Social scientists interested in questions of language policy aiming at maintaining language diversity generally employ theories and methodologies, and gather their data, from linguistically diverse sources. However, if they... [ view full abstract ]
Social scientists interested in questions of language policy aiming at maintaining language diversity generally employ theories and methodologies, and gather their data, from linguistically diverse sources. However, if they want their research to reach a wider audience, they know that they must make it available in English. This occurs because English, within academia, has become both dominant and hegemonic in a Gramscian sense, i.e., it is recognised as an imposition but also as an opportunity.
Nevertheless, it appears rather contradictory that a field such as language policy, which often entails discussions on language rights, language inequality and bi/multilingualism, expresses its knowledge almost exclusively in English (Rapatahana & Bunce, 2012). Under the effect of a sort of Stockholm syndrome, where the victim develops loyalty or sympathy towards their captor, the large majority of the publications against the phagocytising influence of English advocate for a more equal use of other languages only in English. This inevitability of English, however, cannot stop the quest for multilingualism, as multilingualism can very well include English (Sṭavans & Hoffmann, 2015).
This paper, therefore, based on the presenter's PhD study on language hierarchies, proposes the use of multilingualism as a methodology, as an alternative way to maintain language diversity in English-written language policy research. The presentation looks at translation theory (e.g. Venuti, 2008) to show that, by employing literature and data in multiple languages, and by quoting texts in the original language with accessory translations to ensure the accessibility of the content to a wider audience, language policy research can offer an outcome that works for multilingualism because it is itself multilingual. In this sense, working through multilingualism does not simply mean that the expected outcome of language policy is a society that is more inclusive of multilingual practices. It also means that the best way to achieve this outcome is to put multilingualism into practice, and use it as a tool to redefine the language hierarchies existing in academic research, thus ultimately overcoming the English Stockholm syndrome.
