A groundbreaking new work that sheds light on case studies of linguistic human rights around the world, raising much-needed awareness of the struggles of many peoples and communities
The first book of its kind, the Handbook of Linguistic Human Rights presents a diverse range of theoretically grounded studies of linguistic human rights, exemplifying what linguistic justice is and how it might be achieved. Through explorations of ways in which linguistic human rights are understood in both national and international contexts, this innovative volume demonstrates how linguistic human rights are supported or violated on all continents, with a particular focus on the marginalized languages of minorities and Indigenous peoples, in industrialized countries and the Global South.
Organized into five parts, this volume first presents approaches to linguistic human rights in international and national law, political theory, sociology, economics, history, education, and critical theory. Subsequent sections address how international standards are promoted or impeded and cross-cutting issues, including translation and interpreting, endangered languages and the internet, the impact of global English, language testing, disaster situations, historical amnesia, and more. This essential reference work:
- Explores approaches to linguistic human rights in countries of great demographic diversity and conflict
- Covers cases of linguistic human rights in the Americas, China, Europe, North Africa, India, Nepal and New Zealand, including international minorities, such as the Kurds and the Roma, and the Deaf worldwide.
- Illustrates how education worldwide has often blocked off minority languages by not offering mother-tongue medium education
- Presents and assesses conventions, declarations, and recommendations that recognize the rights of Indigenous peoples and minorities.
- Includes a selection of short texts that present additional existential evidence of linguistic human rights.
Edited by two renowned leaders in the field, the Handbook of Linguistic Human Rights is an ideal resource for undergraduate and graduate students of language and law, sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, language policy, language education, indigenous studies, language rights, human rights, and globalization.
Acknowledgements ix
Abbreviations xi
Notes on Contributors xv
1 Introduction: Establishing Linguistic Human Rights 1
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson
Part I Approaches to Linguistic Human Rights 23
2 Linguistic Human Rights in International Law 25
Robert Dunbar
3 Sociolinguistic and Political Theory Perspectives on Language Rights 39
Stephen May
4 Linguistic and Epistemic Erasure in Africa: Coloniality, Linguistic Human
Rights and Decoloniality 55
Kathleen Heugh
5 Struggling to Access Health Information in the Midst of a Pandemic:
Linguistic Human Rights in Indonesia 71
Hywel Coleman and David Fero
6 Economic and Policy Issues in the Promotion of Linguistic Human Rights 95
Franēois Grin
7 Preventing the Implementation of Linguistic Human Rights in Education 109
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
8 Debating Linguistic Human Rights in Militarised Myanmar: Political
Agitation and Policy Deliberation 127
Joseph Lo Bianco
9 Language Policy Implications of Global English for Linguistic Human
Rights 143
Robert Phillipson
10 From Neoliberal to Decolonial Language Rights and Reparative Linguistic
Justice 159
Ahmed Kabel
Part II International Standards for Linguistic Human Rights 175
11 Some Shortcomings of Linguistic Rights 177
Gudmundur Alfredsson
12 Linguistic Human Rights Challenges in the Work of the UN Special
Rapporteur on Minority Issues 183
Fernand de Varennes
13 Time, Politics, and Linguistic Human Rights: Bringing Words to our Songs
195
Elsa Stamatopoulou
14 Linguistic Human Rights Challenges in the Work of the UN Permanent Forum
on Indigenous Issues 211
Ole Henrik Magga
15 Linguistic Human Rights in Relation to the Administration of Justice: A
European Perspective 227
Kristin Henrard
16 Using the UN Human Rights Treaty System to Defend LHRs 235
Andrea Bear Nicholas, Lorena Fontaine, Amos Key, Jr and Karihwakéron Tim
Thompson
17 The Bangkok Statement on Language and Inclusion: A Rose by Any Other
Name? 251
Kirk R. Person
18 Linguistic Human Rights in the Work of the World Federation of the Deaf
267
Victoria Manning, Joseph J. Murray and Alexandre Bloxs
Part III Case Studies: Linguistic Human Rights Violated 281
19 Resistance to the Violations of Linguistic Human Rights in Nunavut,
Canada 283
Aluki Kotierk
20 Linguicide and Historicide 295
Andrea Bear Nicholas
21 Linguistic Human Rights for Indigenous Peoples in the USA 303
Jon Reyhner
22 Linguistic Human Rights of Minorities in China 319
Minglang Zhou
23 Linguistic Human Rights in Tibet: Advocacy and Denial 327
Gerald Roche
24 Linguistic, Cultural, and Ethnic Genocide of the Uyghurs in Xinjiang,
China 341
Abduweli Ayup, Shungqar Tékin and Erkin Sidick
25 Linguistic Human Rights in Kurdistan 357
Jaffer Sheyholislami
26 The Linguistic Human Rights Plight of Hungarians in Ukraine 373
Istvįn Csernicskó and Miklós Kontra
27 A Tale of Two Springs and an Impending Winter: Linguistic Human Rights
and the Politics of Dignity in North Africa 383
Ahmed Kabel
28 English Linguistic Imperialism and Mother Tongue Medium Education in
Ethiopia 393
Yirga G. Woldeyes
29 Judicial Interpretations of the Law to Safeguard Linguistic Minorities in
India 405
E. Annamalai
30 Linguistic Human Rights and Higher Education: Reflections from India 413
Shivani Nag
31 Language Matters for Development, Peace, and Reconciliation: The Case for
Change in Haiti 427
Dominique Dupuy
32 Romani Emancipation and Linguistic Human Rights 431
Dieter W. Halwachs
Part IV Case Studies: Implementing Linguistic Human Rights 443
33 Finnish and Swedish as National Languages of Finland: A Linguistic Human
Rights Success Story Why and How? 445
Markku Suksi
34 When Implementation of Linguistic Human Rights Does Not Match Legislation
The Case of Sweden 453
Jarmo Lainio
35 Court Challenges and Linguistic Human Rights: The Canadian Case 469
Pierre Foucher
36 Linguistic Human Rights of Indigenous Sįmi in the Finnish Education
System 477
Ulla Aikio-Puoskari / Gįppe Piera Jovnna Ulla
37 A Time of Promise in Latin America: Linguistic Human Rights from within
Language Communities 493
Gabriela Pérez Bįez and Yįsnaya Elena Aguilar Gil
38 Pueblo Revitalisation in Education in Southwest USA 507
Christine Sims
39 Language Endangerment and Linguistic Human Rights of a Cross-Border
Minority: Karelian in Russia and Finland 517
Anneli Sarhimaa
40 Linguistic Human Rights in Russia 533
Janne Saarikivi
41 Challenges in the Acknowledgement and Implementation of Linguistic Human
Rights in Nepal 551
Lava Deo Awasthi, Mark Turin, and Yogendra Prasad Yadava
42 Linguistic Human Rights in Education in India: Odishas Partial Success
Story 561
Ajit Mohanty
43 Language Rights as Human Rights in Aotearoa New Zealand 577
Richard Benton
44 The History of Linguistic Human Rights at Gallaudet University 587
Tawny Holmes Hlibok and Laurene E. Simms
Part V Cross-cutting Issues in Linguistic Human Rights 595
45 The Role of Interpreting and Translation in Promoting Linguistic Human
Rights 597
Gabriel Gonzįlez Nśńez
46 Language Testing/Assessment and Linguistic Human Rights 605
Elana Shohamy
47 Promoting Linguistic Human Rights Through Language Documentation 613
M. Paul Lewis
48 Linguistic Human Rights, Living Tongues Institute for Endangered
Languages, and the Rise of the Multilingual Internet 623
Gregory D.S. Anderson and Anna L. Daigneault
49 Disaster Linguicism as Deprivation of the Victims Linguistic Human
Rights 639
Shinya Uekusa and Steve Matthewman
50 Linguistic Human Rights and the Imperative to Remember in the Philippines
649
Ruanni Tupas
51 Existential Evidence: A Compilation 657
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson
52 Afterword: Pursuing Linguistic Human Rights 679
Robert Phillipson and Tove Skutnabb-Kangas
Index 689
Tove Skutnabb-Kangas (1940-2023) was Adjunct Professor Emerita at Åbo Akademi University, Finland. Her research focused on linguistic human rights, linguistic genocide, mother-tongue-based multilingual education, the subtractive spread of English, revitalization of Indigenous languages, and the relationship between biodiversity and linguistic and cultural diversity. She was the (co-)author or editor of some 50 books and over 400 scientific articles. She was awarded the UNESCO Linguapax Prize in 2003.
Robert Phillipson is Professor Emeritus at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. His research focuses on the role of English worldwide, language policy, linguistic justice, language pedagogy, and multilingualism. He co-edited the four-volume Language Rights with Tove Skutnabb-Kangas. His most influential books are Linguistic Imperialism, Linguistic Imperialism Continued, and English-only Europe? Challenging Language Policy. He was awarded the UNESCO Linguapax Prize in 2010.
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