Revivals, Nationalism, and Linguistic Discrimination: Threatening Languages (Routledge Studies in Sociolinguistics) - Softcover

Fleming, Kara; Ansaldo, Umberto

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1032082992 ISBN 13: 9781032082998

Publisher: Routledge, 2021

Synopsis

Is linguistic revival beneficiary to the plight of newly emerging, peripheral or even ‘threatened’ cultures? Or is it a smokescreen that hides the vestiges of ethnocentric ideologies, which ultimately create a hegemonic relationship? This book takes a critical look at revival exercises of special historical and geopolitical significance, and argues that a critical and cautious approach to revival movements is necessary.

The cases of Sinhala, Kazakh, Mongolian, Catalan, and even Hong Kong Cantonese show that it is not through linguistic revival, but rather through political representation and economic development, that the peoples in question achieve competitiveness and equality amongst their neighbors. On the other hand, linguistic revival in these and other contexts can, and has been, used to support nationalist or ethnocentric agendas, to the detriment of other groups, recreating the same dynamics that generated the argument for revival in the first place. This book argues that respect for linguistic and other diversity, multilingualism and multiculturalism, is not compatible with linguistic revival that mirrors nation-building and essentializing identity construction.

About this title

About the Author

Kara Fleming is Assistant Professor in the College of Humanities and Education at KIMEP University in Almaty, Kazakhstan.

Umberto Ansaldo is Professor and Head of the School of Literature, Arts, and Media at The University of Sydney, Australia.

Edition details

• Publisher: Routledge
• Publication date: 2021
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1032082992
• ISBN 13: 9781032082998
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 152