Linguistic Injustice for the Sake of Greater Social Justice: A Response to Anna Kristina Hultgren
(2020) Nordic Journal of English Studies — Vol. 19, n° 3, p. 175 (2020)
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- In her lead piece, Hultgren challenges three common assumptions: (1) “Non-native speakers are disadvantaged by the spread of English”; (2) “English threatens other languages”; (3) “Language policy will curb the spread of English.” Under some extreme interpretation, each of them is indefensible, but I would be surprised if anyone held such interpretation. Under some other, more natural interpretation, each of them is close to self-evident. Consequently, I doubt that focusing on these assumptions is the most fruitful way of identifying the really controversial issues. However, I do agree with Hultgren that linguistic injustice is only one dimension of social injustice and one that is generally of secondary importance relative to more material dimensions. As a result, some degree of linguistic injustice-in particular what is inherent in the adoption of some natural language as a global lingual franca-is the price we need to pay for an effective pursuit of social justice in all its dimensions. © 2020 Goteborgs Universitet. All rights reserved.
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Van Parijs, P. (2020). Linguistic Injustice for the Sake of Greater Social Justice: A Response to Anna Kristina Hultgren. Nordic Journal of English Studies, 19(3), 175. https://doi.org/10.35360/njes.587 (Original work published 2020)