The linguistic consequences of Brexit. What role for the English language?

Given the importance of the recent developments in the EU due to Brexit, NPLD has been following the issue from a language perspective over the past few days and has gathered several articles published by some of the most prominent newspapers across Europe on how Brexit might affect the linguistic regime of the EU. This weekly briefing will be devoted to this issue.

NPLD weekly briefing on multilingualism

Date: 01/07/2016

• Article published by Portuguese newspaper Publico and written by relevant professors on language issues belonging to the European Research Consortium MIME (Mobility and Inclusion in a Multilingual Europe) on the effects of English as the dominant language of the EU and if (and how) Brexit will alter this status quo. Click here to read the article (in Portuguese).

• Article published on Politico website on EU policy, which claims that English will not be an official language. Click here to read it (article in English).

• Article published by Spanish newspaper EL PAIS on the history of languages in the EU and the increasing dominance of English. Click here to read it (article in Spanish).

• Article published by Euronews on which language (if any) will replace English as the dominant language. Click here to read the article (in Spanish)

• Article from a British perspective – published by The Telegraph – which emphasizes the views expressed by one Member of the European Parliament (MEP), who claimed that if the UK is out, so is the English language. Click here to read the article (in English).

• Article published by the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on how English has been replacing French over the past decades and how Brexit might change this trend. Click here to read the article (in French).

• Article published by European online newspaper Euractiv on how English might remain as an official language because of Ireland and (maybe?) Scotland. Click here to read the article (in German).