Language Activism
The Role of Scholars in Linguistic Reform and Social Change

Bringing together an interdisciplinary group of renowned scholars, this book explores the role of language researchers in language activism.

Cecelia Cutler (Edited by), Unn Røyneland (Edited by), Zvjezdana Vrzić (Edited by)

9781108833165, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 6 February 2025

262 pages
23.5 x 15.9 x 2 cm, 0.53 kg

'This astonishing collection of researchers, theories, and ideas is a profound addition to the studies on (language) activism … The authors manage to shine a bright light on the issues at hand and calibrate the roles of scholars in a modern academia. This volume can be placed with a possible new paradigm on the studies on language activism, moving toward a new linguistics containing decolonizing and egalitarian approaches. The personal and inspiring stories call in unison to leave the 'ivory tower' behind and rethink our research as something to be done with languages, communities, and society. To echo a point mentioned by many authors in this volume, they might be taking small steps, but this impressive collection is nothing short of a big leap for the field.' Leon Grausam, Critical Inquiry in Language Studies

Bringing together a renowned group of scholars from a range of disciplines – sociolinguistics, linguistic anthropology, philosophy of language, and language documentation – this book explores the role academics can play in language activism. It surveys the most common tensions that language researchers experience in their attempts to enact social change through their work, such as how far they can become politically involved, how they can maintain objectivity in an activist role, whether their work can ever be apolitical, and what ideologies they propagate. In a series of concise original chapters, each author discusses their own experiences and personal concerns; some offering more theoretically informed elaborations on the topic of language activism. Showcasing the state-of-the-art in language activism, this book is essential reading for anyone considering the need for scholarly engagement with the public and the communities in which they work, and the impact that this activism can have on society.

List of figures
List of excerpts
Notes on the contributors
Acknowledgements
1. Introduction: perspectives on language activism Cecelia Cutler, Unn Røyneland and Zvjezdana Vrzić
Part I. What Counts as Activism in Linguistics: Theoretical Perspectives: 2. Language activism and decolonialism: from extractivist to emergent politics Alastair Pennycook
3. Language activism and social justice -why languages still matter Bjørn Torgrim Ramberg and Unn Røyneland
4. Getting to know the dairy cow: an inclusive and self-reflexive sociolinguistics in multispecies emotional encounters Leonie Cornips
Part II. Activism in the Lecture Hall and the School System: 5. Radical pedagogies: scholarship in times of insurgent social movements Nkululeko Mabandla and Ana Deumert
6. Advocacy and activism: language policy in Israel over time Elana Shohamy and Michal Tannenbaum
7. Labeling ethnolects: challenges and potentials Cecelia Cutler
Part III. Activism in Minoritized and Endangered Language Communities: 8. '¿Para qué sirve la utopía?' Aims and activism strategies in minoritized language research Haley De Korne
9. Activism and endangered language work, with an arctic focus Lenore A. Grenoble
10. The researcher's role in language policy processes – engagement and change Pia Lane
11. About researcher ethics and activism: reflections on linguistic research in an endangered language community in Croatia Zvjezdana Vrzić
Part IV. Activism in the Public Space: 12. Becoming a public sociolinguist Quentin Williams
13. Critical linguistic awareness – a tool for combating hate speech Anne Birgitta Nilsen
14. Croatia's language ideologies and language activism Anđel Starčević, Mate Kapović and Daliborka Sarić
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Sociolinguistics [CFB]