THE GROUND FLOOR OF THE WORLD On the socio-economi

1THEGROUNDFLOOROFTHEWORLDOnthesocio-economicconsequencesoflinguisticglobalisation1PhilippeVanParijsUniversitécatholiquedeLouvainChaireHooverd'éthiqueéconomiqueetsociale[InternationalPoliticalScienceReview21(2),217-233.]OneofmyformerresearchassistantsmarriedanIndianwoman,anotheraKoreanwoman.OnenowworksandlivesintheUnitedStates,theotherintheUnitedKingdom.Inalllikelihood,botharenowstuckforeveronwhatIshallherecallthegroundflooroftheworld.Ifcountrieslocatedontheupperfloorswantthemback—and,moreimportantly,iftheywanttoretainhundredsofthousandsoftheiryoungersiblings—,theyfaceacrueldilemma.Eithertheywillhavetolosetheirsoulsortheywillhavetolosetheirhearts.Eithertheywillhavetoputupwiththeerosionoftheirculturesortheywillhavetostomachthedismantlingoftheirsolidaritysystems.Ishallaskattheendofthisarticlewhetherthereisanycrediblewayoutofthisdilemma.ButIshallfirstarguethatitexists,byintroducingstepbystepthefourassumptionswhoseconjunctionprovidesastrongbasisforexpectingittotakeanincreasinglyacuteform.1.Nativelanguagesinaglobalregime:theterritorialimperativeStatisticsoflanguageuseintheworldareplaguedwithanunavoidablelevelofarbitrariness,notsomuchbecauseitisdifficulttodecidewhatcountsascompetenceinaparticularlanguage,butbecauseitisultimatelyarbitrarytodecidewhentwowaysofspeakingconstitutetwodifferentlanguages,rather1Thisarticlewaspreparedwithintheframeworkoftheinter-universityresearchprojectTheNewSocialQuestion(BelgianFederalGovernment,PrimeMinister'sOffice,FederalOfficeforScientific,TechnicalandCulturalAffairs).Anearlierversionwaspresentedatthe11thInternationalConferenceoftheSocietyfortheAdvancementofSocio-Economics(Madison,Wisconsin,7-11September1999)anddiscussedatthe21stannualmeetingoftheSeptemberGroup(AllSoulsCollege,Oxford,3-5September1999).IamparticularlygratefultoSamuelBowles,JeanLaponceandErikOlinWrightfordetailedcomments.2thantwovariantsofthesamelanguage.2Nonetheless,itiscommonlyassertedthatthereareabout6000livinglanguages,outofwhichover2000havelessthan1000speakersleftandarethereforeintheprocessofdying.Outofthese6000languages,thetoptenarethefirstlanguagesofover50percentoftheworldpopulation(2550million),thetoptwenty,shownbelow(Appendix1),ofover65percent(3220Million),andthetop100ofover90percent.3Inatraditionalagrarianera,figuresaboutfirstlanguagesevolveslowlywiththeratesofpopulationincreaseordecrease,asnewlybornhumanbeingslearnthefirstlanguageoftheirparentsand(moreorless)replaceolderspeakerssilencedbydeath.Withtheriseofthenationstateandthecolonialempires,theprimacyofthisslowdemographictrendwasmoreorlessbrutallyupset.InrevolutionaryFrance,forexample,theAbbéGrégoirewasaskedtoinvestigatethelinguisticstateofthenation.HewasdismayedtodiscoverhowfewknewFrench,eventhoughitwas,hebelieved,theonlytruelanguageofFrance.Hethereforerecommendedthatoneshouldanéantirlespatois,annihilatethelocalidioms,anduniversalisetheuseoftheFrenchlanguage(Citron1999:13).Thiswasachieved,inFranceandelsewhere,basicallythroughcompulsorypublicschooling,asnotoriouslyemphasisedbyErnestGellner(1983),andalsotosomeextentthroughcompulsoryconscription,asdocumentedbyRogerBrubaker(1992).Thusaroseapowerfulmechanismofdisplacementoflocalbynationallanguages,astheschoollanguagegraduallybecamethelanguagetheparentswouldspeaktotheirchildren,partlyinordertobetterpreparethemforschool,partlyalsoinresponsetothegrowingintranationalmobilitygeneratedbyindustrialisationandurbanisation,andfacilitatedbytheveryspreadofthenation'sofficiallanguage.Asthetransnationalmigrationofindividualsandfamiliesexpanded,thesametoolofcompulsoryeducationinthenationallanguage,routinelycoupledwithastigmatisationoftheimmigrants'originallanguages,wasmassivelyusedtosecuretheassimilationofimmigrantsandtheiroffspring,includingagaininthechoiceofthelanguagetheychosetospeaktotheirchildren.Thus,thesamebasicprocessappliesinonecasetotheassimilationofnationalminoritiesstuckwithinthebordersofastatewithanofficiallanguagedifferentfromtheirmothertongues.Intheother,itappliestotheassimilationofethnicminoritiesgeneratedbyimmigration.Inbothcases,itcanbeaptlydescribed,using2IsMacedonian,forexample,adistinctlanguage,orisitjustavarietyofBulgarian?WhyshouldDutch(theofficiallanguageoftheNetherlandsandFlanders),andnotShwyzdütch(thefamilyofnativedialectsspokenintheGermaniccantonsofSwitzerland),beregardedasalanguagedistinctfromGerman,whenthelinguisticdistancefromHochdeutschisaboutthesameinbothcases?Clearly,thefactthat,atsomepointinhistory,apoliticalauthorityhappenedtobeinapositiontogivesomedialectadistinctwrittenform,cannotsettlethelinguisticquestion.3Seee.g.Wardhaugh(1987:1),Depecker(1997:110-111),Crystal(1997:286-7)andthewebsiteEthnologue:LanguagesoftheWorld.3Gellner's(1993:139-140)tellingmetaphor,asonethatgraduallyconvertsthelinguisticmap—andtirelesslyre-reconvertsit,asnewstainsappear—fromaKokoshkapaintingintoaModiglianipainting,fromamotleypatchworkofcolouredspotstoaneatjuxtapositionofsmoothsurfacesdemarcatedbyfirmlines.However,thisGellner-type,top–down,state-drivenmechanismdoesnotconstitutetheonlymechanismthroughwhichweakermoth