Language rights and official language in constitutionalism. Do bilingual states give us more rights for our language?

Abstract

In the first section, I describe the problem of language in society, providing meaning for “language planning”, “language policy”, “language ideology”, “language rights”, as well as setting the connections between them on the ground of a bilingual state. For the second chapter, I make arguments that are based on quantitative data addressed to the social structure and development for the following comparative analysis of language policies of selected bilingual states (Belgium, Canada, Ukraine and Sweden). Then, in the third chapter, I indicate a catalogue of rights related to language in constitutional acts through the prism of “official language” meaning. Finally, I conclude that (a) the catalogue of personal rights that are proclaimed by language policies may differ significantly between jurisdictions and does not apply only to minority rights, (b) language policies of bilingual states clearly describe traditional national minorities and their rights, but are more restrictive or indeterminate in granting of rights for newcomers (e.g., refugees or economic migrants). The links between democracy and liberal intention in language policies remain in question, to be resolved by a large sample

Keywords

• law
• linguistic rights
• definition of language rights
• methodology of language rights research
• democracy rank