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Publication
Super-Diversity And Democracy.
Book Contribution - Chapter
Subtitle:A Few Thoughts On Philippe Van Parijs
This chapter seeks to assess Philippe Van Parijs’s ideas of English
as a lingua franca against the arguments of his opponents. Among
other things, Philippe Van Parijs is known for his arguments
favouring the adoption of English as a language that should be
learned by as many people around the world as possible. This
would facilitate understanding between population groups with
different languages and thus benefit democracy. Voices opposing
this are Pascale Casanova, Anna Wierzbicka, and Yukio Tsuda.
Casanova (2015) acknowledges that the advance of English is
unstoppable, but points out that any adoption of a lingua franca,
a mother tongue for part of the world’s population, puts all the
others, whose mother tongue it is not, in a disadvantaged position.
They will eventually be ‘dominated’. Anna Wierzbicka (2014)
suggests that in the adoption of English by researchers, there is
a danger that everything will be seen through the conceptual
glasses of English, hiding the peculiarities of specific problems.
Finally, Yukio Tsuda agrees with Robert Phillipson (1992) when
he claims that the dominance of English amounts to a kind of
‘linguicism’, in which all those who have English as their mother
tongue will be privileged to such an extent that they will form a
separate global ruling class.
as a lingua franca against the arguments of his opponents. Among
other things, Philippe Van Parijs is known for his arguments
favouring the adoption of English as a language that should be
learned by as many people around the world as possible. This
would facilitate understanding between population groups with
different languages and thus benefit democracy. Voices opposing
this are Pascale Casanova, Anna Wierzbicka, and Yukio Tsuda.
Casanova (2015) acknowledges that the advance of English is
unstoppable, but points out that any adoption of a lingua franca,
a mother tongue for part of the world’s population, puts all the
others, whose mother tongue it is not, in a disadvantaged position.
They will eventually be ‘dominated’. Anna Wierzbicka (2014)
suggests that in the adoption of English by researchers, there is
a danger that everything will be seen through the conceptual
glasses of English, hiding the peculiarities of specific problems.
Finally, Yukio Tsuda agrees with Robert Phillipson (1992) when
he claims that the dominance of English amounts to a kind of
‘linguicism’, in which all those who have English as their mother
tongue will be privileged to such an extent that they will form a
separate global ruling class.
Book: Super-diversity and Citizenship in the 21st Century: Theories and Practices
Pages: 17-33
Number of pages: 16
ISBN:978-625-7401-48-7
Keywords:Lingua franca