Strategies of reframing language policy in the liberal state: A recursive model

Political liberalism is frequently invoked in policy debates in the Western world even as Interpretation and application of the individual tenets vary. Drawing upon recent invocations of liberalism among policy leaders and groups, this article seeks to tease out some of the interpretational differences of liberalism, noting how liberalism is invoked to support radically different language policy agendas. The authors discuss the importance of understanding liberalism as a cognitive frame that shapes relations of meaning with both productive and reductive consequences especially vis-a-vis what they term “language-positive liberalism.” The authors argue that three specific strategies of political engagement emerge from such understanding. Building on the work of Stroud (2010), the authors offer a model that highlights the recursive nature of political and sociolinguistic discourses. Keywords: Political liberalism; sociolinguistics; cognitive framing; language rights; language planning; discourse; multilingualism; folk linguistics; language variety