Language Conflict and Language Rights
Ethnolinguistic Perspectives on Human Conflict

An overview of language rights issues and language conflicts with detailed examination of many cases past and present around the world.

William D. Davies (Author), Stanley Dubinsky (Author)

9781107606586, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 9 August 2018

446 pages, 24 b/w illus. 42 maps 25 tables
22.8 x 15.1 x 2.1 cm, 0.73 kg

'… this welcome book covers tremendous empirical ground yet still coheres around a single, unifying theme: how language affects and is affected by human conflict. I know of no other book that addresses so many interesting issues while also remaining so accessible to a nonspecialist audience … I for one will be sure to assign this well-rounded, important, and insightful book to my own students.' Adam Roth Singerman, Language in Society

As the colonial hegemony of empire fades around the world, the role of language in ethnic conflict has become increasingly topical, as have issues concerning the right of speakers to choose and use their preferred language(s).  Such rights are often asserted and defended in response to their being violated. The importance of understanding these events and issues, and their relationship to individual, ethnic, and national identity, is central to research and debate in a range of fields outside of, as well as within, linguistics. This book provides a clearly written introduction for linguists and non-specialists alike, presenting basic facts about the role of language in the formation of identity and the preservation of culture. It articulates and explores categories of conflict and language rights abuses through detailed presentation of illustrative case studies, and distills from these key cross-linguistic and cross-cultural generalizations.

Introduction
Part I. Language and the Speaker: 1. The sounds and sounds systems of language
2. Words and word structure
3. Grammar and the organization of words into expressions
4. Language change and variation – languages vs. dialects
Glossary for Part I
Further readings and resources for Part I
Part II. Language in the World: 5. Language and personal identity – personal names in the world
6. Language and cultural identity – language and thought
7. Language and national identity
8. The role of writing systems
9. Framing language rights in the context of human rights
Further readings and resources for Part II
Part III. A Typology of Language Conflicts: Introduction to Part III
10. Indigenous minorities
11. Geopolitical minorities
12. Minorities of migration
13. Intra-linguistic (dialectal) minorities
14. Competition for linguistic dominance
Further readings and resources for Part III
Part IV. Language Endangerment, Extinction, and Revival: 15. Linguistic taxonomy, ecology, and ownership
16. Language revitalization and revival
Further readings and resources for Part IV
References
Language index
Country/territory index
General index.

Subject Areas: Anthropology [JHM], Historical & comparative linguistics [CFF], Sociolinguistics [CFB]