Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe : : Gaelic and Sorbian Perspectives / / Konstanze Glaser.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter MultiLingual Matters Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Glaser, Konstanze,
• MitwirkendeR: Kangas, Tove Skutnabb-,
• Place / Publishing House: Bristol ;, Blue Ridge Summit : : Multilingual Matters, , [2007]; ©2007
• Year of Publication: 2007
• Language: English
• Series: Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (416 p.)

To what extent is linguistic continuity a prerequisite for ethno-cultural survival? Focusing on the Gaelic community in Scotland and the Sorbs of Lusatia, this study illuminates core assumptions and rationales in relation to minority language revitalisation ideologies in Scotland and Germany and shows how they have been affected by assimilation processes arising from modernisation and globalisation. A thorough review of relevant theoretical debates is followed by a presentation of historical contexts and a detailed analysis of contemporary discourses about bilingualism, cultural difference and ethno-cultural belonging within the Gaelic and Sorbian communities. Drawing on more than 100 interviews, a questionnaire survey and a wide range of comments by Gaelic and Sorbian speakers in the media, the author identifies current ideological faultlines in Gaelic and Sorbian activist circles and argues that minority language planners must critically engage with competing theoretical paradigms if revitalisation efforts are to be successful.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Series Editor’s Foreword -- Acknowledgements -- Abbreviations and Coding -- Chapter 1: Introduction -- Chapter 2: Ethnocultural Minorities in Europe: The Political Context -- Chapter 3: Multilingualism as Premise of Cultural Diversity: Theories on Language, Thought and Culture from the Enlightenment to the Present -- Chapter 4: Gaelic in Scotland -- Chapter 5: Sorbian in Lusatia -- Chapter 6: Language Metaphysics on the Ground: Gaelic and Sorbian in Relation to Thought, Culture and Self -- Chapter 7: Narratives of Continuity: Language as a Unifier -- Chapter 8: The (Re)Production of Difference: Language as Source of Social Boundaries -- Chapter 9: Conclusion -- Bibliography -- Appendix A: Scotland and Ireland from a Gaelic perspective -- Appendix B: Shares of Gaelic speakers in local populations (parish-level) in 2001 -- Appendix C: Slavic territories to the west of the River Oder in the 10th and 11th centuries -- Appendix D: Areas with significant numbers of Sorbian/Wendish speakers (1999) -- Appendix E: Gaelic-related Questionnaire (English version) -- Appendix F: Sorbian-related Questionnaire (German version) -- Index