Language Rights and Disability Studies

Language rights discourses have rapidly evolved in Japan during the last decade. From an almost unknown term, it has advanced to a frequently used concept to address linguistic inequality. By foregrounding fairness in language matters, this discourse has expanded the scope of moral arguments on language diversity in Japan.

While initially being heavily influenced by international academic and political discourses, the Japanese discussion on language rights has gradually undergone some specific evolutions. For example, it is probably unique to Japan that the struggle for the recognition of the sign language has been one of the leading forces advancing language rights. Related to this is the most striking characteristic: the entwinement of language rights with the discourse of disability studies. The so-called social model in disability studies, which sees the cause of disability not in the body of the individual but in the society, has ostensible affinity to the idea of language rights which also focuses on injustices rooted in sociolinguistic conditions. The approach to add options rather than just change the dominant regime, or the emphasis on improving the legal framework are also features common to both discourses.

The concept of communication rights which came out of this synthesis seems to have the potential to overcome the limits of the internationally contested concept of language rights which typically seeks to provide a certain status to a certain defined language.

After a short overview of the language rights discourse in Japan, the paper compares this discourse with recent international discussions on the matter in order to assess whether and how the Japanese way of conceptualizing language rights can contribute to put forward the international discussion on inequality related to language.