LINGUIST List 13.2385

Fri Sep 20 2002

Diss: Anthropological Ling: M��tt� "Language..."

Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>

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1. asunto, Anthropological Ling: M��tt� "Language Ideologies..."

New Dissertation Abstract

Institution: University of California at Berkeley
Program: Department of French
Dissertation Status: In Progress
Degree Date: 2003
Author: Simo M��tt� 

Dissertation Title: 
Language Ideologies in Language Laws: the Protection of Regional or
Minority Languages in European Union (EU), French and Spanish Legal
Text

Linguistic Field: 
Discourse Analysis, Applied Linguistics, Anthropological Linguistics

Dissertation Director 1: Richard Kern
Dissertation Director 2: Robin Lakoff
Dissertation Director 3: Joseph Duggan


Dissertation Abstract: 
My dissertation is based on the assumption that language is
objectified as soon as it becomes the topic of discourse, and on a
theory in which discourse is seen as the practice or agency that
reflects and naturalizes ideologies. Certain laws that I analyze are
directly concerned with minority languages, others address them
indirectly: they concern majority languages and exclude other
languages from their jurisdiction. Some laws address issues such as
human rights or culture, and serve as a basis for derived legislation
on language issues. The consequences of the notions of language in
these laws to the protection of minority languages represent the
instrumental dimension of language ideologies and will be examined as
part of language planning, in particular insofar as language planning
is always related to the construction and reinforcement of the
nation-state. Thus, these consequences can manifest themselves either
through the illocutionary or the perlocutionary effect.

The first chapter starts with a theoretical introduction. While I
follow Gal's and Woolard's (1995) definition of language ideologies as
'cultural conception of the nature, form and purpose of language', I
provide an extensive theoretical overview due to the fact that there
is no generally accepted theory guiding the study of ideologies. My
objective is to find theories that emphasize the way in which language
does things.

The second chapter discusses the foundations of the EU's external
language policies, which are part of provisions concerning culture,
education and human rights in the founding texts of EC law. In
addition, I discuss briefly the EU's internal language rule and its
implications to secondary law establishing external language policies,
in particular regarding regional or minority languages. The analysis
of these laws shows that the EU's primary law does not provide any
solid basis for an extensive protection of regional or minority
languages. At the same time, less-widely used languages are evoked as
part of the cultural mosaic that forms a European identity. This
identity is promoted as part of efforts to remedy the symbolic deficit
of the EU.

The third chapter provides an analysis of the EU's policies toward
regional or minority languages through EC secondary law, relating them
to language revitalization and linguistic human rights. The analysis
of the EU's external language policies appears to be in contradiction
with the strictest ecolinguistically oriented tendencies of language
revitalization. EU action to promote regional or minority languages
appears to favor activities generally associated with the last steps
of language revitalization and cannot take into account the different
situations faced by minority languages in Europe. On the other hand,
while the restrictions of the EU's jurisdiction in these matters are
derived from the priorities set by the founding treaties, secondary
law continues the legitimization of official languages and enforces it
further.

Both the fourth and the fifth chapters investigate the role of
language in the construction of the nation and the impact on minority
languages of legislation that reinforces the nation-state. The aim is
to compare how the discursive construction of nation is different in a
state with official, territorially defined multilingualism (Spain),
and a nation that is officially monolingual (France). The fourth
chapter focuses on language ideologies in French law and the legal
protection of France's minority languages both by French national
jurisdiction and EC law, as well as the European Charter for Regional
and Minority Languages, a convention elaborated within the Council of
Europe. The fifth chapter consists of an analysis of laws relating to
regional or minority languages in Spain, with a particular attention
to the interplay between regional, national and international
jurisdiction.