Dr Edward Clay
Research Fellow
Edward Clay is a Leverhulme Trust Early Career Research Fellow. He is working on a research project investigating the changes in EU legal language since the UK's withdrawal from the EU.
The impact of Brexit: a linguistic perspective
How has the EU’s legal language changed since the UK’s withdrawal? And what are the implications of the changes for the policy and lawmaking environment of the EU and the UK?
Ever since the 2016 referendum, researchers have speculated about the EU’s post-Brexit linguistic landscape, forecasting, among other things, an increased influence of other European languages, the uninterrupted dominance of English in EU politics or a further strengthening of the position of English as a lingua franca. However, these predictions are chiefly based on theoretical speculation with a conspicuous lack of empirical research.
In this research project, Dr Edward Clay seeks to provide an in-depth, data-driven, mixed methods examination into how the EU’s legal language has evolved since Brexit.
This project is supported by the Leverhulme Trust Early Career Fellowship.
About the project
About the project
This project asks a significant question given the political, practical and symbolic importance of language to many different aspects of the EU. The de facto source language in EU legal translation - currently English - wields significant influence and any changes to this will have wide-ranging implications for the development of EU legal language. A maintained or strengthened position of English in a post-Brexit EU could jeopardise transparency and pose a threat to the linguistic quality of EU texts with a consequential impact on democratic access to information and legal security of EU citizens. Given the close links between linguistic, political and legal elements of the EU, exploring the linguistic dynamics following the withdrawal of the country with the largest bloc of native English speakers would also provide robust data to support or refute arguments for reform of the EU language system.
A recent case brought by France before the CJEU, arguing for the annulment of recruitment notices on the basis that they favour English speakers as they are only available in English,[1] indicates the heightened focus on language use in the EU. Scholars have argued that the EU’s language regime depoliticises the language question, defuses a potentially volatile issue and provides for an equilibrium, playing a part in broader European integration. What effect, therefore, might the UK’s withdrawal from the EU make to this delicate balance?
Despite no longer being a member, any changes in the EU’s legal language are also likely to have an impact on the UK. It has been argued that the UK enjoyed a privileged position in relation to EU law since it largely originated in English, with native speakers often seen as ‘free riders’ benefiting from the status of English as a lingua franca. Indeed, the UK was long considered the guardian of ‘correct English’. Changes in the dynamics of the EU’s linguistic environment may well deprive the UK of its once advantaged position regarding its legal agreements and ongoing relations with the EU, leading to increased linguistic alienation and signposting a power shift in the political relationship between the parties.
This project combines a series of monolingual and multilingual corpus linguistics studies with ethnographic research at the EU institutions to provide rigorous, empirical responses to the key questions laid out here.
[1] Case T-572/23 France v Commission [2023]