Linguistic Imperialism: Still a valid construct in relation to language policy for Irish Sign Language

Journal article

Linguistic imperialism—a term used to conceptualize the dominance of one language over others—has been debated in language policy for more than two decades. Spolsky (2004), for example, has questioned whether the spread of English was a result of language planning, or was incidental to colonialism and globalization. Phillipson (2007) contests this view, arguing that linguistic imperialism is not based on ‘conspiracy’, and is underpinned by evidence of explicit or implicit language policy that aims to intentionally advantage some languages at the expense of others. This paper aims to test criteria of linguistic imperialism by exploring the treatment of Irish Sign Language (ISL) in language policy, or lack thereof. It does this by exploring evidence within a conceptual framework of linguistic imperialism to explore how discrimination and inequality occurs in relation to Irish Sign Language users in Ireland. The findings highlight many policies and practices that fit the linguistic imperialism paradigm. The paper, therefore, challenges some views in language policy that linguistic imperialism lacks credibility (see Spolsky 2004; Ferguson 2006) by highlighting a current case of a minority language (ISL) under imperialistic-like control of a dominant language (English).

Authors: Rose, H; Conama, J

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Journal: Language Policy
• Volume: 17
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 385–404
• Publication date: 2017-09-01
• Acceptance date: 2017-07-19
• DOI: 10.1007/s10993-017-9446-2
• EISSN: 1573-1863
• ISSN: 1568-4555