| The issue of language is a part of ethnic problem. Recently the problem of language rights has aroused the concern of the international society. Jurisprudential analysis of it can bring the issue into the view of the domestic circle of jurisprudence, and provide strong theoretical basis for the legal protection of the linguistic rights of ethnic minorities. The exploration will provide theoretical reference for Chinese legislation about ethnic minority languages. Because language is a part of culture, the exploration of language rights will be a window through which to examine the problem of cultural rights.The paper carries out the approach of jurisprudential analysis and probes into the problem of language rights in the ways of normative analysis, value analysis, document analysis and historical analysis.Chapter 1 explores the theoretical and actual basis of problem of language rights. With the progress of globalization, linguistic diversity of mankind is being threatened seriously more and more. Languages are special parts of cultures. Meanwhile, they are the foundation stone of cultures. Language is of vital importance to the surviving or disappearing of the corresponding culture. The lost of it may mean the extinction of the culture. To protect cultural diversity involves the protection of linguistic diversity. Languages are important vehicles of ethnic identity.Languages are not only cultural and linguistic and scientific resources, but also a kind of economic resources. Communication in one's own mother tongue is the most efficient use of the naturally acquired resource. To the contrary, to be forced to acquire any other language means the burden of time, money and opportunity costs. The economic values of languages vary from one to another. This does not contradict linguistic equality.Human beings use their own languages to weave the net of social life. Language is the essential resource for one to enter into societal communities. The legal world is the world whose working depends on speeches, and a typical world in which things are done with speeches and effects are achieved with speeches. Rights exist and manifest themselves in relations between persons. Language plays a pivotal role in the enjoying and realizing of all kinds of rights. It speaks for them.The use of language is so important. Moreover, oppression on language use happened in history and happens in real life. For these reasons, it is appropriate and meaningful to establish certain rights on language use. What establishes language rights isn't the internal value of language but the value of it as tool of communication and vehicle of identity.The problem of linguistic rights has been emerging in recent thirty years. Besides the concerns arising from the lost of linguistic diversity, it has its profound real backgrounds and academic ones. In the transition of Eastern European countries to liberal democracy, ethnic conflicts surged, many of them along linguistic lines. Language Policy plays an important role in the transition to democracy. As a super-national democratic polity, the European Union has being taken great efforts to develop pan-European democracy. But linguistic diversity is a main obstacle. Any response to the real challenges of building a new kind of transnational democracy has to try hard to tackle the problem of linguistic diversity. Within a nation, language is also central to promoting democratization and dealing with nationalism of regional minorities. In the background of globalization and informationization, immigrant transnationalism arising out of immigrant integration and the appearing of multiculturalism also give rise to certain problems of language rights. Within humanities and social sciences, especially politics, the concern about linguistic rights is the central problem of the theories of multicultural citizenship and deliberative democracy.Social life can't work without language. Among the problems language policy tries to resolve, many can be phrased as problems of language rights. They involve interior language use of state organs, public services, legislation, justice, education, private language use, immigrant and naturalization. Chapter 2 probes into the concept, classification, subjects, nature and features of language rights from the view of jurisprudence. The concept of language rights is a difficult question in the theory of language law. In the present paper, it is defined as a series of rights formed, with the kernel of choosing mother language (the language of the linguistic group) or other language or languages to use. This definition does not reveal the subjects or contents of language rights, but only the heart of them, which is the right or freedom to choose which language or languages to express one's own thoughts, feelings or identity. Language rights, legally seen, relate only to the forms of languages, not the contents of thoughts expressed in the language or languages, not to mention the valuation of the contents, whether they be backward or advanced, legal or illegal, honoring or relegating. Language rights are a bundle of rights, not a single right. The main purpose of them is to guarantee the freedom of right subjects of language use and to prevent public power of the state from implementing policies or measures with the intention of linguistic assimilation, and to enable concerned subjects to avoid language shift against their own will.Language rights have the characters of collectiveness, territoriality, non-exclusiveness, and infiltration. Among these features, collectiveness is the most fundamental. Many theoretical and actual puzzles result from it. Language rights are both individual and collective. All linguistic groups and their members, whether they are majority or minority, have language rights. However, the language rights of linguistic majority groups and their members are guaranteed by social rules and customs. For them, the enjoying of language rights is of course. The language rights of linguistic minorities and their members are the core objects that language law should concern about. Language rights refer usually to the language rights of linguistic or ethnic minorities.Chapter 3 examines linguistic rights in international law both vertically and horizontally. That is to say, to explore the developing history and contents of language rights in international law. The survey of the contents of linguistic rights in international law reveals that language rights in international law take on a nature of patchwork to a considerable degree at present, and hasn't been established as fundamental rights. This does not match very well to the theoretical claim that they should be basic rights. There are two possible reasons for this. One is the consideration of state interests. State is basic subject in international law. Many states deny recognizing that there exist minority groups or ethnic minorities, or oppose the protection of minority groups. They think that the protection of linguistic minority groups has adverse effects, undermines national cohesion and threatens state unity. The prohibition of discrimination and intolerance of linguistic minority groups accords with the interests of most countries, for it can prevent interior conflicts from outbreak, which does harm to international security. As a result, states can agree on a system of linguistic tolerance. But a system of linguistic promotion is seen as not conforming to the interests of most states. The other reason may be the managerial difficulties of linguistic diversity of the state.Chapter 4 discusses the normative or right-granting principles of language rights. Since linguistic minority groups were concerned about in international law, language rights, as a problem, has been troubling the governments and academic circles around the world. At present, language rights are indirectly guaranteed mainly through the principle of equality and non-discrimination, freedom of expression and right to education. In the recent thirty years, international society has begun to take efforts to codify language rights, and separate language legislations in some countries have centered linguistic rights consciously. What language rights should the state grant its people, especially those belonging to linguistic minority groups? And to what degrees? Before answering these questions, here the question of normative principles of language rights is put forward.The concept of normative principles of language rights is the principles as fundamental guideline and basic value rules when the state grants linguistic rights to the individuals and organizations under its jurisdiction. It is fundamental guideline governing the legislation, enforcement, abiding and legal supervision of language rights. It has great importance in linguistic law.Here the author puts forward tentatively the principle of equality and efficiency, the principle of collective right and individual freedom both emphasized, the principle of territoriality and personality both emphasized. And Weinstock's three principles of language policy are indorsed, which are minimalism, anti-symbolism, and revisability.Chapter 5 looks into different versions about universal language rights put forward in international society. In recent thirty years, concerns about the problem of language rights have been increasing, and different kinds of organizations and individuals have shown interest in it more and more. Most of them think that language rights are a kind of fundamental rights and have the nature of universality. Taking a route of universalism, they intend to reveal the general contents of language rights.For the time being, there existed no legally binding international law document in UN framework which specifically deals with language rights. The contents and ranges of linguistic rights are still in discussion. It will be a long way for the states around the world to conclude a legally biding universal document which specifically provides language rights in all fields. Chapter 5 surveys mainly a few documents separately addressing the problem of language rights put forward by western academic communities or international organizations. They have different degrees of representativeness. In the process of their formation, the academic circle played the main role. So, they can be seen as academic stands. In chapter 5, academic opinions in Mainland of the China will be introduced.By now, documents about language rights raised by western academia and international organizations are mainly as follows:1. Universal Charter of Basic Human Language Rights (FIPLV, 1992);2. Oslo Recommendations Regarding the Linguistic Rights of National Minorities (OSCE, 1998);3. Universal Declaration of Linguistic Rights (the International Pen Club, 1996);4. Universal Declaration of Linguistic Human Rights (TERRALINGUA).Within the Mainland of China, beside a few papers have dealt with the problem, cooperating with Norwegian academia, Chinese scholars have put forward the Beijing-Oslo Recommendations on Guaranteeing Language Rights of Ethnic Minorities.Through the analysis of these valuable efforts, we may find that it is unbelievably difficult to seek for more universals about the contents of language rights, and that it might be meaningless to talk about the contents of language rights abstractly. They maybe are contingent upon specific states, specific languages, and so forth. Chapter 6 discusses different kinds of measures by which language rights are guaranteed. Rights without guarantees and reliefs aren't rights essentially. In international law, some language rights are guaranteed according to substantial and procedural norms. Within a country, the protection of language rights entails state legislation establishing the contents and boundaries. Administrative protection, especially the use of languages of linguistic minority groups in state function and public services, is the key to guaranteeing the right of these groups to use their own languages. Governments' measures of social progress and development, education, training and propagation, establishing of necessary agencies will play a basic role for the protection of language rights. They need also necessary judicial reliefs.Chapter 7 checks guarantees of language rights of ethnic minorities in China, and makes preliminary evaluation. The situation of languages and their writing systems is complicated. Under the correct theoretical guidance, the freedom of the ethnic minorities in China to use and develop their own languages and writing systems is guaranteed effectively. Many fields of the state, such as legislation, administration, justice, education and pubic media give enough rooms to the use of minority languages. China enforces a policy of equality of all ethnic languages and their writing systems. In the protection of language rights, the principles of collective guarantee and territoriality are adopted. Chinese government's promotional linguistic rights regime arrangement and practice have indicated that language rights of ethnic minorities are positive rights. The Constitution and concerned laws of China avoid the two concepts of national language and official language. This takes sufficiently into consideration the equality of all ethnic groups in national symbols and is a wise decision. Finally, some fragmental thoughts are put forward about the future legislation on ethnic minority languages in China.According to preliminary survey, the paper is found to be the first dissertation for degrees in China. It systematically discusses the basic dimensions of language rights, such as its concept, classification, differences from and similarities to other concerned concepts. It puts forward the normative principles of language rights domestically and systematically for the first time. It introduces, analyzes and evaluates preliminarily and systematically the main documents about language rights by different international organizations. It introduces, analyzes and evaluates comprehensively concerned legislations and practice of China.
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