Language Minorities

Legal concepts such as a national, official, or global language indicate a certain type of linguistic power relationship, one that defines linguistic dominance and inevitably creates minority languages and, thereby, [Page 917]linguistic minorities. This situation may contribute to language shift, language erosion, and, eventually, language death. Although the law can protect linguistic minorities, such attempts are a comparatively new phenomenon. National or international law does not protect most minority languages. Legal protection may take the form of group rights or individual rights. In the presence of cultural change and hybridization, it is, however, not at all clear whether law should attempt to preserve “endangered languages,” and, if so, at what cost.