Article published In:
Thematising Multilingualism in the MediaEdited by Helen Kelly-Holmes and Tommaso M. Milani
[Journal of Language and Politics 10:4] 2011
► pp. 491–510
Edited by Helen Kelly-Holmes and Tommaso M. Milani
[Journal of Language and Politics 10:4] 2011
► pp. 491–510
Media representations of multilingual Luxembourg
Constructing language as a resource, problem, right and duty
Following Ruiz’s discussion of orientations in language planning, distinguishing between language as right, resource and problem, this paper unpacks the ways in which related discourses are circulated in the Luxembourgish print media. Particular attention is paid to how these discourses are interwoven with debates on education and citizenship and how they draw on deeply entrenched language ideological beliefs about language and society, e.g. that “valuable” forms of individual multilingualism are a desirable goal, whereas linguistic heterogeneity constitutes a problem. Moreover, the analysis shows that the texts thematizing multilingualism are bound up with a discourse of rights and duties, and that right and duty, as well as problem and resource, need to be conceptualized as two intersecting continua informing language ideological debates.
References (33)
Anderson, Benedict. [1983. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.
Berg, Guy. 1993. ‘Mir wëlle bleiwe, wat mir sin’: Soziolinguistische und sprachtypologische Betrachtungen zur luxemburgischen Mehrsprachigkeit. Tübingen: Niemeyer. 
Blommaert, Jan. 1999. The debate is closed. In: Jan Blommaert (ed.). Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 425–438.
. 2005. Discourse: A Critical Introduction. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Blommaert, Jan and Verschueren, Jef. 1998. Debating Diversity: Analysing the Discourse of Tolerance. London: Routledge.
Canagarajah, Suresh. 2005. Accommodating tensions in language-in-education policies: An afterword. In: A.M.Y. Lin and Peter Martin (eds). Decolonisation, Globalisation: Language-inEducation Policy and Practice. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters, 194–201.
Davis, Kathryn Anne. 1994. Language Planning in Multilingual Contexts: Policies, Communities, and Schools in Luxembourg. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.
Deumert, Ana. 2003. Standard languages as civic rituals — theory and examples. Sociolinguistica 171, 31–51.
DiGiacomo, Susan M.. 1999. Language ideological debates in an Olympic City. In: Jan Blommaert (ed.). Language Ideological Debates. Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 105–142.
Fehlen, Fernand. 2009. BaleineBis: Une enquête sur un marché linguistique multilingue en profonde mutation. Luxembourg: Sesopi Centre Intercommunautaire (No. 12).
Gal, Susan. 2010. Linguistic regimes and European diversity, plenary lecture presented at New Challenges for Multilingualism in Europe (Dubrovnik, Croatia).
Heller, Monica and Duchêne, Alexandre. 2007. Discourses of endangerment: Sociolinguistics, globalization and social order. In: Alexandre Duchêne and Monica Heller (eds). Discourses of Endangerment: Ideology and Interest in the Defence of Languages. London: Continuum, 1–13.
Hoffmann, Fernand. 1987. Lëtzebuergesch: Mundart und Nationalsprache: Sprachenpolitische und sprachensoziologische Überlegungen zumluxemburgischen Triglossie-Problem und zum Sprachgesetz vo. 1984. In: W. Brücher and P.R. Franke (eds). Probleme von Grenz-regionen: Das Beispiel SAAR-LOR-LUX-Raum. Saarbrücken: Saarbrücker Druckerei und Verlag, 49–65.
Horner, Kristine. 2005. Reimagining the nation: Discourses of language purism in Luxembourg. In: Nils Langer and Winifred V. Davies (eds). Linguistic Purism in the Germanic Languages. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 166–185.
. 2007. Global challenges to nationalist ideologies: Language and education in the Luxembourg press. In: Sally Johnson and Astrid Ensslin (eds). Language in the Media: Representations, Identities, Ideologies. London: Continuum, 130–146.
. 2009. Language, citizenship and Europeanization: Unpacking the discourse of integration. In: Gabrielle Hogan-Brun, Clare Mar-Molinero and Patrick Stevenson (eds). Testing Regimes: Critical Perspectives on Language, Migration and Citizenship. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, 109–128.
Horner, Kristine and Weber, Jean-Jacques. 2008. The language situation in Luxembourg. Current Issues in Language Planning 9(1), 69–128.
. 2010. Small languages, education and citizenship: The paradoxical case of Luxembourgish. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2051, 179–192.
Irvine, Judith T. and Gal, Susan. 2000. Language ideology and linguistic differentiation. In: Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.). Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities. Santa Fe: School of American Research Press, 35–83.
Jaworski, Adam. 2007. Language in the media: Authenticity and othering. In: Sally Johnson and Astrid Ensslin (eds). Language in the Media: Representations, Identities, Ideologies. London: Continuum, 271–280.
Johnson, Sally and Ensslin, Astrid. 2007. Language in the media: Theory and practice. In: Sally Johnson and Astrid Ensslin (eds). Language in the Media: Representations, Identities, Ideologies. London: Continuum, 3–24.
Kroskrity, Paul V.. 2000. Regimenting languages: Language ideological perspectives. In: Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.). Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities. Oxford: James Currey, 1–34.
Luxemburger Wort (11 July 2007) FF. Sproochlech Acquisë fir d’Verfassung? [Linguistic facts for the constitution], p. 10. (24 October 2007) CT. Erfolgsmodell Trilinguismus? [Trilingualism as a successful model?], pp. 14–15. (6 November 2007) WM. Luxemburg: Dreisprachigkeit … oder mehr? [Luxembourg: Trilingualism … or more?], pp. 12–13. (28 November 2007) RK. Mehrsprachigkeit, jawohl! [Multilingualism, yes indeed!], p. 20. (20 February 2008) JPH. Wat um Spill steet… [What is at stake…], p. 15. (21 May 2008) FW. Lëtzebuerger ouni Lëtzebuergesch…? [Luxembourgers without Luxembourgish…?], p. 18. (2 July 2008) HK. Mir halen drop, Lëtzebuergesch ze schwätzen! [We insist on speaking Luxembourgish!], p. 17.
May, Stephen. 2001. Language and Minority Rights: Ethnicity, Nationalism and the Politics of Language. Harlow: Longman.
Ministère de l’Education nationale et de la Formation professionnelle (MENFP) (2007–2008). Horaires et programmes. [URL]
Newton, Gerald. 1996. Lëtzebuergesch and the establishment of national identity. In: Gerald Newton (ed.). Luxembourg and Lëtzebuergesch: Language and Communication at the Crossroads of Europe. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 181–215.
Ricento, Thomas. 2000. Historical and theoretical perspectives in language policy and planning. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4(2), 196–213.
. 2005. Problems with the ‘language-as-resource’ discourse in the promotion of heritage languages in the USA. Journal of Sociolinguistics 9(3), 348–368.
Ruiz, Richard. 1984. Orientations in language planning. NABE Journal 8(2), 15–34.
Shohamy, Elana. 2006. Language Policy: Hidden Agendas and New Approaches. Abingdon: Routledge.
Weber, Jean-Jacques. 2009. Multilingualism, Education and Change. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.
Weber, Jean-Jacques and Horner, Kristine. 2010. Orwellian doublethink: Keywords in Luxembourgish and European language-in-education policy discourses. Language Policy 9(3), 241–256.
Wilkerson, Miranda E. and Salmons, Joseph. 2008. Good old immigrants of yesteryear’ who didn’t learn English: Germans in Wisconsin. American Speech 831, 259–83.
Cited by (14)
Cited by 14 other publications
Yao, Jiazhou, Marianne Turner & Gary Bonar
2024. Ethnic minority language policies and practices in China: revisiting Ruiz’s language orientation theory through a critical biliteracy lens. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 45:7 ► pp. 2400 ff. 
Easlick, Kathleen
2022. Language as a resource: public sector discourse on the role of regional minority and community languages in integration and employment. Current Issues in Language Planning 23:1 ► pp. 1 ff.
Kaveh, Yalda M.
2022. Re-orienting to language users: humanizing orientations in language planning as praxis. Language Policy
Liu, Yuying
2022. Commodification of the Chinese language: investigating language ideology in the Chinese complementary schools’ online discourse. Current Issues in Language Planning 23:3 ► pp. 319 ff.
Vierendeels, Ilias, Laurence Mettewie & Ulrike Vogl
2022. Miss Belgium, Coca-Cola and Flemish carwashes . Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics 11
Alisaari, Jenni, Salla Sissonen & Leena Maria Heikkola
2021. Teachers’ beliefs related to language choice in immigrant students’ homes. Teaching and Teacher Education 103 ► pp. 103347 ff.
Liu, Yuying & Xuesong (Andy) Gao
2020. Commodification of the Chinese language: investigating language ideology in the Irish media. Current Issues in Language Planning 21:5 ► pp. 512 ff.
Tavares, Bernardino
2020. Compounding forms of inequality: Cape Verdean migrants’ struggles in education and beyond in Luxembourg. European Journal of Applied Linguistics 8:2 ► pp. 307 ff.
Tavares, Bernardino
2020. Multilingualism in Luxembourg: (Dis)empowering Cape Verdean migrants at work and beyond. International Journal of the Sociology of Language 2020:264 ► pp. 95 ff.
Vihalemm, Triin & Marianne Leppik
2019. Multilingualism and Media-Related Practices of Russian-Speaking Estonians. In Multilingualism in the Baltic States, ► pp. 239 ff.
Gogonas, Nikos & Claudine Kirsch
2018. ‘In this country my children are learning two of the most important languages in Europe’: ideologies of language as a commodity among Greek migrant families in Luxembourg. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 21:4 ► pp. 426 ff.
Jaworska, Sylvia & Christiana Themistocleous
2018. Public discourses on multilingualism in the UK: Triangulating a corpus study with a sociolinguistic attitude survey. Language in Society 47:1 ► pp. 57 ff.
Franziskus, Anne
2016. Les frontaliers sur le marché linguistique luxembourgeois. Anthropologie et Sociétés 39:3 ► pp. 197 ff.
Cotter, Colleen
2015. Discourse and Media. In The Handbook of Discourse Analysis, ► pp. 795 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 19 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.