Relativism and Universalism in Linguistics - Fachbereich 10 ...

24 Sections
The contribution of linguistic relativism, language universals
and the ecology of language to praxis oriented
language revitalisation efforts
Darquennes, Jeroen
FWO-Vlaanderen / Research Centre on Multilingualism (Brussels)
jeroen.darquennes@kubrussel.ac.be
Approaching European language policy from a positive angle Peter Nelde (2001) describes
how during the last years some kind of a New Multilingualism has developed. Besides a
generally accepted view on multilingualism as normal, as something that is not limited to
multilingual states, as something that serves as an engine for the economy in a knowledge
based society, this ‘New Multilingualism’ also entails the political willingness to reduce the
marginalisation of autochthonous minority speech communities. The problems of the approx.
80 minority speech communities, that are represented by approx. 40 to 70 millions of the
approx. 450 EU-inhabitants, have unmistakably developed to national and supranational
topics. That became especially clear during the process of EU-enlargement in the year 2004
when the new member states were forced to reflect on the non-discrimination and societal
integration of the minorities residing on their territory.
Although the situation of autochthonous minority speech communities has improved since the
ethnic revival in the 1960s on the level of European language policy and European political
discourse in general, most of the minority speech communities still have difficulties securing
the intergenerational transmission of the minority language. EU-sponsored projects (e.g.
Euromosaic and SMiLE) as well as other scientific publications clearly confirm that most of
the minority speech communities still are subject – though to a different degree – to societal
language shift. Typical of contemporary language minority research is that it no longer is
basically restricted to theoretically well funded language use descriptions or philosophically
inspired reflections on the relationship between language and culture. It can be noticed how
academic considerations on linguistic relativism (and determinism) or the belief that small
language communities and small languages deserve to be respected and valued in a
linguistically pluralistic world (Fishman’s Whorfianism of the third kind) still form the
philosophical backbone of attempts of minority language researchers (and advocates) to
reverse societal language shift. Yet, it is clear that researchers and research groups
increasingly concentrate on praxis oriented research approaches and thus try to bridge the gap
between academia and real life. This paper links up to these approaches. Against the
background of established and praxis oriented socio-and contact linguistic ideas a quest for a
model is presented that could help minority language communities to detect their linguistic
needs in a multilingual surrounding and to steer possible attempts to reverse societal language
shift in the right direction. Special attention will be paid to the practical value of the Whorfian
hypothesis of linguistic relativism, the possible contribution of language universals (as they
feature in the work of Paul Garvin), and the need for a constant consideration of Haugen’s
ecology of language in the context of language revitalisation.
References
Nelde, Peter (2001): „Sprache im Spannungsfeld zwischen nationalem Selbstverständnis und
wirtschaftlicher Integration“. In: Panagl, Oswald/Goebl, Hans/Brix, Emil (Eds.): Der
Mensch und seine Sprache(n). Böhlau, Wien, 191-210.