Book notice: Europe and the Politics of Language

[Harold F. Schiffman]

The University of Ulster helped celebrate Europe Day 2006 with a book
launch at the Magee campus today.

Europe and the Politics of Language, by Professor Mirad Nic Craith,
examines the political context for language policy in Europe and the
significance of their social and political status for speakers of a range
of languages.

Professor Nic Craith, who is Director of the Academy for Irish Cultural
Heritages at UU said: This book calls for an interdisciplinary approach to
language policy. It focuses on the people who speak the languages rather
than the languages themselves.

There are many questions that need to be probed about the social context
in which languages are spoken. Why do some languages have world status and
others not? Why should speakers of official languages in the EU call for a
full review of the current state of affairs? Why is language such a
crucial issue for citizenship in Eastern Europe? What will full working
status really mean for speakers of Irish in the EU? What are the tensions
between speakers of indigenous versus non-European languages in Europe?
Who is European anyway?

The launch featured presentations by two other leading academics in this
field, Professor Patrick Stevenson from the University of Southampton and
Professor Seamus Mac Mathuna from the University of Ulster.

http://www.ulster.ac.uk/news/releases/2006/2192.html