Langues de France et Charte européenne des langues régionales ou minoritaires: inventaire critique des arguments anti-ratification

in Sociolinguistic Studies (2017), 11(1), 131-152

The deliberations in France surrounding the potential ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (January 2014 - October 2015) resulted in a national debate unheard of since ... [more ▼]

The deliberations in France surrounding the potential ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (January 2014 - October 2015) resulted in a national debate unheard of since 1999, providing new insight into resistance towards promoting these languages in the public space. Despite a recent survey claiming that ‘the ideological barriers on this issue have now almost disappeared’, the virulent arguments opposing ratification finally triumphed in the Senate. Basing ourselves on comments published in the media by a range of opponents to ratification of the Charter, we review here the various ideological strategies used to preserve the linguistic status quo in France and to maintain the supremacy of French. [less ▲]

Friend or foe? The discourse of the rise of English in Luxembourg

Article for general public (2017)

‘Gëtt hei geschwë méi Englesch wéi Franséich geschriwwen?’ (‘Will English soon be written here more than French?’) was the question asked by an article on Radio 100,7’s website last April. The article was ... [more ▼]

‘Gëtt hei geschwë méi Englesch wéi Franséich geschriwwen?’ (‘Will English soon be written here more than French?’) was the question asked by an article on Radio 100,7’s website last April. The article was about a conference on languages in literature in Luxembourg, and noted that English was taking on ‘ever greater importance’ in this field. True or not, this illustrates a trend that I call the discourse of the rise of English in Luxembourg. This discourse assumes a zero-sum game where one language can only prosper at the expense of another, and where English is given a privileged status alongside Luxembourg’s official languages: Luxembourgish, French and German. Like all such discourses, it represents a social construction rather than a ‘truth’ about language, and its promoters are seeking to advance certain social interests. From a discursive point of view, it is less important to determine whether the use of English is indeed rising in Luxembourg than it is to explore what people are trying to achieve with this discourse, that is, what interests they are seeking to advance by claiming that English is on the rise. There is no research to date that specifically focuses on discourses about English in Luxembourg, but such discourses do appear in research on sociolinguistic issues more generally in the country. This is the case with my own research and teaching at the University of Luxembourg, in areas including the language ideologies of cross-border workers, young people’s use of English, and language use on social media. My aim here is to consider how the discourse of the rise of English is constructed in these domains, how people respond to it, and what the potential social effects are. [less ▲]

Multilingual advertising and regionalization in Luxembourg

in Wille, Christian; Reckinger, Rachel; Kmec, Sonja (Eds.) et al Spaces and Identities in Border Regions. Politics - Media - Subjects (2016)

The hierarchy of minority languages in New Zealand

in Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development (2015)

This article makes a case for the existence of a minority language hierarchy in New Zealand. Based on an analysis of language ideologies expressed in recent policy documents and interviews with ... [more ▼]

This article makes a case for the existence of a minority language hierarchy in New Zealand. Based on an analysis of language ideologies expressed in recent policy documents and interviews with policymakers and representatives of minority language communities, it presents the arguments forwarded in support of the promotion of different types of minority languages in New Zealand, as well as the reactions of representatives of other minority language communities to these arguments. The research suggests that the arguments in favour of minority language promotion are most widely accepted for the Māori language, followed by New Zealand Sign Language, then Pacific languages, and finally community languages. While representatives of groups at the lower levels of the hierarchy often accept arguments advanced in relation to languages nearer the top, this is not the case in the other direction. Recognition of connections between the language communities is scarce, with the group representatives tending to present themselves as operating in isolation from one another, rather than working towards common interests. [less ▲]

Free Your Stuff Luxembourg! Language policies, practices and ideologies in a multilingual Facebook group

in Language Policy (2015), 14(4), 357-375

This article considers the dynamic relationship between language policies, practices and ideologies in a multilingual Facebook group in Luxembourg. The group under focus, ‘Free Your Stuff Luxembourg’, was ... [more ▼]

This article considers the dynamic relationship between language policies, practices and ideologies in a multilingual Facebook group in Luxembourg. The group under focus, ‘Free Your Stuff Luxembourg’, was created to facilitate the costfree exchange of consumer goods between members located in Luxembourg. The article traces the development of a language policy for a group that facilitates communication between people of diverse nationalities in an officially trilingual country, where French, German and Luxembourgish operate as administrative languages and English plays an increasingly important role. Part one analyses the development of the group’s official language policy by group administrators, showing progression from an implicitly English language policy to an explicitly multilingual policy, incorporating a strong place for Luxembourgish. Part two considers how the language practices of group members relate to this official language policy, using a quantitative analysis of the language(s) of group posts across three periods from February 2011 to April 2012. This analysis shows a shift from predominantly English language practices to a balance between English and Luxembourgish, and finally a dominance of Luxembourgish. Part three investigates a further influence on language policy development, the language ideologies of group administrators and members, as expressed in language ideological debates within the group. The results provide several insights in relation to language policies in the new media, addressing the role of new agents of language policy (group administrators) in regulating language use in this context, the processes by which individuals police each other’s language use online, and the extent to which language practices in online environments can be managed, if at all, through language policy activity. [less ▲]

Language profiles and practices of cross-border workers in Luxembourg

E-print/Working paper (2015)

This paper summarises the findings of a questionnaire study investigating the language pro-files and practices of cross-border workers in Luxembourg. The study was undertaken in 2009 and includes 128 ... [more ▼]

This paper summarises the findings of a questionnaire study investigating the language pro-files and practices of cross-border workers in Luxembourg. The study was undertaken in 2009 and includes 128 cross-border workers from 35 workplaces from different sectors, including the health sector, higher education and research, the manufacturing industry and the service sector. The study suggests that all the participants have a multilingual profile and have learnt at least one language in addition to their first one in the course of their life. A second result is that French is used in all the workplaces under investigation. But, at the same time, the major-ity of the cross-border worker participants have a multilingual professional life, most of them using more than one language at work on an everyday basis. This multilingualism comes in the form of a wide range of multilingual practices, including language accommodation, use of a lingua franca, code-switching and receptive multilingualism. Furthermore, two thirds of the participants report having learnt Luxembourgish either formally or informally, and half of those who have not learnt it, would like to do so in the future. [less ▲]

Intercultural work environments in Luxembourg. Multilingualism and cultural diversity among cross-border workers at the workplace

E-print/Working paper (2015)

The trilingual country of Luxembourg accounts for the highest percentage of cross-border workers in the European Union. These workers commute daily from France, Belgium and Germany to Luxembourg. Their ... [more ▼]

The trilingual country of Luxembourg accounts for the highest percentage of cross-border workers in the European Union. These workers commute daily from France, Belgium and Germany to Luxembourg. Their presence in the national labour market results in increasing linguistic and cultural diversity at Luxembourgish workplaces. Drawing upon interview and interactional data, the present contribution is the first to investigate how cross-border workers in Luxembourg perceive and deal with multilingualism and interculturality, and presents a range of related linguistic and intercultural practices. [less ▲]

Mehrsprachige Werbung und Regionalisierung in Luxemburg

in Wille, Christian; Reckinger, Rachel; Kmec, Sonja (Eds.) et al Räume und Identitäten in Grenzregionen. Politiken – Medien – Subjekt (2014)

Competing language ideologies about societal multilingualism among cross-border workers in Luxembourg

in International Journal of the Sociology of Language (2014), 227

Due to the weakening of state borders within the European Union and the favorable economic situation of Luxembourg, there has been a steep rise in migration across Luxembourg’s borders. Of special ... [more ▼]

Due to the weakening of state borders within the European Union and the favorable economic situation of Luxembourg, there has been a steep rise in migration across Luxembourg’s borders. Of special prominence are cross-border workers, who live in the surrounding border regions of France, Belgium and Germany and now make up 44 percent of the workforce. This increasing presence of ‘foreigners’ is prompting substantial change to Luxembourg’s traditionally triglossic language situation, where Luxembourgish, French and German have coexisted in public use. In this situation, competing language ideologies are likely to emerge, reflecting the interests of different groups. Horner and Weber (2008) discuss the presence of two opposing language ideologies among the autochthonous population: the trilingual language ideology (trilingualism as the ‘language’ of Luxembourg); and the nationalist language ideology (Luxembourgish as the only true language of Luxembourg), which latter they claim has increased in reaction to the rise in cross-border workers. Little research has been done on the language ideologies of cross-border workers themselves, however. Encountering Luxembourg’s multilingualism, cross-border workers may adopt one of the ideologies above, or one of two further competing ideologies: that of societal multilingualism as a problem or as an opportunity. Through analysis of metalinguistic discourse in interviews with thirty cross-border workers in Luxembourg, this article examines how participants approach societal multilingualism in Luxembourg and how cross-border workers might contribute to competing perspectives on the place of languages in Luxembourg. [less ▲]

‘I learnt English – the wrong thing, eh’ – power, interests and language practices among cross-border workers in Luxembourg

in Koff, Harlan; Schulz, Christian; Gilles, Peter (Eds.) Theorising Power through Analyses of Border Relationships (2013)