Who should be the master of my words? On authority and linguistic justice

Abstract

Most scholars working on linguistic justice within political theory deal with questions of distributive justice, but not with the question as to who should have the authority to decide over linguistic rules. However, the distribution of linguistic authority in a given community is a relevant issue. This is so because some distributions of linguistic authority might situate some (minority) groups at the mercy of other (majority) groups. Accordingly, this paper addresses three problems associated with language and the authority question: linguistic domination, the lack of interpretative power and alienation. My fundamental argument is that none of them can be addressed without including the authority question into the equation. In particular, the paper explores the relationship between mainstream theories of linguistic justice and these three normative evils. I show how these theories have difficulties addressing these phenomena and why including the authority dimension is a necessary move.