Multilingualism in Finland: A Legal Perspective

Multilingualism is an increasingly frequent societal phenomenon. More and more societies and individuals are, or have become, multilingual. Legislation is an important tool for language policy and, ultimately, language environment. Yet, it seems that little research has been dedicated to multilingualism from a legal framework perspective. The law is, generally speaking, blind to language. This means that the legal framework rarely takes into account the co-existence of several languages in a society other than national languages. In addition, there are altogether relatively few provisions regarding what language shall be used in which contexts. The article focuses on multilingualism in Finland where the cornerstone for the Finnish language policy of the country is laid down in the Constitution. Multilingualism is particularly interesting in a bilingual country Finland that has a long and solid history of language legislation. The country has over a few decades undergone change and rapidly developed into a multilingual country. This article examines whether the Finnish current legislation enables and supports the societal multilingualism or poses restrictions on the parallel use of several languages. Another more fundamental question discussed in this article is if societal multilingualism sets new demands on the national legislation.

Assimilation via Liberal Individualism: Law and Language Policy in the USA

This essay describes and analyzes the legal regime of the United States in relation to language diversity. The article argues that the U.S. case in language law indicates that, under certain conditions, a liberal individualistic legal regime – marked by equal “freedom of choice” in respect to language use – can nevertheless serve as an agency of linguistic assimilation in a multilingual country.

An Exercise in Legal Honesty: Re-writing the Court of Justice and the Bundesverfassungsgericht. IHS Political Science Series No. 136, February 2014

At a time of crisis – a true state of emergency – both the Court of Justice of the European Union and the German Federal Constitutional Court have failed the rule of law in Europe. Worse still, in their evaluation of the ersatz crisis law, which has been developed in response to financial and sovereign debt crises, both courts have undermined constitutionality throughout Europe. Each jurisdiction has been implicated within the techocratisation of democratic process. Each Court has contributed to an incremental process of the undermining of the political subjectivity of European Citizens. The results are depressing for lawyers who are still attached to notions of constitutionality. Yet, we must also ask whether the Courts could have acted otherwise. Given the original flaws in the construction of Economic and Monetary Union, as well as the politically pre-emptive constraints imposed by global financial markets, each Court might thus be argued to have been forced to suspend immediate legality in a longer term effort to secure the character of the legal jurisdiction as a whole. Crisis can and does defeat the law. Nevertheless, what continues to disturb is the failure of law in Europe to open up any perspective for a return to normal constitutionality post crisis, as well as its apparent inability to give proper and honest consideration to the hardship now being experienced by millions of Europeans within crisis. This contribution accordingly seeks to reimagine each Judgment in a language of legal honesty. Above all, this contribution seeks to suggest a new form of post-national constitutional language; a language which takes as its primary function, proper protection of democratic process against the ever encroaching powers of a post-national executive power. This contribution forms a part of an on-going effort to identify a new basis for the legitimacy of European Law, conducted jointly and severally with Christian Joerges, University of Bremen and Hertie School of Government, Berlin. Differences do remain in our theoretical positions; hence this individual essay. Nevertheless, the congruence between pluralist and conflict of law approaches to the topic are also readily apparent. See, for example, Everson & Joerges (2013).

Hindustani self-taught. With English phonetic pronunciation. Containing alphabet and pronunciation - vocabularies - idiomatic phrases & dialogues - travel talk - military, legal, religious, commercial, shooting, fishing terms - Indian titles, castes, servants - money, weights, measures.

Mode of access: Internet.

Refining Child Pornography Law : Crime, Language, and Social Consequences /

The legal definition of child pornography is, at best, unclear. In part because of this ambiguity and in part because of the nature of the crime itself, the prosecution and sentencing of perpetrators, the protection of and restitution for victims, and the means for preventing repeat offenses are deeply controversial. In an effort to clarify the questions and begin to formulate answers, in this volume, experts in law, sociology, and social examine child pornography law and its consequences. Focusing on the roles of language and crime definition, the contributors present a range of views about the increasingly visible role that child pornography plays in the national conversation on child safety, as well as the wisdom of the punishment of those who produce, distribute, and possess materials which may be considered child pornography.

A legal perspective of integrated surface mining, solid waste landfill reclamation and land conservation

In the area of international environmental law this thesis proposes the formulation of one-step planning and permitting regulation for the integrated utilisation of new surface mines as depositories for municipal solid waste. Additionally, the utilisation of abandoned and currently operated surface mines is proposed as solid waste landfills as an integral step in their reclamation. Existing laws, litigation and issues in the United Kingdom, the U.S. and Canada are discussed because of their common legal system, language and heritage. The critical shortage of approved space for disposal of solid waste has caused an urgent and growing problem for both the waste disposal industry and society. Surface mining can serve three important environmental and societal functions inuring to the health and welfare of the public: (1) providing basic minerals for goods and construction; (20 sequentially, to provide critically needed, safe burial sites for society's wastes, and (3) to conserve land by dual purpose use and to restore derelict land to beneficial surface use. Currently, the first two functions are treated environmentally, and in regulation, as two different siting problems, yet they both are earth-disturbing and excavating industries requiring surface restoration. The processes are largely duplicative and should be combined for better efficiency, less earth disturbance, conservation of land, and for fuller and better reclamation of completed surface mines returning the surfaces to greater utility than present mined land reclamation procedures. While both industries are viewed by a developed society and its communities as "bad neighbours", they remain essential and critical for mankind's existence and welfare. The study offers successful examples of the integrated process in each country. The study argues that most non-fuel surface mine openings, if not already safe, can economically, through present containment technology, be made environmentally safe for use as solid waste landfills. Simultaneously, the procedure safeguards and monitors protection of ground and surface waters from landfill contamination.

Gender, language and floor apportionment in political debates

Political debates are speech events which foreground issues of power and the `floor', and allow the opportunity of assessing the ways in which the gender of participants affects their construction as more or less powerful participants in debates. Debates in the British House of Commons are adversarial in style, making it appropriate to view the floor as `the site of a contest where there is a winner and a loser'. Previous research into political debates has found that male participants violate the formal rules in debates more than their female counterparts, in order to gain the floor. Although the canonical form and rules of debates exist to `permit the equalization of turns', rule violations are common, and inequalities between participants exist. In this article legal and illegal interventions are evaluated in five debates in order to establish the extent to which the gender of participants is related to the control that an individual has over the debate floor.

The origins of the foreign language press in Málaga

The settlement of foreign residents in Spain has led since the mid- nineteenth century the creation of a foreign language press in order to inform and serve as a vehicle for social cohesion in these communities. This article studies Málaga because it is one of the provinces with the highest current number of foreign language press in Spain. This research has focused on analyzing two of the first newspapers written in English at the beginning of XX century: British Colony Gazette and the English section of La Union Mercantil, Weekly English News.

Legal Translation from English to Spanish in the Classroom: Problems when Translating Standard Formulas of Expression

The purpose of this paper is to identify problems when translating standard formulas of expression in English to Spanish legal translation. To achieve the goal, a total of 250 Spanish translations were analyzed of 10 sentences from legal texts in English. The degree of difficulty posed by the translation of these formulas is confirmed by the results obtained, which is related not so much to the intrinsic meaning of the words that compose them, but to their contextual meaning. An eclectic approach that combines discourse analysis with contrastive linguistics is proposed, and some specific didactic guidelines are indicated to facilitate the translation teaching of these standard formulas of expression. Lexical interpretation and contextual recreation allow the apprentice translator to make progress with the translation of these phrases and to improve his/her attitude when facing them to achieve a successful semantic and contextual interpretation, that is to say, getting the closest natural equivalent while respecting the genius of the language.

Rethinking Copyright: History, Theory, Language

This book provides the reader with a critical insight into the history and theory of copyright within contemporary legal and cultural discourse. It exposes as myth the orthodox history of the development of copyright law in eighteenth-century Britain and explores the way in which that myth became entrenched throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. To this historical analysis are added two theoretical approaches to copyright not otherwise found in mainstream contemporary texts. Rethinking Copyright introduces the reader to copyright through the prism of the public domain before considering how best to locate copyright within the parameters of traditional property discourse. Underpinning these various historical and theoretical strands, the book explores the constitutive power of legal writing and the place of rhetoric in framing and determining contemporary copyright policy and discourse.

False Anglicisms in Legal and Business English as a Lingua Franca (ELF): A Process of Back-borrowing

False Anglicisms are words which technically are not part of the English language, but "seem" English, due to their shape or resemblance to English words. These are usually the result of new creations/coinages in other languages and/or semantic shifts. Due to the use of English as a Lingua Franca, it is becoming quite common to come across these words in English with the "re-imported" shape and meaning they bring from other languages.