Current Issues In Language and Society
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Volume: 7 Number: 1 Page: 70–86
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The World Came to Sweden – But Did Language Rights?
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Tove Skutnabb-Kangas and Robert Phillipson
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This article sets the language policy scene in Sweden in the broader perspective of the ongoing restructuring of global and local linguistic hierarchies. It analyses myths about global English, myths about
the equality of the 11 official languages in the European Union, and myths about the extent to which linguistic human rights are guaranteed in international and European human rights documents. Trends in
each of these language policy fields impact on the management of multilingualism in Sweden. Sweden's ratification of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages serves as an example of how only
very few of the languages spoken or signed in Sweden benefit, and how the provisions identified in the Swedish ratification have accorded very limited entitlements to support for these languages. Comparison
with other states shows that Sweden's liberal rhetoric in relation to human rights and minority language protection is more sophisticated but equally hollow, and therefore unlikely to contribute to the
maintenance of linguistic diversity.
© Multilingual Matters 2001
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