Using corpus linguistics to investigate agency and benign neglect in organisational language policy and planning: the United Nations as a case study

ABSTRACT

This article responds to recent calls to investigate the role of agents and the connections between layers of agency in the development and implementation of language policy and planning (LPP). Using a corpus linguistic and discursive approach to language policy, we identify interventions made in plenary sessions by Secretary-Generals and Member States at the United Nations when discussing language issues over 46 years (1970-2016). The article identifies which individuals prioritise language issues and the change agents and/or (un)successful brokers in matters of LPP. Analysis reveals that language issues were discussed infrequently, suggesting benign neglect in matters of multilingualism: the silent majority were agentive in largely maintaining the status quo. However, in exploring power in discourse and power over discourse we were able to determine which interventions resulted in minor changes to policy and who were the powerful agents. The study points to the importance of using corpus-assisted methods in diachronic and synchronic studies of agency in LPP. Future research should explore networks of agents, using CL to investigate longitudinal trajectories of decision-making and policy change over time. Moreover, CL can usefully complement other approaches, (e.g. interviews and ethnography), to further explore the dialectic relationship between agency and structure.

KEYWORDS:

• Agency
• corpus linguistics
• organizational language policy
• silence
• United Nations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 See Emirbayer and Mische (1998) for their discussion of three (overlapping) features of agency: iteration; projectivity and practical evaluation.

2 There are a few exceptions e.g. Johnson and Johnson (2015).

3 Research in related fields has also indicated the agentive power of silence. For example, research in second language learning has shown that language learners’ resistance through silence and subversion can be agentive in that these strategies do not lead to participation or positive learning outcomes (see review in Wright Fogle 2012, 4).

4 The General Assembly is the main representative, deliberative and policy making organ of the organisation.

5 The Security Council is responsible for international peace and security but also recommends the addition of new members to the General Assembly and approves any alterations to the UN Charter.

6 The UN’s 63 regional Information Centres (ICs) function in five of the six official languages (excluding Chinese) in addition to 97 local languages when necessary. Within countries, UN missions ‘may’ provide information and support in local languages (see McEntee-Atalianis 2017).

7 A concern similarly identified in other supra-/international organisations, e.g. see Mooko (2009) and studies of the EU (extensive references in McEntee-Atalianis forthcoming).

8 From this typology, we investigate all but item (6), which is not relevant to our particular focus or data.

9 Schroeter and Taylor (2018) also address a range of other ways in which silence can be manifested through hidden meaning in discourse.

10 The comparison of different SGs raised slightly different methodological issues from the comparison of member states, for three reasons. First, not all SGs had the same tenure period (e.g. Boutros Boutros Ghali held office for only one term and only two years of U Thant’s 1961–1971 tenure period is covered by the corpus); (2) not all SGs produced the same length of annual report (e.g. Ghali’s reports averaged only 11,480 words, whereas Waldheim’s were nearly ten times this figure (108,953)); and (3) search terms were present in the reports for different reasons (e.g. the search terms occurring in Ghali’s reports refer almost exclusively to the report’s language of publication). Accordingly, we used normalised frequency to correct for comparisons across each SG’s data of different sizes and disregarded superficial references to language (e.g. in Ghali’s reports).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Lisa McEntee-Atalianis

Lisa McEntee-Atalianis is Reader in Applied Linguistics at Birkbeck, University of London. Her research focuses on two (overlapping) issues: ‘identity” at micro- and macro-discursive levels and language planning and policy, particularly in supranational/international organisations. Her breadth of interest is evidenced in her recent book (‘Identity in Applied Linguistics Research’ London: Bloomsbury), and publications in edited books and journals. Her research has focused on different communities and sites, e.g. Greek-Cypriot communities in Cyprus and London; Europe and the United Nations.

Rachelle Vessey

Rachelle Vessey is Assistant Professor in the School of Linguistics and Language Studies at Carleton University. Her research centres on language ideologies and how these manifest in discourse. She is particularly interested in how beliefs about language contribute to social inclusion and exclusion. She has examined and published on language ideologies in large corpora of (English and French) newspapers, online forums, interviews, documents and magazines, (e.g. see (2016) ‘Language and Canadian media: Representations, ideologies, policies.’ London: Palgrave Macmillan).