Simon, ZoltánTőzsér, Zoltán2013-05-022013-05-0220132013-05-02http://hdl.handle.net/2437/166455This thesis aims: firstly, to present the language policy of the European Union and secondly, to examine the challenges and contradictions of such a language policy. In the course of the enquiry I attempt to find answers to the following research questions: 1) How can language policy be defined and why is language policy an important area of research? 2) What are the principles and declared goals of the EU’s languages policy? 3) What does the motto “unity of diversity” and “multilingualism policy” mean? 4) And finally, what are the challenges and contradictions of the EU’s language policy? These are the key questions of this thesis. To find answers to these questions, in the first section I will make an attempt to refer to the most important definitions of language policy. Then, in the second section I will review some of the most relevant academic literature dealing with the issue of language policy in the EU. The purpose of this is to highlight some of the main topics under academic enquiry. Next, I will briefly refer to the principle of subsidiary as this enables Members States to have their languages policies. Then, I will elaborate the European Union’s language policy by diving it into institutional and non-institutional language policy and then present Ahn’s (2007) language policy cubes for better understanding the language policy of the Union. The next section will focus on identifying the main challenges and contradictions in the European Union’s language policy. Finally, I will summarize the key findings of the thesis.31en-USEuropean UnionLanguage PolicyMultilingualismdiplomamunkaDEENK Témalista::Nyelvtudomány::Nyelvészetip