Language Policy and Political Theory

Contemporary debates on immigration, multiculturalism, nationalism, and linguistic rights often find language policy scholars and political philosophers at odds. This book aims to assess the obstacles and build bridges between scholars of language policy and political theory with chapters by Stephen May, Ronald Schmidt, Jr., Daniel Weinstock, Thomas Ricento, Yael Peled and Peter Ives. Along with an introduction by the editors, the chapters map out the contours of the debates and potential contributions that political theory can make to language policy and vice-versa. The book offers an appraisal of current research, areas of contestation and a framework for future interdisciplinary inquiry on the complex interface between language, power and ethics. This collection will be useful for scholars from diverse disciplinary perspectives with interests in contemporary societal debates in which language plays an important—even central—role.

Previously published in Language Policy, Volume 13, Issue 4, 2014

• De-politicizing language
• Debate on immigration and language
• Language policy and political theory
• Linguistic diversity
• Minority language rights
• Monolingualism and diglossia
• Multicultural linguistic rights
• Normative language policy
• Normative political theory
• Political philosophy vs language policy
• Political theorists
• Research on language, power, and ethics

“The volume provides a highly valuable addition to existing literature for academics of both political theory and sociolinguistics, while also appealing to language policy practitioners. … provides a constructive contribution to the field of language policy, its main achievement being the great emphasis on interdisciplinarity, as well as the assertion that language policies need to not only take into account but also reflect linguistic reality … .” (Nadine Hamdan, The Linguist List, January, 2016)  

• University of Calgary Werklund School of Education, Calgary, Canada

  Thomas Ricento

• Montreal, Canada

  Yael Peled

• Political Science Dept., University of Winnipeg, Winnipeg, Canada

  Peter Ives