Minority Language Promotion, Protection and Regulation : The Mask of Piety

This is an analysis of the promises and contradictions surrounding contemporary minority language policy. It draws on theoretical and real-world perspectives and interviews with key players within European institutions together with field work undertaken principally in Ireland, Scotland, Wales, the Basque Country, Catalonia and Canada. Minority Language Promotion, Protection and Regulation blends a discussion of the role of official language strategies with an analysis as to how both strategies and legislation are implemented in a variety of contexts ranging from Catalonia, The Basque Country, Finland, Ireland and Wales to Canada at both federal and provincial level. It is an authoritative guide and reference volume which tracks recent influences on official language strategy from a legislative, political, social and economic perspective. As both activist and critic, Colin Williams provides a fresh and challenging interpretation of the manner in which formally discriminated language minorities are now grappling with the exercise of power and responsibility for language -related developments within education, the media, local government and the community. The author poses difficult questions for the wielders of power and decision-makers whose official pronouncements invariably support linguistic diversity but whose policy priorities and fiscal approach tends to undercut the capacity of vibrant communities and civil servants to deliver ambitious programmes of reform in support of minority languages "Minority Language Promotion, Protection and Regulation blends a discussion of the role of official language strategies with an analysis as to how both strategies and legislation are implemented in a variety of contexts ranging from Catalonia, The Basque Country, Finland, Ireland and Wales to Canada at both federal and provincial level. It is an authoritative guide and reference volume which tracks recent influences on official language strategy from a legislative, political, social and economic perspective. As both activist and critic, Colin Williams provides a fresh and challenging interpretation of the manner in which formally discriminated language minorities are now grappling with the exercise of power and responsibility for language-related developments within education, the media, local government and the community. The author poses difficult questions for the wielders of power and decision-makers whose official pronouncements invariably support linguistic diversity but whose policy priorities and fiscal approach tends to undercut the capacity of vibrant communities and civil servants to deliver ambitious programmes of reform in support of minority languages." -- Publisher's website Review: "Professor Colin Williams is one of the world's leading scholars on lesser-used languages. In this book he brings to bear not only a vast store of empirical knowledge of the subject but a passionate plea and moral vision in defence of these languages. The book examines language policies in Finland, Ireland and Wales but places these policies in a much wider perspective including approaches by European institutions such as the Council of Europe and the Canadian experience. The author examines the issues from legislative, policy and legal perspectives all the time teasing out the consequences of the shift to neo-liberalism which has dominated western countries since the 1980s. Williams not only gives a fine analysis of these trends but also provides a realistic set of policy recommendations that will help these often embattled lesser-used languages to survive." - John Loughlin, University of Cambridge, UK Front Matter....Pages i-xii The Mask of Piety....Pages 1-11 Managing Official Language Legislative Regimes....Pages 12-33 Legislative Frameworks and Comparative Language Acts....Pages 34-89 The Embedded Nature of Language Legislation....Pages 90-110 Policy Implications and Recommendations....Pages 111-122 Official Language Strategies in Comparative Perspective....Pages 123-195 The Logic of Best-Practice Language Strategy....Pages 196-229 Official Language Commissioners....Pages 230-293 The Mask of Piety and the Faltering Polity....Pages 294-299 Back Matter....Pages 300-343