State Traditions and Language Regimes: How and Why are Language Policy Choices Made?

Combining the concepts of language regime and state traditions with the tools of comparative politics, which include the concepts of path dependency and critical junctures, the article proposes an explanation of language policy choices in a variety of states. The authors argue that even if state traditions rest on the representation of the unilingual citizen, this representation is not natural or necessary. Thanks to the concept of language regime and state traditions, the article argues that the state governs languages and organizes linguistic diversity as it does with any other social goods and issues. The state governs languages through language policies. Without a dynamic approach to address the why and how of language policies, descriptive studies of language policies can become static and lack any explanatory value. Analytical concepts such as language regime and state traditions help place the empirical reality of linguistic diversity at the forefront of the debate on language policies. These concepts provide a new space for political scientists, including both comparatists and political theorists, as well as sociolinguists to debate language policies.