Conference Agenda

This presentation introduces indicators designed to assess the vitality of Arabic in Qatar. Evidence suggests that Arabic in Qatar is undergoing a decline, driven in part by the cultural impact of large expatriate communities, as Qataris constitute 8.7% of the total population. Additional pressures include the scarcity of high-quality Arabic-language media, the widespread prevalence of international schools, negative attitudes towards the language among younger generations, and intensifying competition from global languages, particularly English. Despite these pressures, Qatar has yet to articulate a coherent language policy. A key obstacle is the absence of reliable vitality indicators, which are crucial for assessing the current situation and designing language policy to protect and promote Arabic in the country. In the absence of a widely agreed-upon definition of linguistic vitality, and given the limited suitability of existing international scales, such as those proposed by UNESCO and the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale, for the Qatari context, this presentation proposes an alternative approach. It is grounded in contemporary indicator theory in language policy and planning as presented in the Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning, and informed by indigenous knowledge—specifically, the linguistic insights of Sibawayh (c. 760–796). The resulting framework develops a set of vitality indicators for Arabic in Qatar, distributed across two Cartesian axes. The x-axis captures structural variables—external and institutional conditions that shape language use, circulation, transmission and preservation. The y-axis represents functional-symbolic variables—patterns, meanings and forms of language use within civil and private domains. All indicators are normalised on a scale from −1 to 1. Their distribution across the Cartesian plane allows us to identify five scenarios: full vitality, top-down vitality, bottom-up vitality, dormant vitality, and schizophrenic vitality. This typology provides a context-responsive and theoretically grounded mechanism for analysing linguistic vitality in Qatar and in comparable multilingual settings.

We use policy analysis in the sense of cost-benefit analysis to discuss and evaluate minority-language policy. This is the basis of Wickström/Gazzola (2024) and Wickström (2026, 2024, 2020).

Costs depend on size and habitation pattern of the minority, benefits on its size. Efficiency means that, by given budget, language rights be extended to the largest possible number of individuals. Allocating rights on basis of percentages is inefficient and discriminates against urban minorities (Wickström, 2019).

Census data from 2021 (Główny Urząd Statystyczny, 2023) are used to analyze the rights of the German minority in Opole voivodeship in Poland. Poland is divided into voivodeships, districts and municipalities. Polish law (Kancelaria Sejmu, 2005, Rozdział 2: Art. 9.2) specifies that a 20% rule be used on the level of municipalities to allocate minority rights.

We show:

1. the results of this rule are inefficient.

2. the allocations are unfair.

3. alternative rules can improve the situation.

Literature

Główny Urząd Statystyczny, (2023). Przynależność narodowo-etniczna - dane NSP 2021 dla kraju i jednostek podziału terytorialnego. Główny Urząd Statystyczny.

Kancelaria Sejmu, (2005). “Uszawa z dnia 6 stycznia 2005 r. o mniejszościach narodowych i etnicznych oraz o języku regionalnym”, Dziennik Ustaw Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej 17.141:1170–1178.

Wickström, Bengt-Arne (2019). “The percentage rule for minority-language rights: Inadequate or discriminatory”, Język, Komunikacja, Informacja 14:72–84.

— (2020). “On the political economy of minority rights.”, European Journal of Political Economy 64:101894.

— (2024). “Law and economics of minority-language policy”, European Journal of Law and Economics 58.3:457–479.

— (2026). “Minority-language rights.” The Palgrave handbook of economics and language. Shlomo Weber & Victor A. Ginsburgh (eds.), 2nd edition. Springer Nature: 441–466.

Wickström, Bengt-Arne & Michele Gazzola (2024). “The economics of language policy and planning.” The Routledge handbook of language policy and planning. Michele Gazzola, François Grin, Linda Cardinal, & Kathleen Heugh (eds.). Routledge: 158–171.

A growing body of research proposes to examine language policy and planning (LPP) as a form of public policy (e.g. Gazzola et al. 2024), which requires a robust procedure for the identification and, if possible, the measurement of the advantages and drawbacks of alternative LPP scenarios.

Typically, the identification part of the exercise recognizes the presence of both "market" and "non-market" (or symbolic) dimensions in LPP (Grin & Vaillancourt, 1999; Grin, 2003; Vaillancourt, 2024). However, measurement remains mostly confined to market effects; non-market effects are rarely measured, not only because of they are often assumed to resist evaluation, but also for lack of an established methodology (despite suggestions in this regard, often in relation with linguistic justice; e.g. Shorten, 2017).

This paper addresses the identification and measurement of non-market effects through the concept of contingent valuation and its adaptation to LPP. Though initially developed in environmental policy, it lends itself to broader applications (Carson, 2012). The paper argues that contingent valuation can substantially contribute to transparency, efficiency and fairness in the formulation, implementation and evaluation of language policies.

Carson, R.T. 2012. “Contingent Valuation: A Practical Alternative when Prices Aren’t Available”, Journal of Economic Perspectives 26 (4), 27-42.
Gazzola, M., Grin, F., Cardinal, L. and Heugh, K. (eds.). 2024. Routledge.
Grin, F. 2003, Language Policy Evaluation and the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. Palgrave Macmillan.
Grin, F., and Vaillancourt, F. 1999. The cost-effectiveness evaluation of minority language policies: Case studies on Wales, Ireland and the Basque Country. European Centre for Minority Issues.
Shorten, A. 2017 Fourn conceptions of linguistic disadvantage”. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 38 (7), 607-621.
Vaillancourt, F. 2024. “Costs and benefits of language policy: How to measure them”. In Gazzola, M., et al (eds.). 2024, Routledge Handbook of Language Policy and Planning, 258-271.

Through a framework of Transdisciplinary Critical Discourse Analysis (TCDA), which combines sociolinguistics, historical linguistics, postcolonial theory, and language policy studies, this study examines the paradox of Geez, a liturgical and classical language of great civilizational significance in Ethiopia, continuing to exist without native speakers. Using a combination of data collection techniques, such as linguistic landscape surveys, elite interviews with ecclesiastical and academic custodians, archival research, and digital corpus analysis of modern Geez usage, the study dismantles the institutional, ideological, and epistemic mechanisms that support Geez's symbolic capital while ignoring its functional revitalization. In order to prevent dynamic language planning interventions and to reinforce linguistic diglossia that favors Amharic and English in contemporary contexts, the TCDA exposes a hegemonic discourse that exalts Geez as an unchangeable legacy. The study also shows how state and church institutions jointly create Geez as a “frozen archive,” defying codification reforms, innovative teaching methods, or community-based reclamation, using the Bourdieusian lens of linguistic capital and the Foucauldian analysis of power/knowledge regimes. Emergent digital activism aims to reposition Geez within Afrocentric decolonial praxis, while rich ethnolinguistic data reveals generational attrition in liturgical literacy. By proposing the idea of "post-native vitality," a state in which a language flourishes semiotically and spiritually in spite of demographic extinction, the findings subvert traditional language endangerment paradigms. The article ends with a bold policy recommendation: a multi-scale, co-governed framework for revitalizing Geez that disentangles liturgical preservation from linguistic stasis and promotes its incorporation into STEM education, AI-powered natural language processing (NLP), and cultural entrepreneurship. This rethinking presents Geez as a living epistemic resource that can contribute to the diversification of knowledge worldwide, rather than as a relic. It also provides a model for the management of classical languages in postcolonial contexts where heritage and modernity are mistakenly divided.