29.822, Sum: Pluricentric Languages: Fundamentals

[The LINGUIST List]

LINGUIST List: Vol-29-822. Tue Feb 20 2018. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 29.822, Sum: Pluricentric Languages: Fundamentals

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Date: Tue, 20 Feb 2018 16:16:01
From: Stefan Dollinger [stefan.dollinger at ubc.ca]
Subject: Pluricentric Languages: Fundamentals

 
Summary pertaining to LingList Discussion 28-3400 (15 Aug. 2017):
https://linguistlist.org/issues/28/28-3400.html 

My query from August 2017 on the modelling of languages in a pluricentric
framework triggered only a couple, yet highly interesting contributions. This
return rate may have been owed to the high-summer time frame, as the topic is
otherwise quite popular. Here are the responses in summary:

Greville Corbett (University of Surrey, Guildford, UK) states that on the 
South Slavic Balkan language a ''heartening initiative'' can be found at:
http://jezicinacionalizmi.com/deklaracija/

The declaration states that Bosnian, Croatian, Montenegrin and Serbian are
four standards of one pluricentric language, and offers two English language
articles on it:
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/post-yugoslav-common-language-declarat
ion-challenges-nationalism-03-29-2017, 
https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2017/04/economist-explains-
4

Martin Stegu (WU Wien, Vienna, Austria) commented specifically on the
situation of Austrian and German German, which has indeed been complex. One of
the key ongoing problems seems to be, Stegu argues, that key sociolinguistic
proponents in Germany do not agree that the political dimension is allowed to
play a role in sociolinguistics, while many Austrian commentators (those
socialized in Austria) declare such function as a-priori. As the discussion
has been polemic at times, Stegu argues for a mediating middle ground. Wise
counsel, surely.

Meanwhile, I've continued to work on the topic as relating to Austria vs.
Germany and Canada vs. the US and have refined my own position. The main
problem I have is that the term ''pluri-areality'', which was coined in
express opposition to pluricentricity, is theoretically doubtful, to say the
least. It is, by all analyses I was able to find, synonymous with the
a-theoretical term ''geographical variation'' and is therefor no replacement
for a theoretical concept like pluricentricity. This finding has profound
science-theoretical and knowledge-theoretical implications. I recommend to
avoid the term ''pluri-areality'' and replace it with the original
''geographical variation'', leaving pluricentricity its rightful place in
cross-border modelling.

The following paper argues for this case in the Germanic languages (teaser
version only due to journal constraints):
https://www.academia.edu/35962423/Debunking_pluri-areality_on_the_indispensibl
e_pluricentric_perspective_in_Germanic_languages 

There is also a short monograph forthcoming on the same topic a the paper
(book proposal, not the finished manuscript):
https://www.academia.edu/35786982/The_Pluricentricity_Debate_On_Parallels_Diff
erences_and_Distortions_in_German_versus_English_and_other_languages

The latter features an open discussion, which will last for another two week.

I hope you'll find these sources useful.

With apologies for the delay, and thanks to all those who contributed or
considered to do so.

Sincerely,

Stefan D.
 

Linguistic Field(s): Anthropological Linguistics
                     Applied Linguistics
                     Computational Linguistics
                     Discipline of Linguistics
                     Discourse Analysis
                     General Linguistics
                     Historical Linguistics
                     History of Linguistics
                     Language Documentation
                     Sociolinguistics
                     Text/Corpus Linguistics



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