Speaking Freely: Linguistic Domination, Republicanism and Federalism

Project Information

Speaking Freely

Grant agreement ID: 892537

DOI

10.3030/892537

Project closed

EC signature date 14 April 2020

Start date 1 September 2021

End date 31 August 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions

Total cost

€ 196 590,72

EU contribution

€ 196 590,72

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITY OF LIMERICK
Ireland

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - Speaking Freely (Speaking Freely: Linguistic Domination, Republicanism and Federalism)

Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2023-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

‘Speaking Freely: Linguistic Domination, Republicanism and Federalism’ developed a new approach to the burgeoning academic field of linguistic justice, which concerns the fair and ethnical management of linguistic diversity in plural societies. Until now, scholars working on it have focused on questions like: Which principles should guide political institutions facing linguistic diversity? Should we treat all languages equally or prioritize some of them? What language rights should people have? This project broke new ground by directing attention to the issue of authority, centering the question of who is entitled to make decisions about the use, regulation and official status of different languages.

The project was premised on the idea that a complete theory of linguistic justice ought to be able to explain both how institutions should regulate language policies and who should have the authority to decide about linguistic matters. As well as providing the first sustained theoretical account of the second issue, the project was distinctive in addressing linguistic justice from a republican perspective, as opposed to the liberal approaches that predominate in the literature.

Republicanism foregrounds one central moral wrong: domination. That is, the wrong of individuals or groups being under the arbitrary will or control of another (and hence, for republicans, being unfree). Linguistic domination is a specific kind of domination that comes in two forms: either interpersonal (where individuals and groups dominate one another) or at the state level (where state institutions dominate individuals and groups). This project focused on the latter, extending the Fellow's prior research that addressed the former. State level linguistic domination is especially important in countries where historically rooted language groups of different sizes and origins must coexist. In these societies, language is often an important marker of individual and collective identity, leading to conflicts both about language policies themselves as well as about who should be entitled to have a say: that is, who has a legitimate claim to linguistic authority.

The main conclusions of ‘Speaking Freely’ were that the leading liberal theories of linguistic justice cannot adequately address the problem of linguistic domination, that a ‘multinational’ strand of federal political theory can better do so, and that some of the most severe forms of linguistic domination can by equipping minorities with veto powers over certain language policies.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The action was arranged in six work packages. WP1-3 were the main scientific components of the project, WP4-6 concerned project management, training and knowledge transfer, and outreach and dissemination.

WP1 examined the potential of current (liberal) theories of linguistic justice to address linguistic domination, finding that existing theories fall short because they do not consider the authority question. This work yielded five scientific presentations and one journal article, with another two articles currently under review with leading journals. WP2 explored the potential of normative theories of federalism to address the problem of linguistic domination. Its main scientific finding was that a particular strand of federalism, known as multinational federalism, is best positioned to address linguistic domination by states over linguistic minorities. This work yielded one scientific presentation and one draft chapter, intended for publication in an edited collection arising out of the project. WP3 involved a short research visit to the University of Augsburg, during which the candidate developed a novel ‘self-government’ principle and demonstrated how it could be used to protect linguistic minorities and support multilingualism. This work yielded one scientific presentation with a further two articles shortly to be submitted for consideration at leading journals.

Another goal of this project was to foster the development of the Fellow. For WP4 a Career Development Plan was produced and discussed at regular intervals with the Fellow’s PI and a specially appointed supervisory committee. For WP5 the Fellow completed numerous research training sessions, successfully obtained a Graduate Certificate in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship in Higher Education, gained additional experience in teaching and research supervision, successfully applied for an additional research grant, co-edited a textbook, became part of the editorial board of a prestigious journal, acted as a peer-reviewer, gained valuable networking experience and delivered numerous scientific presentations. For WP6 the Fellow published one peer-reviewed journal article, has two further articles currently under review, with another two close to submission. Additionally, he has delivered ten scientific presentations at national and international academic conferences, workshops, and seminars, co-organized a panel at a major conference in another academic discipline (applied linguistics) and organized a major international conference at Limerick, for which an edited collection proposal is currently under consideration with a leading university press. Moreover, the Fellow has engaged in outreach activities beyond the academy, publishing six op-eds in newspapers or blogs as well as another three directed at policymakers, and given a talk for the general public in Limerick and another for policymakers in Spain.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The novelty of this project consists in the development and theoretical elaboration of original philosophical ideas and concepts, in particular linguistic domination and the self-government principle. The project has also moved the field forward by introducing the considerations of power and authority more directly into debates about linguistic justice. The impact of this development is evidenced by the interest shown by leading scholars in contributing to the ‘Authority, Power & Language’ Conference organized as part of this project.

More specifically, WP1 contributed to the state of the art by proposing novel arguments about the importance of power and authority for linguistic justice, by developing an original theory of linguistic domination, and by drawing research from political philosophy into dialogue with relevant work by sociolinguistics. WP2 advanced the state of the art both by incorporating theories of federalism into the field of linguistic justice and by establishing the authority question as a pressing issue in linguistic justice scholarship. WP3 contributed to the state of the art by developing a practical proposal about how inspiration can be drawn from the political theory of federalism to address the problem of linguistic domination.

In terms of scientific results, it is expected that this project will eventually yield five journal articles, one book chapter and an edited collection. Additionally, this fellowship already had a significant and positive impact on the Fellow’s career development, since he has been offered a tenure-track post at the University of Valencia in Spain. Finally, the work carried out also contributes towards European policy objectives by contributing to our understanding of multilingualism and especially majority-minority relations. In particular, it advanced two goals of the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: a world without cultural and linguistic discrimination (Goal 16) and reducing inequalities (Goal 10).

Sergi Morales-Gálvez presenting his research at the Authority, Power & Language Conference, Oct 22