Languages in public policy, and constraints in academia
Robert Phillipson | Copenhagen Business School, Denmark
The article explores evidence of public policy ignoring scholarly recommendations, and describes instances of this
in the field of language policy at both supranational and national levels. One significant contemporary influence is that
university autonomy and academic freedom are being constrained by neoliberal pressures. Evidence of this in the United Kingdom and
Denmark is described. These trends are connected to the wider context of the transition from the practices and ideology of
terra nullius to legitimate colonisation and global Europeanisation, and the concomitant dispossession of the
territories of others, to global Americanisation processes, the universalization of a cultura nullius in
commerce, the media, academia, and domestic life. This dovetails with the promotion and establishment of English as a
lingua nullius, a language that should be learned by all worldwide, as if it serves the interests of all
inhabitants of the globe, and is disconnected from the causal factors behind the expansion of the language. One speech by Winston
Churchill argues for the maintenance of university autonomy and historical awareness. Another pleads for Anglo-American global
dominance, including the promotion of English as a ‘world’ language. These competing pleas have had different outcomes: academic
freedom and traditions are currently at risk, whereas US dominance and the promotion and expansion of English have thrived. The
governments of the five Nordic countries have acted to ensure the maintenance of national languages as well as competence in
‘international languages’. This is exemplified by a description of how universities should assure parallel competence and thereby
a healthy balance between English and national languages. Soft power is never far from economic, political, and military power,
all of which entail language use. China and Chinese are well launched on a comparable trajectory to the expansion of English.
Keywords: language policy, academia, English as a , United Kingdom, Denmark, national level, supranational level
Published online: 03 December 2019
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00046.phi
https://doi.org/10.1075/lplp.00046.phi
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