EU Language Policy and Brexit: Status of English after the Withdrawal of the UK

IR

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  • 欧州連合の言語政策とブレグジット―イギリス離脱後の英語の位置付けをめぐって―

Abstract

This study aims to analyze Brexit from the perspective of language policy studies. Brexit has transformed the linguistic landscape of the European Union (EU) since the largest Englishdominating state withdrew from the organization. After the withdrawal of the UK, no member state has English as its designated official language; other English-speaking countries such as Ireland and Malta have Irish and Maltese as their official languages, respectively. Following the UK referendum in 2016, a rumor spread that English will be removed from the EU’s list of official languages. However, English has been used as the so-called lingua franca in almost all EU institutions. It is unrealistic and impossible to eliminate English from the list of official languages. 　To analyze this inherent conflict, I describe the history of the EU language regime? complete equality of official languages of member-states?and highlight the skepticism toward the language regime. This study concludes that (1) Brexit reveals the ad hoc characteristic of the EU’s language regime (equality of all official languages); (2) The withdrawal of the UK, which seemed to be the“ withdrawal of English,” has undoubtedly advanced the acceptance of English.

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