In the Crossfire of Language Planning and Language Shaming: Challenges for Social Justice and Deaf Communities in Sweden

This conceptual article develops language-shaming ideology as a framework for explaining how formal recognition of Swedish Sign Language (STS) can coexist with its institutional subordination. Drawing on Swedish legislation, educational policy, public-sector classifications, and previous research, it examines status, acquisition, and attitude planning. The analysis shows how measures that promote STS may simultaneously position it as a disability-related communication resource whose provision depends on individually assessed need. Language-shaming ideology is distinguished from overt language-shaming practices, linguistic shame, linguistic discrimination, and ableism, while their intersections are clarified. Across the three planning domains, spoken Swedish and hearing participation remain institutionally unmarked, whereas access to STS is frequently conditional, time-limited, or confined to specialized settings. Advancing social justice therefore requires more than formal recognition: it requires institutional arrangements that recognize STS as a natural and collectively held language and provide equitable opportunities to learn, develop, and use it.