book notice: Dominant Languages: Grillo

[Harold Schiffman]

Dominant Languages: Grillo


Title: Dominant Languages
Subtitle: Language and Hierarchy in Britain and France
Published: 2009
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
                http://us.cambridge.org

Author: Ralph D. Grillo

Abstract:

This book takes an interdisciplinary approach to the relations between
power and language. Many societies are 'multilingual' throughout their
history, but there is often a hierarchical ordering of their languages,
dialects and ways of speaking. These are rarely of equal status, power or
authority. Through a detailed and systematic comparison of Britain and
France, Ralph Grillo examines the concept of language dominance, and the
causes and consequences of linguistic hierarchy. In both France and Britain
language has been a major political battleground, and the study traces the
history of their various conflicts from the late Middle Ages to the present
day. By relating these linguistic struggles to the principal social,
economic, cultural and political factors at work in society as a whole, the
book demonstrates the continuity between small-scale, 'local' even
interpersonal relationships and general, large-scale processes. The
investigation brings together an unusual and rich combination of material
from a wide range of sources and a variety of academic disciplines.

Preface;
1. Introduction: the politics of communicative practice;
2. The view from the centre: France;
3. And England;
4. A view from the periphery - Occitanie;
5. The politics of language in Wales, Ireland and Scotland;
6. Immigrants and language: the 'Mother Tongue';
7. Immigrants and language: the issue of competence;
8. Language and social differentiation;
9. Barbarous tongues: the hierarchical ordering of difference;
10. Language, class, power, education;
11. Authoritative discourse;
Bibliography;
Index.

http://linguistlist.org/issues/20/20-1563.html
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