Words between borders: Notes for a European sociolinguistics

Publisher: UniorPress

Series: Miscellaneous

Pages: 112

Language: English

NBN: http://nbn.depositolegale.it/resolver.pl?nbn=urn:nbn:it:unina-27449

Abstract: The work contains three main parts. In the first part the author presents the theoretical framework, characterised by a multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary approach. Special attention is given to the analysis of language related issues in the three recent socio-historical processes, i.e. the processes of nation state formation, globalisation and European integration.

In the second parte is shown how language occupied a central role in defining the dentities of the ethno-linguistic groups and how the process of globalisation brought to the fore the primacy of English as the world lingua franca.

In the third part the cross-border area is approached as a specific sociolinguistic domain. It appears that although forming one community of communication, due to high level of mutual connections, it is usually composed of more than one symbolic space where language can function as an indicator of diversity. Symbolic components refer to extra-linguistic contents of the society and the author points to the fact that in this context language is regularly used not as a mere communication tool, but also as a distinctive element of the “otherness”, an intentional act of demonstration of symbolic appurtenance.

The final chapter also offers some elements that are considered useful for establishing a model of sociolinguistic research and language planning in cross-border areas in the European context. Moreover, these areas are seen as potential privileged settings where to more easily acquire the EU’s goals of multilingualism, preserving in this way language diversity as a precious heritage.