Publications
Publication details [#63347]
Edwards, Catrin Wyn. 2017. Language policy, in-migration and discursive debates in Wales. Language Policy 16 (2) : 165–188. ![DOI logo](https://benjamins.com/logos/doi-logo.svg)
Publication type
Article in journal
Publication language
English
Keywords
Place, Publisher
Springer
Annotation
Using critical language policy literature, this paper examines the affect of discourses on in-migration on Welsh language policy. By centering on discursive debates on the subject of in-migration, the paper explores how a set of actors create and reproduce discourses on in-migration in Wales and how these discursive struggles affect policy. It asserts that, while certain actors have been able to construct a powerful discourse on in-migration via language debates, others have failed to make their voices heard and their views on the subject have been muted. This unequal access to discourse production is not incidental; it is indicative of wider power structures at play within bilingual or multilingual language communities. Therefore, while the study centers on Wales, the paper points out a theme that is pertinent to all minoritized language groups, that of the interrelationship between policy, politics and power. It also underlines the importance of adopting an approach to language policy that reckons with both structure and agency alike, and validates that language groups should not be conceptualised by number of speakers employing categories like ‘dominant’, ‘subordinate’, ‘majority’ and ‘minority’, but rather by matters of power and status.