THEORIES OF PEACE AND

CONFLICT AND THEIR

RELATIONSHIP TO LANGUAGE
(FRIEDRICH, 2007)

Camila Araújo, Felipe Roque, Joana Dresch,

Nathalia Wichan, Norma Caldas and
Vinicius Lima
 PEACE
 Problems in defining what is peace.

 Languages around the globe have different words

that can mean different kinds of peace: inner peace,
the absence of war and social justice.

 The concept of peace in Friedrich's book intends to

merge all those definitions: “The exercising of freedom.
As long as such freedom do not impair the freedom of
others.”
 PEACE
 Negative peace is the  Positive peace is
absence of war. A achieved through the
state reached through promotion of fair
diplomacy and social conditions. It is
negotiations. more like a “peace
building” than a
restoration of peace.
These elements are also present in language's world.
English is an example. It is considered capable of
replacing other languages and it need to be “prevented”
from doing harm. That is negative peace in languages.
 PEACE
 Positive Peace Through English can be achieved
promoting pacific uses of English through:


Respect for the linguistic rights.

The maintenance of an ecology of language (in spite of
using English as a global language).

The maintenance of cultural and linguistic diversity
(the legitimization of different varieties of English).

Language education.
 PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

 Negative Peace (In languages)

• An example of negative peace in language is the

use of non-sexist terms and politically correct
vocabulary.

• Changing the terms alone will not solve the

problem if the social structures that perpetuate
such inequality are not rebuilt.
 PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

 Positive Peace (In languages)

• If strong and just social structures were in place,

restoring peace would not be an issue.
• Therefore, there is a strong connection between
the pursuit of more equality and the
establishment of fair social structures in the areas
of human rights, ecological well-being and
awareness through education.
 PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

 Human Rights


Linguistic Rights: 1996 Declaration of Linguistic
Human Rights (UNESCO)


Accepting and respecting linguistic varieties
promotes linguistic human rights.
 PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

 Economic hegemony and economic well-being

• The spread of English as a new form of imperialism.

• Linguistic Imperialism: The dominance asserted and
mantained by the establishment and continuous
reconstitution of structural and cultural inequalities
between English and other languages.
• Linguistic Imperialism stands on the way of linguistic
peace.
PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH

Can imperialism be considered from a

linguistic point of view or, instead,
imperialism is a political, military and
economic mechanism of dominance which
employs language simply as a tool?
 PEACE AND LANGUAGE/ENGLISH
 Ecological Well-Being and Education
“The goal is to preserve not only birds in general, but
endangered species in particular. Therefore, linguistically,
ecological concerns should lead us also to work towards an
ecology of Englishes, Spanishes and other languages”

 Achieving this balance depends on efforts. One of the

most important is education.
 The school curriculum for children can reflect a
concern for language if topics such as language
change, diversity and endangerment are addressed.
 OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

 Structural peace: abolishment of unjust and violent

structures.

 Cultural violence (Galtung, 1990): using aspects of

culture (language, religion, ideology, arts, science)
to legitimize direct or structural violence.

 Linguistic violence: Acts against survival, well being,

identity and freedom motivated by linguistic
factors.
 OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

 Individuals or groups are often judged and

discriminated because of their accent, dialect,
proficiency or even the inability of speaking a
certain language.

 In most cases the variety or dialect is associated

with lack of intelligence, limited education,
laziness, inferior social status or poor economic
conditions.
 OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

“Every day, around the world, individuals are

told to change, ignore or suppress their
linguistic expression because of
preconceptions or stereotypes.”
(P. Friedrich)

Education is fundamental to extend linguistic justice.

 OFFSETTING VIOLENCE

 African American Vernacular (AAV) also known

as Ebonics

 The Southern variations of English in the USA

 Hispanic accent of Latin American immigrants in

the USA

 French X English (Quebec, Canada)

 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 Language is an important element in peace
process.

 Search for a language that promotes peace or

which unifies humanity (Tower of Babel
analogy).

 Creation of artificial languages to serve as an

“neutral” international lingua franca (Esperanto
and Volapük).
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 For long the idea of achieving understanding
through language has appealed to philosophers,
linguists, writers and teachers.

 View that sharing language leads to more peace and

tolerance.

 “Men did not only understand each other, but they

had an identical understanding of the world around
them” (Henry Prais referring to the mythical pre-
Babel wolrd)
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 English is considered the current lingua franca.

 For many the spread of English is associated with

political and cultural domination.

 Peace linguistics: relationships between language,

communication, education and peace.

 Researches helped to understand conflict

resolution, education is the essential vehicle to
disseminate such knowledge.
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 Conflicts of the twentieth century boosted the
study of peace within the social sciences.

 World War I, World War II, Vietnam War, neo-

imperialism, Cold War and globalization.

 Peace education emerged to respond to

“wholesale carnage during the twentieth century
with nuclear bombs, genocide, holocausts and
environmental damage” (Harris, 2004).
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 Need for studies that establish culture values,
beliefs and attitudes towards peace.

 Different cultures = different meanings of peace

 Translation or even the sharing of languages cannot

guarantee unity of thought.

 The widespread use of international languages such

as English brings the need to find models and
practices that allow for coexistence of languages.
 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT
OF PEACE STUDIES
 International initiatives to promote linguistic peace:

 MOST (Management of Social Tranformation) from

UNESCO

 Linguapax

 TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other

Languages)

 Terralingua
 PEACE LINGUISTICS AND PEACE
SOCIOLINGUSTICS
 Friedrich talks about distinctions between ways of
looking at peace, referring to Gomes de Matos’
work “Learning to Communicate Peacefully”.

 She also states another different way of looking at

peace, which she relates to the peace that is
negotiated trough the interaction among
languages, language varieties and users of
different languages and varieties.
 PEACE LINGUISTICS AND PEACE
SOCIOLINGUSTICS
- ‘communicating about peace’ –
central concern in peace education.
Are connected
- ‘communicating peacefully’ –
important focus for peace linguistics. and together can
help create a
- ‘peace that is negotiated trough the relationship that
interaction among languages, is probably as old
language varieties and users of as the language
different languages and varieties’ – itself
chief importance to peace
sociolinguistics.
 ENGLISH AND PEACE:
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

Relationship between language and

society

sociolinguistics = sociology + linguistics

 ENGLISH AND PEACE:
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
World Englishes:

 To understand English and its peace promoting possibilities

we should take into account the uses and the users of the
language.

 The study of English has been empowering people whose

lives are affected by English from documenting varieties
and arguing for the legitimacy of diverse linguistic
expressions.

 Peace trough language needs to be accepted as a viable

alternative to the suspicion that global languages promote
inequality and unfairness.
 ENGLISH AND PEACE:
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
Critical sociolinguistics:

 The denounce of English evils and its discouragement

instead of using some of this energy to, otherwise, design a
structure that would:
• Accept that the lingua franca roll is inevitable in this world
scenario.
• Investigate the weight of English in peace (negative and
positive potential).
• Propose both linguistic education and linguistic activism
as ways to linguistic diversity and linguistic peace, in a
world that needs a common language for practical
purposes.
 ENGLISH AND PEACE:
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS
 There’s proof that individuals have the power to
offset the potential dangers of hegemonic
languages.

 There hasn’t been a movement that, instead of

attacking English, establishes its real potential for
peace.

 Once one becomes aware of his role in promoting

rights and education trough language, he becomes a
potential agent of linguistic peace.
 ENGLISH AND PEACE:
THEORETICAL CONSIDERATIONS

“Language is a city to the building of which

every human being brought a stone”
(R. Waldo)

 We can conclude by this analogy that language is the

result of a collective process of construction.

 Globalization, the employment of lingua franca and

the death of several languages are also collective
processes.
 IMPLICATIONS
 To live in a world of respect for linguistic
diversity, we need to change not only our
vocabulary, but also the way we look at those
around us.

 The way to achieve the fairer social order we all

need is trough peace-oriented linguistic
education and other forms of peace education
that work together.
 IMPLICATIONS

“We need to make peace with

languages before attempting to
make peace through them.”
(P. Friedrich)
 WORLD ENGLISHES
 By the end of WWII English was elevated to an even higher
status.

 Latin American schools started adopting English to the foreign

language curriculum. Overtime, linguistic borrowings became
anglicized, indicating language contact and power.

 The Concentric Circles model presents three main contexts of

English use, organized according to the historical spread of the
language.

 The movement that has given English status is not complete.

 WORLD ENGLISHES
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 WORLD ENGLISHES

 English suffers an inevitable change.

 The use of the term “variety” as a political

statement.

 “Dialects” or “varieties” seen as inferior and sub-

standard.

 Author defends legitimization of multiple varieties

of English.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

Language purists:

 Standard English superiority due to educational

background and properties of the language.

 Language variations are not accepted as a

legitimate use.

 Prescriptivism; preservation and restriction.

 WORLD ENGLISHES

Defense of English variations:

 The use of varieties to serve as a functional tool.
 Language changes based on affective needs and concerns
should be consider legitimate.
 Social phenomena and socially agreed practices shape
language’s variations.
 Institutionalized varieties.
 Understanding and knowing different varieties and
cultural meanings within them: important to establish
linguistic peace.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

Globalization and varieties:

 English is not used for the same purposes.

 Centripetal force: brings users to a homogenized use of

English.

 Centrifugal force: originates innovation and language

change.

 Clash between the two forces causes diversity, changes

and wider communication.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

The users and uses of English around the world:

 English is employed by many for specific functions

and purposes.

 Not all users, to fulfill their needs, will have native

or native-like skills.

 Therefore, different levels of engagement with the

language on different realms is a reality.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

English in education:
 60% of all school students in Europe study English.

 Tendency to teach certain courses in English in university.

 Education through English permits a “membership” in a worldwide

community.

 Recommended to use English critically.

 Educator’s awareness of the power of English.

 Knowledge of English improves access to information.

 WORLD ENGLISHES

English and the law:

 Presence of English in legal systems of certain

countries.

 English predominance in international law.

 WORLD ENGLISHES

English in the media:

 Globalization allowed greater access to English

 Open TV x Cable TV = class division.

 CNN in Atlanta has versions in Spanish, German,

Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, etc.

 Counteraction: the spread of English always means

displacement and replacement of other languages.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

English on the Internet

 New linguistic rules.

 Local languages will be affected by Internet.

 Will English maintain its current status?

 The speed of growth.

 WORLD ENGLISHES

Literature in English:
 28% of the books in the world are published in
English.

 A strong tradition of postcolonial literature has

emerged.

 English has become a significant presence.

 Wide availability of English texts.

 WORLD ENGLISHES
English in the workplace:
 The teaching of business English.

 Unspoken subtleties + cultural differences =

clashes.

 To promote peace: the understanding of cultural

background of the parties involved.

 Miscommunication.
 WORLD ENGLISHES
English in Advertising:

 Advertising has a close connection with English

language.

 There are four reasons accelerating the process of

linguistic borrowing from English.

 Advertisers have to weigh the risks and the

potential gains of using the language.
 WORLD ENGLISHES
Advertising Peace: English as the language of humanitarian
campaigns.

Diplomacy:
 Diplomatic negotiations can go to a different direction of
what they intended due to divergent cultural values that
are not shared even though they speak the same
language.
 The important role of translation.
 Communicate national values in a constructive way is
appropriate.
 WORLD ENGLISHES

World Englishes and peace:

 When dealing with two individuals from two

different cultures there is always a kind of
preferable English to use.

 Relativizing the status of varieties according to

its use.
 WORLD ENGLISHES AND PEACE
 Peace within the circles:
• inner circle (native speakers) do - Ownership
not want to lose control over their - Status
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• outer circle has ambivalent -Identity crisis

feelings towards English because - Tension
there is a sense of domination and - Harmonization
Globalization implied
 WORLD ENGLISHES AND PEACE

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 WORLD ENGLISHES AND PEACE
 Overall, native speakers need to accept that English is no
longer in their possession.

 Second language users need to overcome the colonialism

and violence aspect from the past of the language.

 Foreign speakers must lose their insecurity to use

English as a tool they have acquired and not feel
ashamed about it.

 Peace, from the linguistic point of view, is intimately

attached to association of cultures with languages and
making them a weapon of communication and mutual
understanding.
 REFERENCES

FRIEDRICH, P. “Theories of peace and their

relationship to language”. In: ______ Language,
Negotiation and Peace: The Use of English in
Conflict. London: Continuum, 2007.

______. “English around the world: varieties, users

and uses”. In: ______ Language, Negotiation
and Peace: The Use of English in Conflict.
London: Continuum, 2007.