Abstract
“Language and Markets” is the topic of this article, which examines their relationship in ten short points. Specifically, it addresses the interrelationship between res publica (the state), lingua (the language) and forum (the market). The establishment of both the res publica and the forum has often led to a decrease in linguistic diversity. At least, this is true if one considers the building of nation states. However, the same does not apply to European reality, despite the fact that the EU has succeeded in establishing an efficient forum and a common res publica. The article goes on to explore the general state of the phenomena of linguae, both in the European res publicae and in the European forum. It then explores the legal implications for national language policies when confronted with the four market freedoms in the European forum in detail. It concludes that the European forum does not seriously threaten European linguistic diversity, since a considerable degree of flexibility exists. In this respect the European res publica can learn from the European forum since the the former includes 20 official languages and preaches a rigid language system which will need some adaptation without putting linguistic diversity at risk. The author ends by stating that in the context of the very specific European “demoicracy” (a intertwined set of many democracies), market forces will not bring about the end of Europe’s linguistic diversity. Rather Europe will continue to offer a combination of a rather unique degree of economic unity with a rather unique degree of linguistic diversity.