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Article published In: Revisiting Linguistic Territoriality in Contemporary Europe
Edited by Till Burckhardt, John Coakley and László Marácz
[Language Problems and Language Planning 45:2] 2021
► pp. 121–141

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Linguistic territoriality under stress

European perspectives

ORCiD logo with link | Université de Genève
ORCiD logo with link | Queen’s University Belfast | University College Dublin
ORCiD logo with link | University of Amsterdam
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with University of Amsterdam.

Published online: 24 November 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00074.bur
Abstract
This article revisits a well-known dichotomy (the ‘territorial’ and ‘personal’ principles) and develops a four-element classification of state approaches (from the most generous to the most menacing, from the perspective of speakers of minority languages). The article examines the implications for language policy of geographically dispersed or spatially concentrated patterns of distribution of speakers of particular languages. We begin by exploring the general literature on language policy, focusing in particular on the territorial and personal principles, the use of ‘threshold rules’ at municipal and other subnational levels, and the hybrid language regimes that are often a consequence of sociolinguistic complexity. We consider the extent to which responses to linguistic diversity across Europe may be understood by reference to these principles and categories. We explain why we have selected particular case studies (the Baltic republics, Transylvania, Switzerland, Belgium and Ireland) for further exploration. We conclude that, notwithstanding the value of the typologies we consider, real-life cases are almost invariably more complex, with states implementing policies that defy categorisation, that may change over time, and that may treat different language minorities by reference to different principles.
Résumé
Cet article revisite une dichotomie bien connue entre le principe de territorialité et le principe de personnalité. Il propose de classer les approches appliquées par les États en quatre catégories allant, du point de vue des usagers des langues minoritaires, des plus généreuses aux plus restrictives. Cet article étudie les conséquences, pour les politiques linguistiques, de la dispersion ou de la concentration géographique des locuteurs de certaines langues. Nous commençons par un examen de la littérature générale en politique linguistique, en mettant l’accent sur les principes de territorialité et de personnalité, sur l’usage de seuils démolinguistiques au niveau municipal ou régional, et sur les régimes linguistiques hybrides qui résultent souvent de la complexité d’une situation sociolinguistique. Nous évaluons la mesure dans laquelle les réponses apportées, dans divers contextes européens, à la diversité des langues peuvent être interprétées en référence à ces principes et catégories. Nous expliquons notre choix d’études de cas (les États baltes, la Transylvanie, la Suisse, la Belgique et l’Irlande) pour un examen plus approfondi. Notre conclusion est que par-delà de l’utilité des typologies envisagées, les situations réelles sont presque toujours plus complexes, amenant les États à adopter des politiques qui défient la catégorisation, qui peuvent changer au cours du temps et qui peuvent se référer à des principes différents pour le traitement de minorités linguistiques différentes.
Resumo
La artikolo reiras al bone konata disduo (la principoj ‘teritoria’ kaj ‘persona’) kaj ellaboras kvarelementan klasifikon de aliroj fare de ŝtatoj (ekde la plej malavara ĝis la plej minaca, laŭ perspektivo de parolantoj de minoritataj lingvoj). La artikolo ekzamenas la lingvopolitikajn implicojn de geografie dismetitaj resp. space koncentritaj distribuformacioj de parolantoj de difinitaj lingvoj. Komence ni esploras la ĝeneralan literaturon de lingvopolitiko, kun aparta fokuso je la teritoria kaj persona principoj, la uzo de ‘sojlaj reguloj’ ĉe municipaj kaj aliaj subnaciaj niveloj, kaj la hibridaj lingvaj reĝimoj kiuj ofte rezultas el socilingvistika komplekseco. Ni konsideras la nivelon ĝis kiu respondoj al lingva diverseco tra Eŭropo estu komprenataj pere de tiuj principoj kaj kategorioj. Ni klarigas kial ni selektis apartajn kazostudojn (pri la baltaj respublikoj, Transilvanio, Svislando, Belgio kaj Irlando) por plua esplorado. Ni konkludas, ke, malgraŭ la valoro de la tipologioj kiujn ni konsideras, realaj kazoj estas, preskaŭ ĉiam, pli komplikaj: ŝtatoj realigas politikojn kiuj defias kategoriigon, kiuj emas ŝanĝiĝi laŭ la tempopaso, kaj kiuj eventuale traktas lingvajn minoritatojn surbaze de malsamaj principoj.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.The debate
  • 3.The options
  • 4.The case studies
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
References (68)
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Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Shorten, Andrew
2025. Linguistic Justice. In Encyclopedia of Diversity, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Coakley, John
2021. Geographical retreat and symbolic advance?. Language Problems and Language Planning 45:2 ► pp. 239 ff. DOI logo
Schutter, Helder De
2021. Personality and territoriality in theory and in Belgium. Language Problems and Language Planning 45:2 ► pp. 218 ff. DOI logo

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