Language without Rights is a book-length critique of the concept of language rights. Synthesizing insights from a variety of disciplines, including linguistic anthropology, sociolinguistics, sociology and political philosophy, Wee demonstrates how the appeal to language rights faces a number of conceptual and practical problems, particularly because the discourse of rights is fundamentally inconsistent with the socially variable nature of language. The book also explores an alternative that is more in tune with the complexities of language in social life by suggesting that issues involving language are better managed within a model of deliberative democracy.
Lionel Wee is Associate Professor of English Language and Literature at National University of Singapore.
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: On Boundary Marking
Chapter 3: Language and Ethnic Minority Rights
Chapter 4: Beyond Ethnic Minorities
Chapter 5: Ethnic Diversity and Nationalism
Chapter 6: Migration and Global Mobility
Chapter 7: Language Education and Communication in the Workplace
Chapter 8: Language, Justice, and the Deliberative Democratic Way
Chapter 9: Culture Without Rights?
Bibliography
Index