Underlying Paradox in the European Union's Multilingualism Policies

Abstract

The European Union (EU) has developed comprehensive policies in recent years to promote multilingualism. In this article, major EU policy statements on multilingualism are analyzed to demonstrate how their underlying language ideology produces paradox by both encouraging multilingualism and regulating its definition within the EU. The first section provides conceptual grounding regarding (1) language ideology as the basis for language regulation and language privilege and (2) paradox as a rhetorical trope. The second section provides a brief overview of official EU language policy. The third section examines five key statements of EU language policy and philosophy to demonstrate the nature of paradox as well as the underlying language ideology. The last section considers the multilingualism agenda since 2009, when the organizational arrangement for multilingualism policy and programs was changed in the EU. Recent reports from working groups dealing with multilingualism are discussed, as well as the current challenges facing the EU.