Language Policy and Language Planning: From Nationalism to Globalisation / Edition 1

by S. Wright

Overview

Language allows humans to act cooperatively, to plan and to remember. It is the prime factor in the constitution of groups as well as a major barrier between groups. Language policy and planning is rarely just about language; it always has political, social and ethical dimensions. This is a comprehensive advanced textbook, covering not only language learning imposed by economic or political agendas but also language choices entered into freely for reasons of social mobility, economic advantage or group identity. The first part of the book reviews the development and role of standard languages in the construction of national communities and identities. The second part examines the linguistic accommodation of groups in contact, major lingua francas and the case of 'International English'. The third section explores reactions to nationalism and globalisation, with some attention to language rights. The book further deals with methodological problems of working in this interdisciplinary area, and provides detailed illustrations from a range of countries and communities.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	2900333986423
Publisher:	Palgrave Macmillan UK
Publication date:	12/15/2003
Edition description:	2004
Pages:	311
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 1.25(h) x 9.00(d)

About the Author

Sue Wright is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Languages and European Studies at Aston University. She has published extensively on the role of language in nation building, European integration and globalization. Her latests books include Community and Communication and Whose Europe? ( with D.Smith).

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgements	ix
1	Introduction	1
Part I	Community and the Role of National Language	17
2	From Language Continuum to Linguistic Mosaic: European Language Communities from the Feudal Period to the Age of Nationalism	19
3	Language Planning in State Nations and Nation States	42
4	Nation Building in the Wake of Colonialism: Old Concepts in New Settings	69
Part II	Transcendence and Language Learning	99
5	Transcending the Group: Languages of Contact and Lingua Francas	101
6	French: The Rise and Fall of a Prestige Lingua Franca	118
7	English: From Language of Empire to Language of Globalisation	136
8	Language in a Postnational Era: Hegemony or Transcendence?	157
Part III	Renaissance and Revitalisation in Small Language Communities	179
9	New Discourse, New Legal Instruments and a New Political Context for Minorities and their Languages	181
10	The Fragmentation of the Old Nation States and the Rise of Small Nations	201
11	Endangered Languages	218
12	Conclusion	244
	Notes	252
	Bibliography	283
	Index	306

Editorial Reviews

'This is a fine book...I believe we need to reconceptualise this area of sociolinguistics and this a is a first step in that direction. Sue Wright's intellectually provocative book holds real implications for EU policies, for educational policies, and for governments that still act as they did in the nineteenth century.' - Christina Paulston, University of Pittsburgh, USA

'One of the best attempts to treat the subject of language in modern Europe I've ever read. Sue Wright not only masters the relevant details of European history but also the historical interpretations of those details.' - John E. Joseph, Professor of Applied Linguistics, University of Edinburgh

From the Publisher