Language ideology.

Linguistic rights.

Presented by Yurii Bilokobylskyi

Theoretical framework

Language - a system of arbitrary, productive, dynamic, having

variation, and human’s vocal symbol used by human being to carry
out their social affairs.

Language ideology - a concept used within the fields of

anthropology, sociolinguistics, and cross-cultural studies to
characterize any set of beliefs or feelings about languages as used in
their social worlds..

Linguistic rights - human and civil rights concerning the individual

and collective right to choose the language or languages for
communication in a private or public atmosphere.
Features of language ideology

❏ partially conventional semiotic systems

❏ semantic organization is based on implicature and underlying presuppositions
❏ Ideologies evolve over time within a field of social oppositions through a structured
communication network.
❏ By performing certain discourse functions (legitimation, rationalization, etc.), they
exercise their normative power and refer to reality in a partial and distorted manner.
❏ Language ideologies are metalinguistic systems.
Neutral vs critical approaches

❏ Neutral approaches to language ideology are understood as

being shaped by the cultural systems in which they are
embedded, but no attempt to identify variation within or across
these systems is made
❏ Critical approaches explore the capacity for language and
linguistic ideologies to be used as strategies for maintaining
social power and domination
Areas of inquiry

❏ Language use and structure

❏ Ethnography of speaking
❏ Language contact and multilingualism
❏ Language policy and standardization
❏ Literacy
❏ Orthography
❏ Classroom practice/second language acquisition
Implicature – Connotation (Barthes, Eléments de sémiologie , 1964)
Linguistic rights (development)

1815 - Final Act of the Congress of Vienna

1948 - Universal Declaration of Human

Rights

1945–1970s - International legislation for

protection of human rights

Early 1970s - onwards - a renewed interest in

rights of minorities.
Language rights + human rights = ?

And the answer is: linguistic human rights !!!!

Types of language rights

● Individual linguistic rights

● Collective linguistic rights
● Territoriality vs. personality principles
● Negative vs. positive rights
● Assimilation-oriented vs. maintenance-oriented
● Overt vs. covert
Thank you very much