The Local Politics of Global English: Case Studies in Linguistic Globalization

by Selma K. Sonntag

Overview

The status of English as a global language is deeply divisive and hotly contested. The Local Politics of Global English analyzes linguistic globalization in five countries that differ greatly in both their degree of global integration and their use of English. By drawing on the work of language scholars and the growing field of globalization studies, the author provides a revealing portrait of how politicians, activists, scholars and policy-makers in the United States, France, India, South Africa, and Nepal are debating the questions that plague local controversies over global English. Concepts of hegemony and resistance, elites and subalterns, and liberalization and democratization are incorporated into case studies that provide insight into the politics of linguistic globalization from above and from below. Of interest to students of politics and culture, as well as teachers and learners of language, The Local Politics of Global English is a detailed examination of a timely and controversial topic.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780739157282
Publisher:	Lexington Books
Publication date:	10/28/2003
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	168
File size:	398 KB

About the Author

Selma K. Sonntag is Professor of Government and Politics at Humboldt State University.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Introduction: What is Global English?
Chapter 2 Globalization and the Politics of Language
Chapter 3 Language Politics in the United States: Projecting a Global Vision?
Chapter 4 Language Politics in France, or How Do You Say Junk Food in Breton?
Chapter 5 Subaltern Language Politics in India
Chapter 6 Language Politics in Democratic Transitions: Comparing South Africa and Nepal
Chapter 7 Understanding Linguistic Globalization

Editorial Reviews

The focus of Professor Sonntag’s book, local political responses to the globalization of English, becomes more important every day, and it has the potential to illuminate our understanding of a wide range of political phenomena. The book’s use of well-chosen case studies within a nicely framed analytical structure provides just the right combination of theory and empirical data to fulfill its promise. Theoretically grounded, empirically rich, written in accessible prose, and filled with deeply thoughtful insights and reflections, this book makes a substantial contribution to the literatures on language politics, comparative politics, globalization, and socio-linguistics.

Ronald Schmidt Sr.

Analyzing the global spread of English, Selma Sonntag demonstrates the political significance of linguistic globalization. Lucidly written and teeming with brilliant insights, Sonntag's study represents an important contribution to the emerging field of globalization studies.

Manfred B. Steger

In this study, Sonntag skillfully integrates a number of disparate concepts and ideas (such as 'hegemony,' 'resistance,' 'globalization,' and 'subaltern,' to mention just a few), and links them to the spread of English globally. In this she deftly reveals some unexpected, 'topsy-turvy' developments.

Harold F. Schiffman

By juxtaposing typologies from political science and language studies and applying them to five distinctive national contexts—France, India, Nepal, South Africa, and the United States—Sonntag demonstrates the complex relationships between processes of globalization and language use. Her lucid analysis demonstrates that English can serve both as a language of economic integration and as a vehicle of resistance to such integration and promotes careful identification of the multiple local forces that shape the social valence and symbolic resonances invoked by particular language choices.

Mary McGroarty

Sonntag's effort to exemplify complicated issues of global English and local politics is very valuable and timely. . . . This book offers a wonderful resource to anyone who wants to grasp a broad idea of the controversy over global English at the level of local politics and it will be especially useful to students in undergraduate course in political science, global studies and linguistics.

Journal Of Sociolinguistics