The discourse of language suppression and the contemporary university

Abstract

The spread of English both inside and outside of universities can be regarded as a consequence supported by a discourse of power. Here, this will be referred to as DANPI (Diskurso pri la Angla lingvo kiel Neceso kaj Profitindaĵo Individuaj – Discourse on English as an Individual Need and Means-of-Enrichment). There are five components to this discourse: (1) Learn English or perish!; (2) You are the only person who still doesn’t know this language; (3) Use your own resources to solve this problem!; (4) Don’t worry: English will open amazing doors for you; and (5) What ethical problem? English is neutral!
DANPI carries important nuances in universities, where those inside demonstrate more individualized ways of thinking than those outside the university do. Apart from the importance of DANPI on its own, this discourse plays its main role inside of a more complex process: language suppression. Therefore, this article will describe this last concept and the role that DANPI plays within it. In order to operate outside a purely theoretical dimension, I have two proposals. The first contains a number of actions that could be undertaken to solve the problem at the university level. That is, it is important to (1) highlight the fact that all native written languages are useful in carrying out normal university business; (2) stress the importance of research and instruction on concrete problems in local environments where doubtless the local language is more useful; (3) facilitate the use of Esperanto at universities when the international dimension is important; and (4) find effective solutions for those situations when those in a university environment feel the need to communicate internationally without using an international language. The second proposal is a collection of hypotheses which are worthy of research in order to improve knowledge and action for the goal of working together to highlight a freer and more socially just university, primarily though not entirely related to language issues.