Book: THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE (multilingual societies of Canada, Switzerland and USA)

[Scott McGinnis]

THE POLITICS OF LANGUAGE: Conflict, Identity, and Cultural Pluralism in
Comparative Perspective Carol L. Schmid, Guilford Technical Community
College

Important aspects of the history of language in the United States remain
shrouded in myth and legend.  The notion of "one nation, one language" is
part of the idealized history of the United States, although in its short
history it has probably been host to more bilingual people than any other
country in the world.  Language is more than a means of communication.  It
brings into play an entire range of experiences and attitudes toward life.
Furthermore, language is a potent symbolic issue because it links power
and political claims of ownership with psychological demands for group
worth.  How people belonging to different language and cultural
communities live together in the same political community and how
political and structural tensions arise to divide them along language
lines, are questions addressed in The Politics of Language.  This book
analyzes the historical background and recent controversy over language in
the United States and compares it to two official multilingual societies:
Canada and Switzerland.  It's accessibility as a survey of this topic
makes it ideal for courses in linguistics, political science, and
sociology.

May 2001   232 pp.; 10 line illus
0-19-513775-2 cloth $49.95
0-19-513776-0 paper $19.95
Oxford University