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Author: John Edwards
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027218668
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 242
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Book Description
The central concern in this book is the relationship between language and group identity, a relationship that is thrown into greatest relief in minority settings. Since much of the current interest in minority languages revolves around issues of identity politics, language rights and the plight of endangered languages, one aim of the book is to summarise and analyse these and other pivotal themes. Furthermore, since the uniqueness of every language-contact situation does not rest upon unique elements or features but, rather, upon the particular weightings and combinations of features that recur across settings the second aim here is to provide a general descriptive framework within which a wide range of contact settings may be more easily understood. The book thus begins with a discussion of such matters as language decline, maintenance and revival, the dynamics of minority languages, and the ecology of language. It then offers a typological framework that draws and expands upon previous categorising efforts. Finally, the book presents four case studies that are both intrinsically interesting and more importantly provide specific illustrations of the generalities discussed earlier."
Author: John Edwards
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027218668
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 242
Get Book Here
Book Description
The central concern in this book is the relationship between language and group identity, a relationship that is thrown into greatest relief in minority settings. Since much of the current interest in minority languages revolves around issues of identity politics, language rights and the plight of endangered languages, one aim of the book is to summarise and analyse these and other pivotal themes. Furthermore, since the uniqueness of every language-contact situation does not rest upon unique elements or features but, rather, upon the particular weightings and combinations of features that recur across settings the second aim here is to provide a general descriptive framework within which a wide range of contact settings may be more easily understood. The book thus begins with a discussion of such matters as language decline, maintenance and revival, the dynamics of minority languages, and the ecology of language. It then offers a typological framework that draws and expands upon previous categorising efforts. Finally, the book presents four case studies that are both intrinsically interesting and more importantly provide specific illustrations of the generalities discussed earlier."
Author: Stephen May
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 113683706X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 450
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Book Description
The second edition addresses new theoretical and empirical developments since its initial publication, including the burgeoning influence of globalization and the relentless rise of English as the current world language. May’s broad position, however, remains largely unchanged. He argues that the causes of many of the language-based conflicts in the world today still lie with the nation-state and its preoccupation with establishing a 'common' language and culture via mass education. The solution, he suggests, is to rethink nation-states in more culturally and linguistically plural ways while avoiding, at the same time, essentializing the language-identity link. This edition, like the first, adopts a wide interdisciplinary framework, drawing on sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociology, political theory, education and law. It also includes new discussions of cosmopolitanism, globalization, the role of English, and language and mobility, highlighting the ongoing difficulties faced by minority language speakers in the world today.
Author: Durk Gorter
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 940077317X
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 226
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Book Description
This book presents research on the situation minority language schoolchildren face when they need to learn languages of international communication, in particular English. The book takes minority languages as a starting point and it bridges local and global perspectives in the analysis of multilingual education contexts. It examines the interaction of minority languages and cultures, majority languages and lingua franca-s in a variety of settings across different regions and countries on all continents. Even though all chapters in this book involve minority languages, the issues discussed are relevant to any context in which more than language is used in education. The book reveals challenges and opportunities of multilingual education by discussing issues such as Northern and Southern concepts, language education policies, language diversity, interethnic understanding, multimodal language practices, power, conflict, identity and prestige, among many others. “This is the volume that finally accounts for multilingual education from a truly multilingual perspective by involving proposals and research from a variety of multilingual speech communities in the world. The (linguistically) rich Ethiopia and Mexico can teach the poor Europe and other Northern countries about multilingual education. CLIL promoters may learn from Finnish Sámi and Canadian Innu and Mi’gmaq indigenous communities as well as from Basque results. Speakers and teachers of minority and international languages will certainly be glad to hear the news. There is no need for a monolingual bias or tunnel vision in acquiring English in non-English speaking communities. This volume includes new challenging pedagogical perspectives while pointing to interesting conclusions for worldwide educational authorities”. Maria Pilar Safont Jordà, Universitat Jaume I, Castelló, Spain
Author: Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones
Publisher: Multilingual Matters
ISBN: 1847699065
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 291
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Book Description
As a field in its own right, Minority Language Media studies is developing fast. The recent technological and social developments that have accelerated media convergence and opened new ways of access and exchange into spaces formerly controlled by media institutions, offer new opportunities, challenges and dangers to minority languages, and especially to their already established media institutions. This book includes debates on what convergence and participation actually mean, a series of case studies of specific social media developments in minority language, as well as comparative studies on how the cultural industries have engaged with the new possibilities brought about by media convergence. Finally, the book also offers a historical review of the development of Minority Language Media worldwide, and evidences the areas in which more extensive research is required.
Author: Willem Fase
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing
ISBN: 9027282897
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 417
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Book Description
The papers in this volume describe a wide variety of language contact settings in which one or more languages are in a process of shift. In the first part of the book theoretical perspectives are presented, followed by linguistic, sociological and descriptive studies of languages and countries that have attracted the interest of researchers before, as well as less well known examples. Data are presented from: the Philippines, Korea, Japan, Israel, The Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Sweden, Spain, Denmark, Morocco, Finland, Malaysia, Germany, USA, Ireland, India, Tanzania and Australia.
Author: Pia Lane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317298861
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 252
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Book Description
The Open Access version of this book, available at https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9781138125124, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 license. This volume addresses a crucial, yet largely unaddressed dimension of minority language standardization, namely how social actors engage with, support, negotiate, resist and even reject such processes. The focus is on social actors rather than language as a means for analysing the complexity and tensions inherent in contemporary standardization processes. By considering the perspectives and actions of people who participate in or are affected by minority language politics, the contributors aim to provide a comparative and nuanced analysis of the complexity and tensions inherent in minority language standardisation processes. Echoing Fasold (1984), this involves a shift in focus from a sociolinguistics of language to a sociolinguistics of people. The book addresses tensions that are born of the renewed or continued need to standardize ‘language’ in the early 21st century across the world. It proposes to go beyond the traditional macro/micro dichotomy by foregrounding the role of actors as they position themselves as users of standard forms of language, oral or written, across sociolinguistic scales. Language policy processes can be seen as practices and ideologies in action and this volume therefore investigates how social actors in a wide range of geographical settings embrace, contribute to, resist and also reject (aspects of) minority language standardization.
Author: Gillian Lane-Mercier
Publisher: McGill-Queen's Press - MQUP
ISBN: 0773555889
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 361
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Book Description
In a context where linguistic and cultural diversity is characterized by ever-increasing complexity, adopting official multilingual policies to correct a country's ethno-linguistic, socio-economic, and symbolic imbalances presents many obstacles, but the greatest challenge is implementing them effectively. To what degree and in what ways have official multilingualism and multiculturalism policies actually succeeded in attaining their goals? Questioning and challenging foundational concepts, Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies highlights the extent to which governments and international bodies are unable to manage complex linguistic and cultural diversity on an effective and sustained basis. This volume examines the principles, theory, intentions, and outcomes of official policies of multilingualism at the city, regional, and national levels through a series of international case studies. The eleven chapters – most focusing on lesser-known geopolitical contexts and languages – bring to the fore the many paradoxes that underlie the concept of diversity, lived experiences of and attitudes toward linguistic and cultural diversity, and the official multilingual policies designed to legally enhance, protect, or constrain otherness. An authoritative source of new and updated information, offering fresh interpretations and analyses of evolving sociolinguistic and political phenomena in today's global world, Minority Languages, National Languages, and Official Language Policies demonstrates how language policies often fail to deal appropriately or adequately with the issues they are designed to solve.
Author: John Edwards
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139483285
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 323
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Book Description
The language we use forms an important part of our sense of who we are - of our identity. This book outlines the relationship between our identity as members of groups - ethnic, national, religious and gender - and the language varieties important to each group. What is a language? What is a dialect? Are there such things as language 'rights'? Must every national group have its own unique language? How have languages, large and small, been used to spread religious ideas? Why have particular religious and linguistic 'markers' been so central, singly or in combination, to the ways in which we think about ourselves and others? Using a rich variety of examples, the book highlights the linkages among languages, dialects and identities, with special attention given to religious, ethnic and national allegiances.
Author: Ron Schmidt
Publisher: Temple University Press
ISBN: 1566397553
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 297
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Book Description
Well over thirty million people in the United States speak a primary language other than English. Nearly twenty million of them speak Spanish. And these numbers are growing. Critics of immigration and multiculturalism argue that recent government language policies such as bilingual education, non-English election materials, and social service and workplace "language rights" threaten the national character of the United States. Proponents of bilingualism, on the other hand, maintain that, far from being a threat, these language policies and programs provide an opportunity to right old wrongs and make the United States a more democratic society. This book lays out the two approaches to language policy -- linguistic assimilation and linguistic pluralism -- in clear and accessible terms. Filled with examples and narratives, it provides a readable overview of the U.S. "culture wars" and explains why the conflict has just now emerged as a major issue in the United States. Professor Schmidt examines bilingual education in the public schools, "linguistic access" rights to public services, and the designation of English as the United States' "official" language. He illuminates the conflict by describing the comparative, theoretical, and social contexts for the debate. The source of the disagreement, he maintains, is not a disagreement over language per se but over identity and the consequences of identity for individuals, ethnic groups, and the country as a whole. Who are "the American people"? Are we one national group into which newcomers must assimilate? Or are we composed of many cultural communities, each of which is a unique but integral part of the national fabric? This fundamental point is what underlies the specific disputes over language policy. This way of looking at identity politics, as Professor Schmidt shows, calls into question the dichotomy between "material interest" politics and "symbolic" politics in relation to group identities. Not limited to describing the nature and context of the language debate, Language Policy and Identity Politics in the United States reaches the conclusion that a policy of linguistic pluralism, coupled with an immigrant settlement policy and egalitarian economic reforms, will best meet the aims of justice and the common good. Only by attacking both the symbolic and material effects of racialization will the United States be able to attain the goals of social equality and national harmony.
Author: James Griffiths
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1786999668
Category : Language Arts & Disciplines
Languages : en
Pages : 389
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Book Description
A New Yorker Best Book of 2022 A Globe & Mail Book of the Year "A stimulating work on the politics of language." LA Review of Books As globalisation continues languages are disappearing faster than ever, leaving our planet's linguistic diversity leaping towards extinction. The science of how languages are acquired is becoming more advanced and the internet is bringing us new ways of teaching the next generation, however it is increasingly challenging for minority languages to survive in the face of a handful of hegemonic 'super-tongues'. In Speak Not, James Griffiths reports from the frontlines of the battle to preserve minority languages, from his native Wales, Hawaii and indigenous American nations, to southern China and Hong Kong. He explores the revival of the Welsh language as a blueprint for how to ensure new generations are not robbed of their linguistic heritage, outlines how loss of indigenous languages is the direct result of colonialism and globalisation and examines how technology is both hindering and aiding the fight to prevent linguistic extinction. Introducing readers to compelling characters and examining how indigenous communities are fighting for their languages, Griffiths ultimately explores how languages hang on, what happens when they don't, and how indigenous tongues can be preserved and brought back from the brink.
