English as the Supranational Language of Human Rights?
In: The Politics of English as a World LanguageSearch for other papers by Michael Toolan in
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Abstract
Two things are clear about the relations between language and the law: one is that all law is articulated in one language or another, without escape to a language-free condition; the other is that countless key terms of any legal system are profoundly bound up in the language-culture that sponsors it (consider, in English law and language, key terms such as neighbour, appropriation, torture, causation, recklessness, provocation, and many more). Globalization in general, and the international spread of English as one of globalization’s exemplifications, may be regrettable and undesirable in many respects. But out of this spreading nettle, global English, we may pluck a flower, if English becomes (unwittingly, of course) an agent of reform and fairness. Globalization and the pressures of a rights-oriented culture may enable English to become the vehicle for articulation and maintenance of certain worldwide standards of protection.