BIROn - Birkbeck Institutional Research Online

    Bottom-up perspectives on multilingual ideologies in the EU: the case of a transnational NGO

    Zappettini, Franco and Comanaru, R. (2014) Bottom-up perspectives on multilingual ideologies in the EU: the case of a transnational NGO. Journal of Contemporary European Research 10 (4), pp. 402-422. ISSN 1815-347X.

    [img]
    Preview
    Text (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
    11536.pdf - Published Version of Record

    Download (749kB) | Preview

    Abstract

    This paper investigates the discursive construction of multilingualism in citizens’ discourses, aiming to fill a gap in the literature of European studies that has scarcely been concerned with language ideologies from bottom-up perspectives. In particular, we focus on the discourses of a transnational NGO to analyse how its members position themselves in relation to linguistic issues and to what extent (if so) they reproduce the EU’s multilingual ideology. Deriving data from focus groups and semi-structured interviews, we contextualise our analysis against the backdrop of an increasingly ‘glocalised’ European site of struggle between global communication and linguistic justice. Using critical discourse analysis we aim to show how discourses of multilingualism are being negotiated at the grass-roots level. Our findings suggest that whilst citizens’ discourses validate an ideal promotion and preservation of linguistic diversity in the EU, they also endorse a diglossic scenario with language performing separate identity and communicative functions. We thus argue for an understanding of European multilingualism that takes into account the transnational dynamics of the European sphere.

    Metadata

    Item Type: Article
    Keyword(s) / Subject(s): Multilingualism, language ideologies, language policies, active citizenship, critical discourse analysis
    School: Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Creative Arts, Culture and Communication
    Depositing User: Franco Zappettini
    Date Deposited: 09 Feb 2015 10:45
    Last Modified: 09 Aug 2023 12:36
    URI: https://eprints.bbk.ac.uk/id/eprint/11536

    Statistics

    Activity Overview
    6 month trend
    200Downloads
    6 month trend
    172Hits

    Additional statistics are available via IRStats2.

    Archive Staff Only (login required)

    Edit/View Item Edit/View Item