From revolutionary monolingualism to reactionary multilingualism: Top-down discourses of linguistic diversity in Europe, 1794-present
Robert E. Moore
Key documents in EU-level multilingualism policy since the enlargements of 2004 and 2007 reveal a number paradoxes: multiplicity languages is seen as problem or challenge to be overcome, while diversity form inherited cultural wealth. Comparing document from with one 1794, I show that such paradoxes are deeply entrenched top-down European discourses about linguistic dating back French Revolution. The dissolution internal boundaries today's neoliberal EU has necessitated fortification external boundary—that between Europe elsewhere.
Language & Communication