Minority languages in Europe. Frameworks, status, prospects

Abstract:

The impact of globalisation may be seen most of all in the field of language and presents real threats to the survival of minority languages. This work presents a collection of essays which focus on the current status of minority languages in a 'Europe of the regions', their future prospects in the face of continuing European integration, and the effectiveness of current measures to protect future linguistic and cultural diversity.

The essays are grouped in three parts following an introductory pair. The first group concentrates on different social, political and legal structures that determine the context in which language policy is formulated and implemented. The second group features a number of case studies on areas which have experienced recent reassertion of previously subdued minority cultures, such as ethnic Germans in Central and Eastern Europe, Baltic minorities, Croatia, the Catalan, Basque and Galician minorities in Spain, the growing importance of sign language, and the particularities of non-territorial minority language as in the case of Romani. The concluding chapter examines the links between nationalism, language and democracy in Europe and the routes of legitimation and institutionalism by which majority languages have become dominant and the minority ones have lost out.

The work will interest teachers, students, politicians and scholars engaged in multilingualism, language policy and language planning.

Gabrielle Hogan-Brun is Research Fellow in Language Studies at the University of Bristol.

Stefan Wolff is Reader in the Department of European Studies, University of Bath.