LINGUISTIC DIVERSITY AS REGIONAL CAPITAL: AI-DRIVEN MULTILINGUAL POLICY IN ASEAN
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55197/qjssh.v7si3.1454Keywords:
ASEAN, language policy, multilingualism, sociolinguistics, AI translationAbstract
The language policy in ASEAN is a significant concern, primarily because of the dependence on English as the sole working language as stipulated in Article 34 of the ASEAN Charter. This classification enhances administrative clarity but has also exacerbated disparities in regional involvement, raising concerns over equitable participation and linguistic rights. Variations in English proficiency among member states illustrate wider sociolinguistic hierarchies that influence access to institutional processes and regional governance. In contrast, the EU has institutionalized a comprehensive regime that demonstrates the structural advantages of coordinated language governance, ASEAN scholarship has not yet systematically integrated sociolinguistic theory, legal analysis, and AI-driven technologies into a comparable institutional framework suited to ASEAN’s consensus-based model. This paper rooted in sociolinguistic theories that view linguistic diversity as a form of regional capital, proposes an AI-driven multilingual governance framework for ASEAN through Al-based multilingual tools for translation and interpretation. This study utilizes qualitative legal research and document-based comparative analysis to investigate ASEAN’s and EU’s language governance framework. A range of scholarly works and policy documents are reviewed to evaluate institutional flexibility and operational limitations. The result shows that ASEAN cannot immediately replicate the EU’s fully institutionalized multilingual framework politically or economically. AI-driven translation and interpretation systems can address ASEAN’s institutional gap in multilingual coordination. These technologies can enable multilingual access, scalability, and potential cost savings while keeping English as the core language. The study shows that ASEAN’s present structure and a right-based, digitally aided multilingual framework can promote more inclusive regional integration.
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