The Bilingualism Controversy: Les Préludes

There has long been an air of controversy surrounding the subject of bilingualism (or multilingualism) – and as the contribution from Günther List in this book shows, debate is provoked not just by consideration of the consequences that living and acting in more than one language (may) have for the individual and society but by the term itself. The positions assumed in this controversy took on a special significance with emergence of the historical idea that a nation – and with it all its inhabitants – “normally” is monolingual. In the era of the founding and establishment of the European concept of nation the debate about the inseparability of the people’s language and the state erupted. According to this concept monolingualism of a whole country or territories in a country is one of the key characteristics of a nation. Information about the language (or languages) a person lives in therefore signifies something else: allegiance to a (their) country. “Correct” language use has also always implied solidarity with the community of all those living in a country. And the question of the role of language in functioning of the state now includes the significant aspect of the identification each person should, if not must, feel with the state.