Robert Henry Lawrence Phillipson (born 18 March 1942 in

Gourock Gourock ( ; gd, Guireag ) is a town in the Inverclyde council area and formerly a burgh of the County of Renfrew in the west of Scotland. It was a seaside resort on the East shore of the upper Firth of Clyde. Its main function today is as a r ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

) is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Management, Society and Communication at

Copenhagen Business School Copenhagen Business School (Danish'': Handelshøjskolen i København'') often abbreviated and referred to as CBS (also in Danish), is a public university situated in Copenhagen, Denmark and is considered one of the most prestigious business schoo ...

in Denmark. He is best known for his seminal work on

linguistic imperialism Linguistic imperialism or language imperialism is occasionally defined as "the transfer of a dominant language to other people". This language "transfer" (or rather unilateral imposition) comes about because of imperialism. The transfer is consid ...

and

language policy Language policy is an interdisciplinary academic field. Some scholars such as Joshua Fishman and Ofelia García consider it as part of sociolinguistics. On the other hand, other scholars such as Bernard SpolskyRobert B. Kaplanand Joseph Lo Bianco ...

in Europe.

Education and career

Phillipson was born in Scotland in 1942. He received his B.A. in 1964 and his M.A. in 1967, both in Modern Languages (French and German) and Law, from the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. He obtained his second M.A. in Linguistics and English Language Teaching from

Leeds University , mottoeng = And knowledge will be increased , established = 1831 – Leeds School of Medicine1874 – Yorkshire College of Science1884 - Yorkshire College1887 – affiliated to the federal Victoria University1904 – University of Leeds , ...

in 1969. He earned his Ph.D., with distinction, in Education from the

University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...

in 1990. He worked for the

British Council The British Council is a British organisation specialising in international cultural and educational opportunities. It works in over 100 countries: promoting a wider knowledge of the United Kingdom and the English language (and the Welsh lan ...

from 1964 to 1973. He was associate professor in the Department of Languages and Culture at

Roskilde University Roskilde University ( da, Roskilde Universitet, abbreviated RUC or RU) is a Danish public university founded in 1972 and located in Trekroner in the Eastern part of Roskilde. The university awards bachelor's degrees, master's degrees, and PhD deg ...

in Denmark from 1973 to 2000. He has been on the faculty of Copenhagen Business School since 2000. He also taught at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen ( da, Københavns Universitet, KU) is a prestigious public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in ...

(1973-1984). He was Visiting Scholar at the Institute of Education at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

(1983), the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne is a public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in Victoria. Its main campus is located in Parkville, an inner suburb nor ...

in Australia (1994), the

Central Institute of Indian Languages The Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL) is an Indian research and teaching institute based in Mysuru, part of the Language Bureau of the Ministry of Education. It was founded on 17 July 1969. Centres The Central Institute of Indian Lang ...

in Mysore (1995), the

University of Pecs A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in Hungary (1996) and the Center for Research in the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities at the University of Cambridge (2005). He currently lives with his wife, Tove Skutnabb-Kangas, in Sweden.

Recognition

On 21 February 2010, Phillipson was awarded the

Linguapax Prize The International Linguapax Award is awarded annually on International Mother Language Day International Mother Language Day is a worldwide annual observance held on 21 February to promote awareness of linguistic and cultural diversit ...

along with Miquel Siguan i Soler. The Linguapax Institute describes them as "renowned advocates of multilingual education as a factor of peace and of linguistic rights against cultural and linguistic homogenization processes"."Linguapax Award 2010"

Books

* Phillipson, R. (1992). ''Linguistic imperialism''. Oxford University Press. * Phillipson, R. (Ed.). (2000). ''Rights to language: Equity, power and education''. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. * Phillipson, R. (Ed.). (2003). ''English-only Europe? Challenging language policy''. Routledge. * Phillipson, R. (2009). ''Linguistic imperialism continued''. Orient Blackswan. * Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Phillipson, R. (Eds.). (1994). ''Linguistic human rights: Overcoming linguistic discrimination''. Mouton de Gruyter. * Skutnabb-Kangas, T., & Phillipson, R. (Eds.). (2017). ''Language rights''. Routledge.

Articles

* Phillipson, R. (2001). English for globalization or for the world's people? ''International Review of Education'', ''47''(3), 185–200. * Phillipson, R. (2017). Myths and realities of "global" English. ''Language Policy'', ''16''(3), 313–331. * Phillipson, R. (2022). A personal narrative of multilingual evolution. In R. Sachdeva & R. K. Agnihotri (Eds.), ''Being and becoming multilingual: Some narratives'' (pp. 63–83). Orient Blackswan. * Phillipson, R., & Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (1996). English only worldwide or language ecology? ''TESOL Quarterly'', ''30''(3), 429–452. * Phillipson, R., & Skutnabb-Kangas, T. (2022). Communicating in "global" English: Promoting linguistic human rights or complicit with linguicism and linguistic imperialism. In Y. Miike & J. Yin (Eds.), ''The handbook of global interventions in communication theory'' (pp. 425–439). Routledge.

References

External links

Robert Phillipson web page

Dr. Robert Phillipson's articles, videos

web page in Danish

Keynote YouTube talk on Linguistic Imperialism

conference in french senate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Phillipson, Robert 1942 births Living people Linguists from the United Kingdom Academic staff of Copenhagen Business School Linguistic rights People from Gourock University of Amsterdam alumni