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Introduction

Language democracy as such is most often studied within sociolinguistics and interlinguistics. (Sociolinguistics deals with language in society, while interlinguistics is the study of planned languages.) Other subdisciplines of linguistics, e.g. applied linguistics, psycholinguistics, English language studies, intercultural communication, and minority language research, are also very relevant for this area, as well as other disciplines e.g. sociology, economics, and jurisprudence.

According to Pool & Fettes (1998) there are five ways to overcome language difficulties in a multilingual world:

• World English: English could become "everyone's native language", coexisting with local languages - or it could lead to unilingualism and further language death (or some mixture of the two).
• Esperantism: A planned language (not necessarily Esperanto itself) could be used as "everyone's second language", not belonging to any specific ethnic group. If the planned language retains its non-ethnic status, global bilingualism would be the result.
• Language brokers: Using professional interpreters and translators to overcome language barriers in an equitable manner.
• Multilingualism: A world in which it is normal for an individual to be proficient in several languages. For this to come into effect, massive material resources have to be devoted to language teaching; conceptual breakthroughs in language pedagogy would also be necessary.
• Technologism: The use of computers for completely automatic translation and interpretation in real time, accessible for everyone. We have only seen the beginning of this field. New ways of communication could appear, in all or many languages, in only one language, or as non-verbal communication.

(Sources: The geostrategies of interlingualism, The Challenge of Interlingualism)

A researcher studying language democracy may watch how these five scenarios play out and combine in the present world.

In this section we will present resources related to the following areas (with focus on the European Union):

• Minority languages in Europe
• Multilingualism
• A European identity
• English as an international language
• Intercultural communication

In addition, we present research questions on language democracy, research institutions active in these fields, notable researchers, important reports, and a few bibliographies.