Language and Nationalism in Europe - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0199250855 ISBN 13: 9780199250851

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2002

Synopsis

This volume examines the role of language in the present and past creation of social, cultural, and national identities in Europe, considering the way in which language may sometimes reinforce national identity (as in England) while tending to subvert the nation-state (as in the United Kingdom).

The book describes the interactive roles of language, ethnicity, culture, and institutions in the character and formation of nationalism and identity throughout Europe. A select team of international contributors consider various questions drawing on evidence from the majority of European countries.

The book concludes with a consideration of the current relative status of the languages of Europe and how these and the identities they reflect are changing and evolving.

About this title

About the Author:

Stephen Barbour is a lecturer in German at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. His research and teaching focus chiefly on German language and the linguistics of German, but also include sociolinguistic issues in several areas, particularly in northern Europe. His publications include
Variation in German, with Patrick Stevenson (1990; German edn. 1998), and a number of papers on language and nationalism. Cathie Carmichael teaches contemporary European history at Middlesex University. A specialist in the cultural history of south-eastern Europe, she is co-author (with James Gow)
of Slovenia: A Small State in the New Europe (2000), and has published articles on popular culture and travel literature. She is currently working on a history of ethnic cleansing in the Balkans, which will appear in 2001.

Review:

`This book gives an insight into why, historically, it has been so difficult to maintain a particular language and how some have even come to constitute a barrier to communication'
Times Higher Education Supplement

`The study's emphasis on history would make the book a good companion text or resource for a course on the historical development of literary languages. Also, the large number of succinct definitions of relevant linguistic and sociological terminology ... make the book well-suited to students
and accessible to non-linguists.'
Linguist List 12.1554

`Review from previous edition A well-written, well-edited volume, with a wealth of information for linguists and non-linguists alike.'
Linguist List 12.1554

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0199250855
• ISBN 13: 9780199250851
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Barbour Stephen