engleski

Migratory languages in the new European linguistic landscape

The regrettable events of the last few years and a mounting terror attacks on European soil have been a strong argument in the hands of those who have criticized the concept of multiculturalism. Due to the conflict in Syria and political crisis in Pakistan, the ongoing violence in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as abuses in Eritrea, more than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe in 2015. Although not all of them choose to claim asylum, many do, especially in Germany and some other Western European countries. Raising the ''new minority question'', i.e. the migrant crisis, multiculturalism is beginning to be looked on as a failed project that divides rather than joins, promoting ethnic ghettos and cultural isolation. This is ''the dark side'' of multilingualism. Despite these anti-multicultural attitudes, not all the criticisms of multiculturalism are rooted in multicultiphobia (Ryan 2010). The fact is that millions of people are on the move and this issue needs to be discussed from different points of view. Though not having the right to autonomy as an allochthonous minority, people and their migratory languages have the right not to be discriminated against, not to be under pain and pressure, but to maintain their own cultural and linguistic identity. In their new surroundings migrants have gradually constructed new identities, including a hybrid identity. And blending can be the result of the struggle to accommodate (Hagège (2005). On the other side, Eurocentrism and its meta-discourse based on strong prejudices against outsiders (migrants), leads to formation of ''parallel societies'', rather than to their integration. Teaching at an integration school in classes with more pupils from different origins, countries, languages and cultures, could be very difficult for both sides. Integration will permit the new minorities to homogenize with the majority population or with other minority groups. Education and competence in the majority language will permit everyone to communicate in all domains, which yields complete equality. Combining the theoretical and applied issues of both multilingualism and migration, and analyzing and comparing certain European policies, this paper reconsiders the possibility of intercultural dialogue in the new linguistic landscape.

migration ; education ; multilingualism ; migratory languages ; Europe ; linguistic lanscape

Researching Multilingually at the Borders of Language, the Body, Law and the State