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Abstract

Belgium is known for its beer, chocolate, and waffles. But a long historical divide has been observed between the three regions which are Wallonia, Flanders, and Brussels Capital. The divide can be defined as a separation of the regions due to a disagreement in the languages spoken in the regions individually and in Belgium as a whole. This divide has brought many political changes to the country, as well as the individual regions. One of the areas with the biggest number of changes has been language policies. One region in particular which has had strong views on the language policies is the Walloon region. This region is located in the southern part of Belgium, South of Brussels.

This research project investigates the impact of multiple languages on Belgian language policies with a specific focus on the Wallonia region. Language policy can be defined “as an official set of rules for language use in a country” (Spolsky, 2012, p.3).

This research investigates other sources such as Van Drooghenbroeck & Popelier (2022) who talk about language policies on a regional level, as well as national. Van Drooghenbroeck & Popelier (2022) discuss how language policies of today have been changed, for example in national government all the languages spoken in each region are represented. Van Drooghenbroeck & Popelier (2022) also discuss the effect on the collective identity of Belgium.

In addition, Van Ginderachter (2012) analyses the ongoing conflict between the Flanders and Wallonia regions which has resulted in many political reforms and is still prominent in modern Belgian politics (Moens, 2023).The research questions that will be discussed in this project are firstly how the historical and ongoing involvement of other countries has impacted the national identity of Belgium. The second question is why does the involvement of other countries continue to have an impact in Belgium and seeing if there are any other factors that need to be considered.

Course: Applied Languages - BA (Hons) - C0392

Date Deposited: 2024-09-20

URI/permalink: https://library.port.ac.uk/dissert/dis14459.html