Minorised languages and linguistic activism in the academy
Abstract
The academia, a place where knowledge and critical thinking is (or should be) produced, has a complex relationship with multilingualism and language diversity. This complexity is far more evident when it comes to minoritised languages. English and, to a lesser extent, other dominant languages of nation states, occupy the role of hegemonic languages of science. However, according to the decolonial school, it must be reminded that the university is the result of historical processes related to colonialism, and this definitely has an impact on the languages it uses. Parallel to this, in the current context of language desertification, the dimension of language rights as human rights is becoming more and more evident. Basing on these premises, this article tries to deepen in the reasons for the low presence of minoritised languages in the academia (teaching, research and dissemination), and provides a framework to identify steps related to the concept of activism that can be taken with the goal of increasing the presence of these languages.
Keywords: multilingualism at the academy; linguistic diversity; minority languages; linguistic rights; linguistic activism
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