Committee on Culture and Education
by Jelle Zegers (NL)
Case study & introduction
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) has identified a big imbalance in the speakers of the world’s languages. According to a study, about 97% of the global population speaks 4% of the world’s languages. This leaves just 3% of the global population speaking the remaining 96% of languages. Therefore the world’s linguistic diversity depends on a very marginal amount of people.
An example of this phenomenon is Tsakonian, which is a rare language spoken in parts of Southern Greece. This modern descendant from an ancient Greek dialect belongs to the same linguistic branch as modern Greek, called the Hellenic branch. Tsakonian is classified as severely endangered, with an approximated 2000-4000 native speakers worldwide. The number of speakers is declining, as increasingly less young people get taught the language. Most speakers are bilingual. They were forced to learn modern Greek as well, as that invaded and became the dominant language in regions where Tsakonian was spoken.
Tsakonian is a part of Greece’s cultural history, as linguists have linked the language to the language spoken by the ancient Spartans. With the death of Tsakonian the direct connection to this part of history and culture would be lost.
The EU is home to over 80 indigenous languages2. Besides the 23 officially recognized State languages there are 60 languages that are indigenous to, and spoken in, the EU but are no official State language in a particular State. These languages are called Regional and Minority Languages (RML). RML’s are spoken in the EU by more than 40 million people RML’s and their linguistic community are part of humanity’s intangible cultural heritage. Their protection needs to be ensured not only to sustain the EU’s linguistic diversity, but also the fact that not doing so might amount up toracial discrimination and a breach of human rights.
1 The Atlas of the world’s languages in danger specificies five levels of endangerment: ‘vulnerable’, ‘definitely endangered’, ‘severely endangered’, ‘critically endangered’ and ‘extinct’. The simplest definition of what makes a language is “a language is endangered if it is not being passed on to younger generations”.
2An indigenous language is a language that is native to a certain region, which is spoken by a native or indigenous community that often share the same cultural values and beliefs.
Key problems
Unesco has compiled a list of multiple factors in a language community that can lead to ‘language death’ – the process of a language decreasingly being spoken until it is not spoken anymore. Two striking factors on the list are military, economic, religious, cultural or educational domination of another language community, and a lack of intergenerational transmission.
Most States centre their economy, education and overall workings of society around their official State language, the ‘majority language’. This dominance can force speakers of minority languages to adapt and resort to bi- or multilingualism; they speak the dominant majority language in addition to their own RML. In extreme cases this can lead to the abandoning of the RML, which can possibly negatively impact its use in a society where another language is dominant.
In an environment where speakers of RMLs are reliant on other more dominant languages, knowledge of RML’s gets passed on less and less. Simply put, parents and grandparents decreasingly feel the need to pass on linguistic knowledge of RMLs. This can be caused by a lessened connection to the RML, or even a growing negative internal or external perception of said language. This decrease in passing on knowledge caused by said lessened connection makes people feel even less connected to their RML, creating a kind of snowball effect.
As speakers of RMLs decrease, these languages run the risk of going extinct. The potential extinction of RMLs in the EU poses a danger to the Union’s linguistic diversity. With people’s culture being closely tied to spoken languages and linguistic diversity, the extinction of a language implies a loss of cultural heritage, identity, and knowledge. In some countries measures are being taken to protect RMLs: however, less economically developed countries often have their priorities in areas of economic growth and employment, even though they might be home to RML’s that are more prone to extinction.
Key stakeholders and measures in place
Members States: Since educational and language policies are an exclusive responsibility of individual Member States, the EU has very limited influence in those areas. It is up to Member States to recognize their RMLs and take measures to safeguard them.
Some Member States have developed and carried out elaborate plans in an effort to protect their non-dominant RMLs. However, these plans often involve RMLs that are more commonly spoken. An example of this is Irish; the Irish government developed a 20-year strategy for the promotion of Irish, even though that is an RML that is not in direct danger of extinction.
Council of Europe: The Council of Europe includes all Member States alongside 19 non-EU countries. It is not an EU institution but a separate international organisation that aims at the protection of human rights, democracy and the rule of law.
To encourage members to protect their RML’s the Council of Europes has set up the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (ECRML). Member States that sign the Charter are thereby required to choose and implement at least 35 measures for the protection and promotion of their RMLs. 18 Member States have signed and ratified the Charter. The rest of the Member States have not signed or ratified yet, or have only signed but not ratified.
European Parliament (EP): The EP consists of directly elected Members who represent people’s interests with regard to EU law-making. In 2001 the European Parliament established the European Year of Languages. It was an information-campaign aimed at raising awareness, stressing “the need for lifelong learning of languages”. It was specifically aimed at the general public, featuring amongst other things a special website, exhibitions and events, open days, and even competitions.
The European Commission (EC): Since the 1980s the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm has been expressing its concern on the endangerment of RMLs. The European Commission has supported RMLs and their linguistic communities through several initiatives throughout the years. These include several funds, projects, campaigns, action plans and programs.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO): UNESCO is an organisation that has a close cooperation with the EU. Both parties share similar values and objectives, and the EU is currently the UNESCO’s largest donor. As languages are part of the world’s intangible cultural heritage, preserving them is of great concern to Unesco. Unesco is responsible for a lot of research on language endangerment and what can be done to prevent language death. In a more direct effort to vitalize and protect endangered languages, Unesco recently launched the Global Task Force for Making a Decade of Action for Indigenous Languages. This task force will amongst other things coördinate the planning and implementation of activities that will be held because of the International Decade of Indigenous Languages (2022-2032). This is an initiative of the United Nations aiming to preserve, revitalise and promote indigenous languages.
The Federal Union of European Nationalities (FUEN): The Federal Union of European Nationalities has launched a campaign with the help of the European Commission to raise awareness on linguistic diversity, celebrating multilingualism. The FUEN, who represents the interests of the European minorities, states that language is not only a universal human right but is also “the basis of your own identity”.
The Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD): The NPLD is a European wide network funded by the EC that works in the field of language policy and planning for Constitutional, Regional and Small-State Languages.The NLPD has a broad target audience, ranging from EU politicians, decision-makers, and governments to academics and researchers. Its goal is to not only raise awareness on language diversity but also accommodate the exchange of best practices. They do this, amongst other things, by advising EU institutions on RML-related policymaking.
Following the European Year of Languages, the European Parliament urged the European Commission to present a report on its results with a special focus on RMLs. The European Parliament additionally called on the European Commission to designate funding to RMLs, and urged member States to sign and ratify the European Charter for Regional and Minority Languages. In addition, in 2002 the European Council adopted a resolution on the promotion of linguistic diversity and language learning. Through the resolution Member States were encouraged to critically look at their languages policy, to diversify their language offer and also include regional languages.
The European Language Equality Network (ELEN): In 2011, EU funding was cut for the Bureau for Lesser-Used Languages. To replace it, The European Language Equality Network (ELEN) was founded. This NGO does not specifically target RMLs, but instead strives for the protection and promotion of “Europe’s lesser used languages”. ELEN comprises member organisations representing 50 languages in 25 European States, such as language immersion schools and academic institutions.
Task
Now that you have read the Topic Overview, it is time to delve into the topic yourself! I would like to ask you to browse through the following document. It is an elaborate document from Unesco on language vitality. In other words, the document explores why languages go extinct and what can be done to prevent it.
Take your time to read the whole document if you’re interested, but your main focus should be on chapter 4.2.1, page 9-12. This chapter identifies and picks apart 6 factors that influence how endangered a language is. Choose one factor that you think plays the biggest role. Write a short text (around 100 words) on why you think this factor is important, and how it relates to regional and minority languages in the EU.Do not be afraid to have fun with it! Make it into a dinner table discussion, or watch some interesting Ted Talks on the topic. See you in Maastricht!