Language, Migration and Citizenship: New Challenges in the Regulation of Bilingualism

Abstract

At the start of the twenty-first century one in every 35 people is an international migrant.2 The movement of populations across national boundaries is emerging as one of the main challenges for nation-states. Monolingualism as a universal criterion for citizenship in a nation-state cannot be sustained anymore in the face of the language diversity of migrants and national linguistic minorities. In addition, in this era of globalization, migration is no longer understood as a one-time displacement. The connectedness of today’s societies brought about by the development of communication technologies, and by cheaper and easier communications, makes physical mobility and contact with a country of origin easier for migrants. At the same time, liberal democratic states must deal with diversity in language, culture and identity in ways consistent with their political philosophy. These changes are bringing about a shift in ideologies, in particular, in the way bilingualism is understood, constructed and practised. Multilingual practices in monolingual institutional contexts can no longer be considered an exception. The tensions that exist in public institutions as a result of the diversity brought by immigration elicit contradictions between the democratic commitment of modern states to citizenship rights and the restrictive homogeneous views still in place about who counts as a citizen.