English and Bislama in the Vanuatu Supreme Court

Bibliographic Data

ID19535546
AuthorsCindy Schneider (0000-0002-8308-5729, University of New England, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume29
Issue2
Pages145-171
Publication date2023-04-14
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Journal of Speech Language and the Law (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 1748-8885 • E-ISSN: 1748-8893
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1558/ijsll.20899
OpenAlexW4365514584
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited9

Nowadays many postcolonial societies endorse multilingualism. But Leung (2019) observes how, in the legal process, ostensible linguistic equality may disguise substantive inequality. She characterises this as a situation of ‘shallow equality’. This article investigates the balance between substantive and shallow equality in the Supreme Court of the Pacific island nation of Vanuatu. Vanuatu is highly multilingual, with over 100 languages. Although the Constitution officially supports all languages, the court ultimately demands competence in English. To investigate this tension I analyse observational and interview data from the field, using a theoretical framework which incorporates language planning, ideologies and practices (Spolsky 2004; 2012; 2021). Results confirm Leung's thesis. The Court does support multilingualism – particularly the local lingua franca, Bislama – but a ‘shallow equality’ persists. Nevertheless, constitutional protections lead to more positive outcomes than would otherwise eventuate. Also, modest practical measures could be implemented to improve substantive linguistic equality

Constitution · English as a lingua franca · Ideology · Lingua franca · Linguistics · Multilingualism · Political science · Sociology · Supreme court · Language, Discourse, Communication Strategies · Law · Linguistic Variation and Morphology · Multilingual Education and Policy · Philosophy

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