Abstract:Existing literature shows that power plays a critical role in influencing the language policy of international organizations (IOs) and that political-economic prowess of member states is the vital factor that decides power-language games. However, the influence from non-political-economic factors has been underexplored in international literature. In view of this, drawing upon data from 6694 IOs from The 2019 Yearbook of International Organizations and based on the type I classification, the current study attempts to analyze the language choices of the sample organizations, with focus on languages that are not prevailing in the world but relatively frequently used by IOs. The findings show that sphere of influence exerts impacts on the power-language game in two folds: whereas IOs with smaller influence tend to attach more importance to linguistic diversity, those with greater influence give priority to operational and communicative function; On the other hand, countries from different regions exhibit different attitudes towards linguistic diversity, and thus affect the power-language game in relevant IOs. Meanwhile, some other non-political-economic factors also influence such games: in IOs that are associated with particular nation-states, languages in these polities are adopted naturally; when it comes to professional IOs, languages of countries dominant in relevant fields or with active international participation would prevail; and in IOs that aim to help or aid some special groups, the languages in areas relevant to these groups of people would be selected. While such factors influence the power-language game in varying ways, they all contribute to linguistic diversity and integration of the symbolic and pragmatic value of language.
张慧玉,安雨晨. 国际组织语言权力博弈的非政治经济影响因素[J]. 语言战略研究, 2022, 7(2): 44-55.
Zhang Huiyu and An Yuchen. Exploring Non-Political and Non-Economic Factors in Influencing the Power Game of Language Policy in International Organizations. , 2022, 7(2): 44-55.