This article centers on a specific grasp of linguistic justice, one described as the ‘fair background conditions position’. This position has clear liberal-egalitarian roots, and its main attribute is the assertion that the basic requirement of justice with regard to language is the establishment of certain fair background conditions. The article sets out to promote the debate concerning the implications of this grasp of linguistic justice. It will be asserted that current accounts of how we accomplish fair linguistic conditions are lacking, due to their resource-based nature, which means that they tend to center merely on people’s holdings of basic linguistic resources, in the form of rights, goods and services. While these resources are significant, they should be considered as only part of the story. If this paper's aim is the formation of conditions that supply people with truly fair chances to employ and maintain their respective languages, then other factors, especially the restricting impact of implicit social norms, also need to be regarded, an issue that can be better understood by assuming a capability-based, in contrast to a resource-based approach.