语言价值、权力结构与国际组织的语言选择

国际组织的语言选择是其行政机构及成员基于组织特性、语言价值等多种考量因素进行博弈的结果。为实现国际组织的宗旨和目标，其行政机构基于国际组织的“组织性”特征尤为注重语言的实用价值，甚至以此作为主导性考量因素，英语因而在国际组织的语言选择中占据主导地位。然而，“国际性”特征要求国际组织必须兼顾语言的象征价值，这与其成员彰显本国语言的诉求相吻合。国际组织成员尤其是成员国的权力强弱对国际组织的语言选择影响深远，部分成员通过在特定国际组织中推广本国语言的使用来提高自身的国际地位及影响力。同时，历史因素通过保留国际组织权力结构中的正式制度对其语言选择产生延迟性影响，致使语言政策的变革滞后于成员之间的相对权力动态。

Language Value,Power Structure,and International Organizations' Language Choices

International organizations (IOs) have become important players in the international community, and their language management is vital to their operation. However, scholarly attention to their language choices is inadequate. To fill this gap, this paper draws on extant literature on language policy and uses data from the Yearbook of International Organizations 2019, specifically data about the language use of 16,077 IOs in 5 different clusters, to conduct an in-depth analysis of IOs’ language choices. Several findings emerge from this empirical analysis. First, IOs’ “organizational” feature requires them to attach great importance to the pragmatic value of languages, and their administrative agencies even prioritize it in language policy-making, so as to ensure efficient operation and achieve organizational purposes. This is convincingly evidenced by the fact that English, as an international lingua franca with prominent pragmatic values, plays a dominant role in all types of IOs. Second, IOs’ “international” feature requires them to pay attention to the symbolic value of languages, which is in accord with their members’ need for language diversity. As for members (member states in particular), the use of their mother tongues in IOs not only signifies respect, recognition, and identity, but also symbolizes their international status and impacts. Thus, many IOs, especially those in Clusters Ⅱ and Ⅳ, emphasize on the language diversity in language policy-making. Third, IOs’ language policies are profoundly affected by the relative power of their members. Because of the symbolic value of languages, IOs’ language policies have long been an arena for power competition among the members, and some states target certain IO clusters and adopt different language strategies in different IOs, so as to improve their international status and influence. For instance, the Netherlands increases its international status by promoting Dutch in organizational substitutes (Cluster Ⅲ) and national