Ideologies and norms in language and education policies in Europe and their relationship with everyday language behaviours

Abstract

Formulations of linguistic rights in European official documents reveal important ideological characteristics of the thinking about language in European societies. These ideologies have important consequences for the language policies and education policies pursued by authorities and for the norms of language use promoted by education systems and gatekeepers. At the bottom of this is the concept of ‘languages’ as separable entities, a concept which cannot be upheld with respect to the real-life behaviours of speakers. As such, languages are sociocultural constructions, and norms of language use which aim at ‘purity’ are in contrast to everyday linguistic behaviours among speakers. Based on examples from ongoing studies of youth language, I suggest that other norms are more relevant, in particular the so-called poly-languaging, a term which covers the use of various features regardless of their ideologically determined association with ‘languages’. This notion is relevant, particularly in superdiverse societies, not only in accounting for behaviours, but also with respect to education and with respect to language rights.

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