Language and social change in Central Europe : discourses on policy, identity and the German language / Patrick Stevenson and Jenny Carl.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Stevenson, Patrick.

Contributor:

Carl, Jenny.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Language and history--Europe, Central.

Language and history.

German language--Europe, Central.

German language.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (vii, 292 pages) : digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Edinburgh University Press, c2010.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

This book explores the dynamics of language and social change in central Europe in the context of the end of the Cold War and eastern expansion of the European Union. One outcome of the profound social transformations in central Europe since the Second World War has been the reshaping of the relationship between particular languages and linguistic varieties, especially between 'national' languages and regional or ethnic minority languages. Previous studies have investigated these transformed relationships from the macro perspective of language policies, while others have taken more fine-grained approaches to individual experiences with language. Combining these two perspectives for the first time--and focusing on the German language, which has a uniquely complex and problematic history in the region--the authors offer an understanding of the complex constellation of language politics in central Europe. Stevenson and Carl's analysis draws on a range of theoretical, conceptual and analytical approaches - language ideologies, language policy, positioning theory, discourse analysis, narrative analysis and life histories - and a wide range of data sources, from European and national language policies to individual language biographies. The authors demonstrate how the relationship between German and other languages has played a crucial role in the politics of language and processes of identity formation in the recent history of central Europe.

Contents:

Discourses on language in social life : theoretical and methodological orientations

Sociolinguistic histories and the footprint of German in eastern central Europe

Language policy discourses : interventions and intersections

Language (auto)biographies : narrating multilingual selves

Language ideologies : negotiating linguistic identities.

Notes:

Title from publisher's bibliographic system (viewed on 02 Oct 2015).

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786612749650

9780748671472

0748671471

9781282749658

128274965X

9780748635993

0748635998

OCLC:

664801187