A German dialect spoken in Alsace (France), has rapidly lost way to French since 1945. This book investigates language choice, language attitudes and ethnic identity in Alsace today. The Alsatian case study points out the complex interrelationship of linguistic and identity change with historical, social and psychological processes.
The region of Alsace, located between the hereditary enemies of France and Germany, served as a trophy of war four times between 1870-1945. With each shift, French and German officials sought to win the allegiance of the local populace. In response to these pressures, Alsatians invoked regionalism--articulated as a political language, a cultural vision, and a community of identity--not only to define and defend their own interests against the nationalist claims of France and Germany, but also to push for social change, defend religious rights, and promote the status of the region within the larger national community. Alsatian regionalism however, was neither unitary nor unifying, as Alsatians themselves were divided politically, socially, and culturally. The author shows that the Janus-faced character of Alsatian regionalism points to the ambiguous role of regional identity in both fostering and inhibiting loyalty to the nation. Finally, the author uses the case of Alsace to explore the traditional designations of French civic nationalism versus German ethnic nationalism and argues for the strong similarities between the two countries' conceptions of nationhood.
This book provides the first extensive description of Texas Alsatian, a critically-endangered Texas German dialect, as spoken in Medina County in the 21st century. The dialect was brought to Texas in the 1840s by colonists recruited by French entrepreneur Henri Castro and has been preserved with minimal change for six generations. Texas Alsatian has maintained lexical, phonological, and morphosyntactic features which differentiate it from the prevalent standard-near varieties of Texas German. This study both describes its grammatical features and discusses extra-linguistic factors contributing to the dialect s preservation or accelerating its decline, e.g., social, historical, political, and economic factors, and speaker attitudes and ideologies linked to cultural identity. The work s multi-faceted approach makes its relevant to a broad range of scholars such as dialectologists, historical linguists, sociolinguists, ethnographers, and anthropologists interested in language variation and change, language and identity, immigrant dialects, and language maintenance and death."
This book analyses issues of language and Jewish identity among the Sephardim in Sarajevo. The author examines how Sephardim belonging to three different generations in Sarajevo deal with the challenge of cultivating hybrid and hyphenated identities under destabilizing conditions, exploring how a group of interviewees define and describe the language they speak since Yugoslavia’s collapse. Their self-identification through language is then placed within the context of other cases of linguistic and ethnic identity formation in European minority groups. This book will be of interest to students and scholars working in several related fields and disciplines, including Slavic studies, Historical Anthropology, Jewish History and Holocaust studies, Sociolinguistics, and Memory studies.
This volume addresses the issue of Germany's external minorities, exploring the complex interrelationship between their ethnic identity and sense of cultural belonging on the one hand, and the political, economic, legal, and social situation in their respective societies, on the other.
This book operates from the premise that linguistic identities are important because they make sense to people, are meaningful, and have an impact on the thinking and behaviour of individuals and groups, both overtly and covertly. The framework outlined here synthesises key works on linguistic identity and draws together insights from a range of disciplines, such as sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, discourse analysis, cognitive sciences, and social psychology. It investigates linguistic assertions of community identity in the multilingual context of the Kashmir region in India, by studying the dimensions of changing language roles and linguistic practices in relation to the process of creating and maintaining new linguistic identities under different circumstances. It examines the nature of changing language roles as a combination of several linguistic and extra-linguistic factors, which include script uncertainty, interlingual diglossia, language attrition, language policies of the state, collective attitudes towards language(s), corresponding speech communities, intergenerational transmission, and instrumental orientation, among others. It demonstrates that changes in role are principally motivated by various factors, which may lead to the demise of the distinct symbol and roots of the Kashmiri linguistic-cultural identity in favour of the non-native code, Urdu, which could emerge as the primary linguistic identity in the near future.
Dominating world politics since 1945, the Cold War created a fragile peace while suppressing national groups in the Cold War's most dangerous theater—Europe. Today, with the collapse of Communism, the European Continent is again overshadowed by the specter of radical nationalism, as it was at the beginning of the century. Focusing on the many possible conflicts that dot the European landscape, this book is the first to address the Europeans as distinct national groups, not as nation-states and national minorities. It is an essential guide to the national groups populating the so-called Old World-groups that continue to dominate world headlines and present the world community with some of its most intractable conflicts. While other recent reference books on Europe approach the subject of nations and nationalism from the perspective of the European Union and the nation-state, this book addresses the post-Cold War nationalist resurgence by focusing on the most basic element of any nationalism—the nation. It includes entries on nearly 150 groups, surveying these groups from the earliest period of their national histories to the dawn of the 21st century. In short essays highlighting the political, social, economic, and historical evolution of peoples claiming a distinct identity in an increasingly integrated continent, the book provides both up-to-date information and historical background on the European national groups that are currently making the news and those that will produce future headlines.
This accessible textbook offers students the opportunity to explore for themselves a wide range of sociolinguistic issues relating to the German language and its role in societies around the world. It is written for undergraduate students who have a sound practical knowledge of German but who have little or no knowledge of linguistics or sociolinguistics. It combines text with practical exercises and discussion questions to stimulate readers to think for themselves and to tackle specific problems. In Part One Patrick Stevenson invites readers to investigate and reflect on issues about the status and function of the German language in relation to its speakers and to speakers of other languages with which it comes into contact. In Part Two the focus shifts to the forms and functions of individual features of the language. This involves, for example, identifying features of regional speech forms, analysing similarities and differences between written and spoken German, or looking at the 'social meaning' underlying different forms of address. Part Three explores the relationship between the German language and the nature of 'Germanness'. It concentrates on people's attitudes towards the language, the ways in which it is changing, and their views on what it represents for them.
During Germany's occupation of France in WWII, French regional languages became a way for people to assert their local identities. This book offers a detailed historical sociolinguistic analysis of the various language policies applied in France's regions (Brittany, Southern France, Corsica and Alsace) before, during and after WWII.
The contributors to Language Ideologies, Policies and Practices investigate the workings of language ideologies in relation to other social processes in a globalizing world. They explore in detail the specific ways in which language ideologies underpin language policy and the relationship between public policies and individual practices. Particular attention is given to Europe, where the impetus to social transformation within and across national boundaries is in renewed tension with conflicting national and supra-national interests, with these tensions reflected in the complex issues of language choice and language policy.