Minority Language Media: Concepts, Critiques and Case Studies

by Mike Cormack (Editor), Niamh Hourigan (Editor)

Overview

Since the founding of television stations in Welsh, Catalan and Basque in the early 1980s, minority languages have gradually gained a new prominence, particularly in Europe. As globalisation has developed, questions concerning such languages and the effect that the media might have on them have become more urgent. This book is the first general study of the many issues raised by this situation. Fourteen researchers from across Europe and the USA examine questions such as the media needs of minority languages, the role of the media in language maintenance, the impact of digital media, and problems raised by translation. Case studies range from the representativeness of drama on Welsh television to Sign Language in the media. Taken as a whole, this book establishes the field of minority language media studies and forms an important basis for future research.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781853599644
Publisher:	Multilingual Matters Ltd.
Publication date:	05/01/2007
Series:	Multilingual Matters Series , #138
Pages:	280
Product dimensions:	5.99(w) x 8.58(h) x 0.83(d)

About the Author

Dr Mike Cormack is a Senior Lecturer at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, the Gaelic college on the Isle of Skye, Scotland, part of UHI Millennium Institute, where he is Course Director for the BA in Gaelic and Media Studies. Since the early 1990s he has been publishing articles on minority language media in general, and more specifically on Scottish Gaelic and the media.
Dr Niamh Hourigan is a College Lecturer in the Department of Sociology at University College Cork. She is the author of Escaping the Global Village: Media, Language and Protest examining campaigns for television in minority languages, and is co-editor of Social Movements and Ireland.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: Studying Minority Language Media - Mike Cormack 2. Functional Completeness: Minority Language Media Provision - Tom Moring 3. Minority Language Media and the Public Sphere - Jacques Guyot 4. The Media and Language Maintenance - Mike Cormack 5. The Role of Networks in Minority Language Media Campaigns - Niamh Hourigan 6. From Media to Multi-Media: Workflows and Language in the Digital Economy - Glyn Williams 7. Speaking Up: A Brief History of Minority Languages and the Electronic Media Worldwide - Donald R. Browne 8. Minority Languages and the Internet: New Threats, New Opportunities - Daniel Cunliffe 9. Linguistic Normalisation and Local Television in the Basque Country - Edorta Arana, Patxi Azpillaga and Beatriz Narbaiza 10. Media Policy and Language Policy in Catalonia - Maria Corominas Piulats 11. The Territory of Television: S4C and the Representation of the “whole of Wales” - Elin Haf Gruffydd Jones 12. Translation and Minority Language Media - Potential and Problems: an Irish Perspective - Eithne O’Connell 13. Signs of Change: Sign Language and Televisual Media in the UK - Paddy Ladd 14. Minority Language Media Studies: Key Themes for Future Scholarship - Niamh Hourigan

Editorial Reviews

This is an important and useful book, which not only lays out the key concerns in the study of minority language media, but also suggests fields for future scholarship.

Burcu S

The role of the media in shaping the language we speak, and the future of a polyglot Europe, have been among the most important debates in cultural analysis and policy in recent years. This book brings together outstanding scholarship on the vitally important question of the media and minority languages, and provides much needed focus and analysis in an under-researched field.

Professor Peter Golding

This timely collection of essays has taken my understanding of the relationship between minority languages and the media to a new level.
The editors have done a great job bringing together old and new media worlds, historical and cultural perspectives, and geographical case studies in an insightful and illuminating way.

Professor David Crystal