book notice: Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe

[Harold Schiffman]

Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe: Gaelic and
Sorbian Perspectives
Series Title: Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights 2007
Multilingual Matters
http://www.multilingual-matters.com/

Book URL: http://www.multilingual-matters.com/multi/display.asp?isb=9781853599323

Author: Konstanze Glaser

Abstract:

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.

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