minorities 1995

PREAMBLE

Considering that a pluralist and genuinely democratic society should not only respect the ethnic, cultural, linguistic and religious identity of each person belonging to a national minority, but also create appropriate conditions enabling them to express, preserve and develop this identity

Council of Europe Framework Conventionfor the Protection of National Minorities 1995

Article 121 The Parties shall, where appropriate, take measures in the

fields of education and research to foster knowledge of the culture, history, language and religion of their national minorities and of the majority.

2 In this context the Parties shall inter alia provide adequate opportunities for teacher training and access to textbooks, and facilitate contacts among students and teachers of different communities.

3 The Parties undertake to promote equal opportunities for access to education at all levels for persons belonging to national minorities.

EU Council of Ministers 1977 Directive 77/486(minority language mother tongue teaching)

Article 3Member States shall, in accordance with their

national circumstances and legal systems, and in cooperation with States of origin, take appropriate measures to promote, in coordination with normal education, teaching of the mother tongue and culture of the country of origin for the children referred to in Article 1

EU Council of Ministers 2003/109 EC(the status of third-country nationals who are

long-term residents)

Article 11

Equal treatment

1. Long-term residents shall enjoy equal treatment with nationals as regards:

[...]

(b) education and vocational training, including study grants in accordance with national law;

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT RESOLUTION 2004/2267(INI)

The European Parliament,

1. Believes that the school-age children of immigrants have a right to state education, irrespective of the legal status of their families, and that their entitlement extends to learning of their mother tongue and study of their native culture, whenever immigrant communities are such as to warrant this;

2. Believes that even when the children and/or descendants of immigrants (second and third generations) are proficient in the language of their host country, the facilities at primary and secondary schools must be such that the study of mother tongues and native cultures can be a genuine option, especially in cities and regions where immigrants account for at least 5% of the school-age population

EUROPEAN ISSUES OF LANGUAGE AND LANGUAGE TEACHING

- level of concepts and ideologies

1. Democratic ideals - language rights (individual?)

2. Nationalist ideals - to a people belongs a language and a culture (although not always a state!)

3. There are national minorities, regional minorities, and migrants - inter-EU migrants and external migrants

Language Behavior in Late Modern SuperdiversityALI: <nej shit mand>[<] Jackpot hele verdeneng: no shit man Jackpot all over the worldESEN: Jackpot takes you there dadadadidu [synger]SELMA: hele verdeneng: all the worldEROL: are you finishALI: Jackpot hele verdeneng: Jackpot all over the worldSELMA: <no I am Danish>[>]EROL: <no I am Danish>[<] reklâmdaeng: no I am Danish in the adSELMA: heeng: yesALI: no I am FinnishESEN: <Morocco>[>]EROL: <Ingilizce>[<] helloeng: English helloSELMA: hello I would like a squashALI: hello I would like a squash # I am Danish

Maimuna 13:45

har købt the equipment, skal bare finde tid til at lave en spektakulær én kun tje dig morok, den skal være speciel med ekstra spice :P, sorry tar mig sammen denne weekend! insAllah

[have bought the equipment, just need time to make a spectacular one for you, you old geezer, it must be special with extra spice :P, sorry pull myself together this weekend! insAllah]

Ayhan 15:20

gracias muchas gracias !!jeg wenter shpæændt gardash ;-))love youuu...[thank you very much thank you!! I am waiting anxiously mate ;-)) love youuu…]

İlknur 23:37

Ohhh Maimuna, Du havde også lovet mig en skitse... Og du sagde, at det ville været efter eksamener, men ??? Still waiting like Ayhan, and a promise is a promise :D :D:D

[Ohhh Maimuna. You promised me a sketch, too…And you said that it would be after exams, but??? Still waiting like Ayhan and a promise is a promise :D :D :D]

the monolingualism normpersons with access to more than one language should be sure to master one of them before getting into contact with the other the double monolingualism normpersons who command two languages will at any given time use one and only one language, and they use each of their languages in a way that does not in principle differ from the way monolinguals use the same language

the integrated bilingualism normpersons who command two languages will employ their full linguistic competence in two different languages at any given time adjusted to the needs and the possibilities of the conversation, including the linguistic skills of the interlocutors

the poly-lingualism normlanguage users employ whatever linguistic features are at their disposal to achieve their communicative aims as best they can, regardless of how well they know the involved languages; this entails that the language users may know - and use - the fact that some of the features are perceived by some speakers as not belonging together

Language and “Languages”Languages, lects, registers, varieties, etc., at the level of use are focus concepts without

clear boundaries. There is no linguistic, i.e. language-based method to decide where “one language” begins and “another language” ends.

Languages are sociocultural constructs.

The construction is supported and maintained by National Romanticism which is very strong in Europe:

Naturalization laws”New” languages

languages do not exist as real entities in the world and neither do they emerge from or represent real environments; they are, by contrast, the inventions of social, cultural and political movements (Makoni & Pennycook 2006, 2)

If we understand, organize, and draw on those resources as belonging to whole, bounded systems we call ‘languages’, it is because that notion makes sense in the context of the ways language has been bound up in ideologies of nation and state since the nineteenth century (Heller 2007, 1)

Linguistic Features

Human beings learn and use features.

Linguistic features appear in the shape of units and rules. These features are taken to be representatives of sets of features.

Speakers refer to these ideological constructs as “languages” (“dialects”, “codes”, etc.)

Educational systems refer to the teaching of language as “teaching of languages”

ConsequencesMost of the conventions refer to collective language rights

Individual linguistic rights?

Every human being has language.All language is both individual and social.

”Every human being has the right to use language she (or he) knows (has access to, owns, commands, has learnt....)”

”Every human being has the right to be addressed in language she or he has the comprehension potential to de-code.”

”Every human being has the right to receive instruction in language that is necessary for him or her (in everyday life, in life, in social life....?)”

The young are not very well helped with a purist monolingualism norm based schooling.