Current Issues In Language and Society
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Volume: 4 Number: 3 Page: 190–214
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Language and Discourse in Conflict and Conflict Resolution
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Dan Smith
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Despite intuitively evident connections, there are difficulties identifying language as a significant cause of conflict escalation. Assessing them, this article resists the temptation to search for language's
causal role in conflict. Recent research on internal conflict shows a close association with poverty and repression. What are called ethnic conflicts concern power and resources. Though historical grievances
feed fear and ethnic hatred, the underlying problem is not ethnic difference but political mobilisation.Difference does not create war, but according to the case, war creates or suppresses difference. Language
is mobilised in the service of the nation and of nationalism, in the process of nation-building. That process emphasises differences between nations and destroys differences within nations. In conflict
resolution, the issue of discourse is important. Discursive choices reflect views about a conflict, its origins and where justice lies.Decoding the pattern of those views can give hints on how to avoid
violence. While essential, the decoding process is also risky, involving multiple moments of interpretation and translation, as third party facilitators encourage the conflict parties to perceive the shadow
of the future and to contemplate cautious cooperation.
© Multilingual Matters 1997
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