impEct No. 14/2 - European multilingualism

European multilingualism

This issue 14, 2 / 2025 documents the 20th anniversary of impEct. The capital "E" has increasingly proven to be the constant in the articles: The topic of "Europe" has been dealt with in its breadth, but above all in its depth.

It should also be mentioned that issue 14 is now in its second version. After the first publication in September 2025, I received an offer from the President of the Observatoire européen du plurilinguisme, Mr. Christian Tremblay, to submit a French translation of my text "European Multilingualism". My exposé had already been referenced on the Observatoire's website; with the translation into French, the text should be more widely disseminated. However, my translation work was accompanied by a comprehensive revision of the text: I had to make corrections, close argumentative gaps and, above all, strive for good comprehensibility, because the New Phenomenology founded by Hermann Schmitz works with its own terminology. The translations of relevant Schmitz works into French, which have been continuously presented since 2016 by the Germanist and ethnologist Jean-Louis Georget (University of Paris 3) and the philosopher Philippe Grosos (University of Poitiers), have been a great help. As a result, the German and French versions of my essay now presented contain significant improvements compared to my earlier publications.

Is multilingualism a linguistic topic? Yes and no! Yes, insofar as it has to do with language(s). No, insofar as it also has to do with phenomena of human life - with bodily communication, atmospheres, situations, affective evidence - about which linguistics can say nothing. The reason for this ambivalence can be seen in the fact that, in addition to the functional multilingualism that we use for certain purposes, there is also and above all affective multilingualism. This refers to the subjectively affecting encounter with a language that takes hold of me atmospherically and makes me suddenly realize: this belongs to me!

Werner Müller-Pelzer: European multilingualism. On the convergence herméneutique of different styles of Europeanization. A new phenomenological approach(Opens in a new tab)

Werner Müller-Pelzer: Du plurilinguisme européen. Considérations sur la convergence herméneutique de différents styles d'européanization. Une approche néo-phénoménologique(Opens in a new tab)