Minority Languages and Cultural Diversity in Europe: Gaelic and Sorbian Perspectives (Linguistic Diversity and Language Rights)

This book engages critically with debates about linguistic continuity and cultural survival in relation to Europe's authochthonous minorities. Focusing on Scotland's Gaels and Lusatia's Sorbs/Wends, it analyses and evaluates competing assumptions, rationales and ideologies which have shaped previous and present language revitalisation initiatives. Contents Series Editor’s Foreword Acknowledgements Abbreviations and Coding Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: Ethnocultural Minorities in Europe: The Political Context Chapter 3: Multilingualism as Premise of Cultural Diversity: Theories on Language, Thought and Culture from the Enlightenment to the Present Chapter 4: Gaelic in Scotland Chapter 5: Sorbian in Lusatia Chapter 6: Language Metaphysics on the Ground: Gaelic and Sorbian in Relation to Thought, Culture and Self Chapter 7: Narratives of Continuity: Language as a Unifier Chapter 8: The (Re)Production of Difference: Language as Source of Social Boundaries Chapter 9: Conclusion Bibliography Appendix A: Scotland and Ireland from a Gaelic perspective Appendix B: Shares of Gaelic speakers in local populations (parish-level) in 2001 Appendix C: Slavic territories to the west of the River Oder in the 10th and 11th centuries Appendix D: Areas with significant numbers of Sorbian/Wendish speakers (1999) Appendix E: Gaelic-related Questionnaire (English version) Appendix F: Sorbian-related Questionnaire (German version) Index "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 fauItlines 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."--Jacket

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.

Combines a theoretical understanding of minority languages and associated language rights, alongside an examination of two particular European minority language communities. This book explores contemporary ethnocultural minority agendas in Europe, and covers key aspects of Europe's least explored "linguistic cultures" such as Gaelic and Sorbian