book notice: The State, the Activists and the Islanders: Language Policy on Corsica

[Harold Schiffman]

The State, the Activists and the Islanders: Language Policy on Corsica
Series Title: Language Policy
Published: 2008
Publisher: Springer
                http://www.springer.com

Book URL: http://www.springer.com/978-1-4020-8384-6

Author: Robert J. Blackwood

Abstract:

>The first monograph of language policy on Corsica
>Offers a historical approach to French language policy towards regional
heritage languages
>Positions the Corsican case within the wider field of language policy studies
>Information is drawn on up-to-date fieldwork undertaken by the author
>Includes data which feeds into a wider comparison of the situation in
other European countries

This analysis of language policy on Corsica provides the first study of the
three levels of language policy existing on the Mediterranean island of
Corsica. It focuses on the key participants - the State, the language
activists and the islanders - in the language debate that has taken place
across the island since its purchase by France. This book is informed by
recent work on language planning, both theoretical and relating to specific
case studies. At the same time, it engages with trends in sociolinguistics
over the past decades, which have included language planning in their
investigations of languages in contact, language obsolescence and language
death. A central premise of this book is that the three discrete categories
of participants in the language debate are closely interrelated and that
the status and position of Corsican in relation to French cannot be
understood without a thorough exploration of these three strands. This
volume will appeal to researchers and students in French Studies,
sociolinguistics, and especially language policy.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/19/19-2154.html
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